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How much TAX do you pay for your iPhones?

sevimli

sevimli

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 26, 2007
727
64
ChiTown
Hi all,

I have a big concern regarding to my AT&T bill.

I have family plan (450 min), 2 iphones + 1 regular phone.

We don't have any extra service. I also have a FAN account through my employer since the beginning.

When I signed the contract with AT&T, it was showing 113.99 monthly fees plus "TAXes". Now I am paying ~180. I got only 3-4 extra txt messages.

Paying ~57% for the taxes OK?

I tried to call AT&T, they couldn't figure out and asked me to go in an AT&T store, overthere all I heard was prorating BS.

Where can I find the % of the REAL TAXes based on county/states?
 
Phone taxes are proably the best of all taxes. The operator at AT&T can't tell you because they are all over the damn place depending where you live, but it should be spelled out on your bill.

You have to deal with Federal, STate, County and yes even sometimes city taxes. With the majority looking to stick it to their profits but AT&T obviously is going to pass it down (the money needs to come from somewhere).

A lot of times they (goverment) like to add in a bunch of taxes on phone service to hide taxes or just never get rid of them when their goals have been met. See http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2006-05-25-phone-tax_x.htm
 
$2.82 in Govt Fees.

Some states and counties will actually charge you double compared to others
 
Maybe your fan discount not kicked in yet? Even though I ordered everything online via the FAN discount online store I ended up having to actually go to a ATT store to get them to validate my discount before it would show up.

I think the cheapest family plan min option is the 550 mins plan $59.99. This plus 2@9.99 for ea. addl line and $60 for data for the two iPhones would be $140 before any discounts.

$180 seems very high to me. Is it possible that you have one individual voice plan mixed in there somehow?
 
My bill:

$89.99

-$7.99 (FAN discount)

+ $4.84 (Gov. Taxes and Fees)

Total: $86.84


I live in VA, so not sure how the tax rates comare to where you live, but I don't see how your taxes could possibly be that high.
 
$39.99 for 450 minutes + $30 for data + $5 for 200 texts. And I get the corporate discount.

Gov't fees and taxes: $8.14
 
Hi guys,

Here is the my order summary. Right after getting this screenshot I clicked SUBMIT. Then I got credit approval from AT&T and they processed my order.


att.tif


I wasn't able to check my BILL SUMMARY yesterday, so I just checked my bill summary, it shows Government Fees & Taxes $28.18.

Which makes no sense to me. If you do the math it is still more than what I supposed to pay.

$180 - $28.18 = $151.82

still I am paying much more than I supposed to pay, doesn't that mean "breaking the contract" by AT&T ?
 
I pay $11.18 in "Government Fees & Taxes" on a 700 minute Family Plan with two iPhones.

What does your bill look like? It will have a breakdown of every charge, fee and tax.
 
IgnatiusTheKing said:
I pay $11.18 in "Government Fees & Taxes" on a 700 minute Family Plan with two iPhones.

What does your bill look like? It will have a breakdown of every charge, fee and tax.
Click to expand...


It looks like a mess. Really, AT&T bills are the worst bills I've ever seen! They keep adding, and subtracting same numbers over and over. :mad::confused:
 
sevimli said:
Where can I find the % of the REAL TAXes based on county/states?
Click to expand...
This one has states (no counties), showing IL is the 4th highest taxed state for cell phones (21.05%):
http://www.askstudent.com/money/cell-phone-taxes-by-state/

$23.79 is about what 21.05% tax on $113/month would be
$16.50 is what your FAN discounts add up to, if they're not being applied
---------
$40.29

Maybe there's $10 in local/city taxes being applied somewhere?
 
patrickdunn said:
What did AT&T say when you called them?
Click to expand...

In my first call for my first bill, they assured me that my following bills would be much lower etc etc. In my 2nd call for my second bill, the lady couldn't figure out how to breakdown my bill on the phone, and suggested me to go to an AT&T Corporate Store. At the store they gave me the famous "prorate" bs all over again, asked me to wait 1 more month.

I haven't called for the 3rd (latest) bill yet.
 
That site, with the cell phone tax info by state, is very interesting.

Assuming it's still current (looks to be from 2007), you should be paying about $125 a month total including taxes after your discount. Without the FAN discount, you'd be in the $157/mth range.

When you spoke to the CS people, did they see the FAN discount on your acct? Alternatively, when you log into your acct on the att.com website, do you see your FAN acct number on the top right? Is should be listed just below the 'search' box, just above the orange bar.

It just occurred to me, is it possible that one of the phones didn't get activated right away and as such, it showed up on the second bill?
 
Monthly Service Charges 72.98
Credits/Adjustments/Other Charges 2.12
Government Fees and Taxes 3.53

Total Current Charges 78.63
 
Uabcar said:
That site, with the cell phone tax info by state, is very interesting.

Assuming it's still current (looks to be from 2007), you should be paying about $125 a month total including taxes after your discount. Without the FAN discount, you'd be in the $157/mth range.

When you spoke to the CS people, did they see the FAN discount on your acct? Alternatively, when you log into your acct on the att.com website, do you see your FAN acct number on the top right? Is should be listed just below the 'search' box, just above the orange bar.

It just occurred to me, is it possible that one of the phones didn't get activated right away and as such, it showed up on the second bill?
Click to expand...

Thank you all for your posts.

I do see my FAN account both on bill and also on my ATT web account.

I really wanted to pay $175 and leave the ATT but then I would stuck with two locked iphones. :(
 
sevimli said:
It looks like a mess. Really, AT&T bills are the worst bills I've ever seen! They keep adding, and subtracting same numbers over and over. :mad::confused:
Click to expand...

If you want this resolved you need to understand their bill. Go to the online account and first look at the summary - it should have a simple breakdown of the combined costs and also a breakout of costs for each line. Once you understand that then move to the full bill. I am guessing you are being charged for other services.
 
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