New York Files Tax Fraud Lawsuit Against Sprint For Over $300 Million

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against Sprint-Nextel Corp. for deliberately under-collecting and underpaying millions of dollars in New York state and local sales taxes on flat-rate access charges for wireless calling plans, according to a press release.

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Brought under the New York False Claims Act, the Attorney General's lawsuit requires Sprint to pay three times its underpayment of over $100 million, plus penalties if found liable. All of Sprint's major wireless competitors, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and MetroPCS, have followed the law regarding these taxes.


"By deliberately evading sales taxes, Sprint cost state and local governments over $100 million that could have been used for critical services and much needed resources that our state and its citizens need given the challenging economic times we are in," said Attorney General Schneiderman. "The message of our office is clear - tax dodging is not acceptable and we will use every tool in our arsenal to make sure that taxpayers' money is protected, and that honest businesses and consumers are not placed at a disadvantage for collecting and paying their fair share of taxes."

Since 2002, New York Tax Law has required mobile phone companies to collect and pay sales taxes on the full amount of their monthly access charges for their calling plans. For example, when a customer pays Sprint a fixed monthly charge of $39.99 for 450 minutes of mobile calling time, the law requires Sprint to collect and pay sales taxes on the entire $39.99. According to the Attorney General's complaint, starting in 2005, Sprint illegally failed to collect and pay New York sales taxes on an arbitrarily set portion of its revenue from these fixed monthly access charges. To carry out this plan, Sprint repeatedly and knowingly submitted false records and statements to New York State tax authorities. Sprint concealed this practice from taxing authorities, its competitors, and its customers.

Sprint's scheme is ongoing. Sprint did not correct its sales tax practices when it was informed of its illegality, and it has not corrected them even today. As a result of Sprint's unlawful actions, its underpayment of New York sales taxes is growing by about a $210,000 every week, over $30,000 a day.
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Hit the link to continue reading the Attorney General's release...