Cingular Wireless Process for
Federal Excise Tax Write-Off for War Protester
There
are organized groups that advocate non-payment of the 3% Federal Excise
Tax (FET) on telecommunications charges, based on opposition to war. Many
of the organized groups (e.g. including groups like the War Resister’s
League) have prepared forms for telecommunications customers to submit
as an official request not to be charged the FET. The war protest organization
literature may include a reference stating that the IRS requires
telecommunications companies to permit customers to be excluded from the
FET. This is somewhat misleading. The actual rules are as follows.
No
Exemption: IRS does not recognize such forms nor does it grand any
type of exemption to war protesters. Cingular therefore has no responsibility
to exempt or to otherwise not charge FET to a customer making such a request.
Refusal
to Pay FET: Cingular cannot exempt the war protest customer from FET,
but it is possible that the customer may refuse to pay the FET
portion of their bill. If this should occur, Cingular is not required
to pursue collection on behalf of the government. Cingular’s only responsibility
at that point is to report to the IRS any customers who refuse to pay
based on war protester status. Cingular has therefore developed the following
procedure to address war protester requests.
FET
War Protest Scenario Procedures:
Customer
submits a completed form from one of the war protest organizations, or
otherwise submits a request in writing, to be exempted from the FET based
on their position as a war protester. Form or correspondence is then forwarded
to the appropriate Tax Exemption Group for handling (see list).
South Central Region
Cingular Wireless
Customer Care
Attn: Tax Exemption
2321 North
University
Lubbock, TX
79415
Fax: 866-816-9050
North Central (Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan)
Cingular Wireless
Customer Care
Attn: Tax Exemption
1100 Woodfield Dr #200
Schaumburg, IL
60173
Fax: 847-413-7847
Gulf
States, Southeast and Indy
Cingular Wireless
Customer Care
Attn: Market Support/Tax Exemption
3051 Bienville Blvd
Ocean Springs, MS
39564
Northeast
Little Rock Call
Center
Cingular Wireless
Customer Care
Attn: Admin Team
17000 Cantrell Rd
Little Rock, AR
72223
Tulsa
Center
Cingular Wireless
Customer Care
Attn: Admin Team
15901 East Skelly Drive
Tulsa, OK 74116
Fax: 918-204-4004
Washington/Baltimore
Cingular Wireless
Customer Care
Attn: Stefanie Manns
– Mgr Business Team
7855 Walker Drive
Greenbelt, MD
20770
Fax: 301-489-3289
West (California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada)
Cingular Wireless
Customer Care
Attn: Tax Exemption/Shannon Jost
PO Box
755
Atwater, CA 95301
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