Sprint to issue sales tax refunds   

From Staff Reports

  Sprint will issue sales tax refunds to Tennessee local-service customers who have paid sales tax on Sprint and EarthLink DSL and dialup access charges on their Sprint bills. As a result of recent state legislation, the company is researching billing records and will issue credits in the amount of the taxes paid on those Internet Service Provider (ISP) access charges.
  Customers do not have to contact Sprint to request refunds, and once the assessment is complete, the customers will receive an automatic credit on their bill. In the case of Sprint DSL charges, tax refunds will be based on sales tax assessed on the EarthLink (ISP) portion of the monthly service charge, which is $10.
  "Customers will not need to call, email or fax customer service to request the refunds," said Jim Brackens, Sprint's public affairs manager in Bristol and Kingsport. "All affected accounts will be researched, and the tax refunds will be issued automatically as credits."
  Sprint decided to proactively issue the refund credits to reduce confusion and because of the short time allowed under the legislation for customers to request refunds.
  "It could take some time, but we believe that doing it this way will ease customers' minds and avoid putting them through the inconvenience of having to make a refund request under a deadline," said Jim Wilhoit, public affairs manager in Johnson City and Greeneville.