I keep getting taxed for a service I no longer use.
I have recently discontinued my phone service but I keep getting taxed for it. I have called about this several times and told it is fixed but it keeps comming up on my bill.
Forum Discussion
Forgive me for butting in, but I’m curious. Isn’t this tax something that Hughesnet accounting sets up as part of the invoice? It sounds to me the OP is saying she's getting a tax charge on her bill/account for a service she no longer has (though I may be completely wrong in my understanding). So if she no longer has the service, there should not be any tax being charged to that account for that service, right? While the state determines how much tax we pay, it's the company's accounting department that bills her, so shouldn't this department fix it?
Thanks Maratsade. HugesNet was the one who informed the government I was receiving the phone service so they could tax me. I was told the tax was on the phone service when I called about the taxes going up. At that point I discontinued the service since I was at the end of the contract and the lag in the service caused a lot of talking over the other person on the line. If HughesNet informed the government I was receiving the service they should be able to inform them I am no longer receiving it? Now I am wondering how many others are still paying a state tax while no longer receiving a service. I have also been informed on two seperate occasions that the issue had been resolved by HughesNet and this was not so.
Patty,
After researching, the telecommunication taxes are not related to the phone service, it is actually relative to the internet service itself. I hope this helps. :)
Thanks,
Felicia
I have to agree pattymotley, it was the Hughes voice service that started the tax being billed to your Hughes account. Once you stop that service there has to be some communication between HughesNet and the state taxing authority to stop the tax collection. Simple as that.
OK, so to me (I've got very little experience with taxes), it sounds like it should be Hughesnet (their accounting department or similar) who needs to fix this (it's similar to when you get sales tax applied to a purchase and then you return the purchase, the sales tax you paid is refunded too, and by the merchant, not the state). I imagine that if you contact the state they will tell you the same thing, that you need to contact the company, but I would contact the state just in case anyway, to cover all the bases. I would send them an email.
It looks like someone at Hughesnet has acknowledged this is an error on their part and has tried to apply a fix (twice!), but it hasn't taken. Maybe it needs to be kicked up the chain to a different department or something.
Any accountants on this site? Care to chime in?
*I am not a Hughesnet employee or representative. This is a customer-to-customer tech support community, and I am a customer.
pattymotley wrote:
Thanks Maratsade. HugesNet was the one who informed the government I was receiving the phone service so they could tax me. I was told the tax was on the phone service when I called about the taxes going up. At that point I discontinued the service since I was at the end of the contract and the lag in the service caused a lot of talking over the other person on the line. If HughesNet informed the government I was receiving the service they should be able to inform them I am no longer receiving it? Now I am wondering how many others are still paying a state tax while no longer receiving a service. I have also been informed on two seperate occasions that the issue had been resolved by HughesNet and this was not so.
Is it possible that the tax being shown is for the internet or the lease of the equipment? I only ask as I don't know what you're seeing. I do know that they told you it was for the phone, though.
I pay four taxes on my bill. State and county for the equipment lease and a state and county excise tax. Gotta love NY taxes. :p
Hardy wrote:Patty,
After researching, the telecommunication taxes are not related to the phone service, it is actually relative to the internet service itself. I hope this helps. :)
Thanks,
Felicia
That's what I was wondering. I know that the term "telecommunications" can be a bit confusing when it comes to taxes and such, especially state to state. It seems that it would only apply to something having to do with phones, whether home, cell or some type of VOIP service, like HughesNet Voice, but in practice it can mean internet service, too.
GabeU wrote:
Hardy wrote:Patty,
After researching, the telecommunication taxes are not related to the phone service, it is actually relative to the internet service itself. I hope this helps. :)
Thanks,
Felicia
That's what I was wondering. I know that the term "telecommunications" can be a bit confusing when it comes to taxes and such, especially state to state. It seems that it would only apply to something having to do with phones, whether home, cell or some type of VOIP service, like HughesNet Voice, but in practice it can mean internet service, too.
Thought OP might have been referring to the telecommunication charge, I have that on my bill also with no phone. It is a confusing catch all word for many data things that are not necessarily telephone related.
OP wrote that "I was told the tax was on the phone service when I called about the taxes going up." HN also seems to have acknowledged the existence of an error, twice. Something doesn't seem quite right.
maratsade wrote:OP wrote that "I was told the tax was on the phone service when I called about the taxes going up." HN also seems to have acknowledged the existence of an error, twice. Something doesn't seem quite right.
Well, unless a pic of exactly what charge is being referred to gets posted, I'm taking a seat on this one.
OK, my bill for hughesnet was $108.70 every month. I have automatic draft and when it was taken out at the end of Sept for my oct payment they took out $114.07, an increase of $5.37. When I called about the increase I was told it was due to taxes on the phone service, NOT the internet. Since my contract on the phone was up I had it discontinued. I received a refund for the phone service for Oct. which posted as $29.99 on my phone app as a refund. When I called back to ask about the taxes I was told the government took those out and HughesNet had no controll of that although the tax came out with their withdrawel. The taxes at that time reduced to $2.72 which was in keeping with what the rep on the phone said it would be, between $2 and $3. He even gave me a breakdown of how much went to federal, state and local taxes at the time. It has since went back up to $5.26. When I called back to ask about it I was told it was the phone tax. That came from HughesNet. They said they would take care of it. If it was not a tax on the phone they should have told me that but each time I was told it was the phone service. I am simply going by what HughesNet told me. At no time was I told the tax was on the internet. I can understand if one rep got it wrong but not 3 in a row.
