California cell phone taxes.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, this morning my wife and I received messages on our Tracfones that California will start taxing prepaid cell phones. How this will work is as clear as mud. We no longer live in California, but we kept our old phone numbers which have a California prefix. So I guess this is why we received these messages. My guess is that those who have prepaid phones in California will have to pay this extra tax when they buy their minutes cards.

Anyone here know more about this new tax that starts 1-1-2019.

[DKB_SATX]

Hmm... I wonder how that'll work if you buy your minutes card from a physical store there in Oregon and add the minutes to your account that way instead of the convenient online method. Maybe they'll give you slightly less minutes for your money and pay the rest to CA? Or maybe it's a workaround...

[overlander63]

Did California decide to tax text messages, as well? I heard about it on the news, but then it kind of stopped being talked about.

[azflycaster]

Originally Posted by overlander63

Did California decide to tax text messages, as well? I heard about it on the news, but then it kind of stopped being talked about.

I believe they ran into some legal issues with that proposal and it is no longer an option.

[RandyNH]

Seems if purchased out of state, you should be fine. So long as not over the internet and so long as you don't have to provide a phone number.

https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/b...scl-42014.html

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by RandyNH

Seems if purchased out of state, you should be fine. So long as not over the internet and so long as you don't have to provide a phone number.

https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/b...scl-42014.html

Unfortunately paragraph (3) "If an address is not available to the seller to determine whether any of the circumstances in paragraph (2) exist, the transaction will be deemed to be a known-address transaction occurring in this state if the mobile telephone number is associated with a location in this state." seems to apply to the OP.

[moosetags]

Is this state tax on cell phones substantial? If it is significant enough, folks will just start purchasing their Trac Phones in other states with an outside of California area code.

Brian

[kscherzi]

The cell phone texting tax proposal was dropped a couple weeks ago when the State PUC found the proposal ran afoul of federal FCC rules.

[davidz71]

I'd change my cell number to one associated with Oregon and say to hell with CA.