Auditel Inc. is alerting all business in Los Angeles County California of a telecom tax refund. Los Angeles County agreed to extend the tax refund filing until May 20, 2016. The City of Los Angeles (“City”) has agreed to pay up to $92.5 million to settle the UUT class action lawsuit. Ardon v. City of Los Angeles lawsuit refunds for the UUT (telephone utility users tax) collected for telephone services utilized from October 19, 2005 to March 15, 2008 (the “Class Period”). The settlement resolves the lawsuit; it avoids costs and risks from continuing the lawsuit; pays money to Class Members; and releases the City from liability.
Telecom News on the UUT Tax Refund
Telecom News:Your business is eligible to submit a claim if your business was registered with the City of Los Angeles and it paid the Los Angeles Telephone Utility Users Tax (called the “UUT”) at any time from October 19, 2005 to March 15, 2008, and has not already been paid a full refund by the City for such UUT, subject to offset for any refunds the City has already paid you. Furthermore, the tax was typically collected by telephone service providers through charges appearing on landline and mobile telephone bills.
Claiming the UUT Wireless Refund
Business may claim either a standard amount or actual amounts. Business may file for the standard refund (aka undocumented safe harbor amount) of $50 for each Mobile Telephone Service and $50 for each Business Landline Service. There will be no wireless refund paid for prepaid mobile telephone service as they do not qualify for the refund claim.
To qualify for the actual amount of UUT refund claims a business must collect the bills during this time period. Furthermore, the service providers don’t keep older phone bills on most online portals. Locating bills will be difficult for many businesses. Thus it’s harder for business to claim the actual amount of the refund.
UUT Actual Claim including Telephone Bills
To obtain the actual recognized claim amounts, business must submit copies of their telephone bills (or other proof of the amount paid). The City of Los Angeles UUT refund amount will be based solely on the amount reflected on the proof submitted. The City of Los Angeles agreed to refund business landlines at 70% of the UUT tax paid to the City of Los Angeles. While they agreed to refund mobile business services at 100% of the UUT tax amount paid to the City of Los Angeles.
How Many Telecom Tax Refunds is Your Business Missing?
Most business are not aware of the telecom tax recovery they may claim. For instance the FET tax, in 2007 the IRS urged 10 Million taxpayers to file and check for this claim. However, so many businesses didn’t collect their refunds. In summary, Auditel is hopeful this memo reaches business to help them claim and capture their telecom tax refunds.
Auditel alerts corporate business on telecom refunds on telecom news and on our youtube channel.
Auditel alerts business and corporations about telecom refunds on our telecom news page and through Auditel’s youtube channel.
