New Marketing Practices Increase Sales and Use Tax Audit Risk for MetroPCS Retailers

Early in 2015, MetroPCS introduced a new marketing campaign to attract additional customers to its products and services.  The marketing campaign allows customers to receive an instant “rebate” for a portion of the purchase price for a new phone.  After the phone is purchased, the authorized dealer is subsequently reimbursed by MetroPCS for the instant rebate that was provided to the customers at the time of sale.  This marketing practice is common with other cell phone dealers as well, such as AT&T and Verizon, and it generally comes with the requirement that the customer sign a long term contract with […]