Nevada Tax Commission OKs $27M refund to AT&T

The Nevada Tax Commission on Tuesday approved a $27 million tax refund to AT&T for sales taxes paid to Nevada but actually owed in another state.

From October 2013 to December 2014, AT&T paid taxes on equipment stored in its Reno warehouse but sold out of state, thus resulting in the refund request.

Tax Commission Chairman Jim DeVolld said before the vote that he believed it was right to refund the money to the company for the accounting error.

“If you owe somebody money, you probably ought to give it back to them, irregardless of the time frame,” DeVolld said.

But DeVolld said he received several emails before the meeting that complained about AT&T’s own practice in refunding it’s customers, and “felt compelled” to question the company’s representatives about it.

“I want to know what the policy of AT&T is in refunding clients monies on erroneous billing errors,” DeVolld told the representatives.

The representatives said the question should be directed to AT&T’s corporate offices.

All the commissioners except Randy Brown voted to approve the refund. Brown is the director of regulatory affairs for AT&T and abstained from the vote.

Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.