text: Re: Sales tax - Verizon Community
  ‎12-31-2011 07:11 PM
  I have two questions. First, when ordering a phone upgrade, is tax calculated based on the state of the billing address or the shipping address? Second, in the state of Connecticut, am I charged tax on the full retail price of the phone, or the price with a 2 year contract? How about the state of massachusetts? (Okay, that was three questions).
  On a new phone being shipped, the tax is based on where it is shipped,
  As for whether the sales tax is based on the retail price or subsidized price, someone else will have to help with that
  ‎12-31-2011 08:33 PM
  Because sales tax on cellular phones is so weird in Massachusetts, I would go through the upgrade process in the online store to put the items in the cart, then if I weren't happy with it, I would cancel the transaction or empty my cart.
  ‎01-01-2012 03:35 AM
  CT tax happens at the reduced price of the device not the full retail of the device. I believe the only states that charge tax based on retail is California, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. Soon to be Hawaii(We tend to follow the trends in California).
  As some one recommended to be sure just get to the point sales tax is calculated and then clear the cart and try again using the different area codes.
  ‎01-01-2012 07:17 AM
  MA's law is complicated. It depends on how much the store paid to acquire the phone and how much the customer is paying for the phone. You can walk into an Apple store and pay less sales tax for an iPhone than you would at a VZW store that's next door to it.
  Thanks for the responses. I was having trouble getting any consistent answer's from verizon representatives; each one I spoke with was telling me something different.
  As an FYI for anyone interested - Massachusetts does charge quite a bit for sales tax. It might not be for the full retail price, but it's pretty close to it.
  I will take the advice of going through the online checkout and seeing what tax comes out to.
  I have contacted the MA Attorney Generals office this morning and am currently waiting for the official response from this office as to whether or not this is legal or not. There is nothing preventing VZ from saying the phone costs them 3000 dollars nor will they tell me how they calculated the sales tax
  The only states, at this time that charge tax based on full retail online at least, are California, Nevada and Massachusetts.