The California Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District held that the purchase of “discounted” cell phones bundled together with wireless services requires payment of sales tax based on the cell phone’s full price.
Plaintiffs purchased cell phones at a reduced cost, together with wireless services, in a “bundled transaction.” The bundled transaction included the taxable sale of tangible personal property, as well as non-taxable sale of wireless services. The Department imposed tax on the non-discounted value of the cell phone. In response, the plaintiffs challenged Regulation 1585 on the grounds that it (1) violated the Revenue and Taxation Code, and (2) was not adopted in compliance with the Administrative Procedures Act.
- Compliance with the California Revenue and Taxation Code
The parties agreed that only the purchase of the cell phone was taxable (and the wireless services were nontaxable), but disagreed on how to measure the payment (i.e., on the validity of Regulation 1585). Regulation 1585 defines “bundled transaction” as the retail sale of a wireless telecommunication device which contractually requires the retailer’s customer to activate or contract with a wireless telecommunications service for periods greater than one month as a condition of that sale. The court found that the regulation filled the gap of how to measure the portion attributable to the tangible personal property versus the service by “effectively attributing the portion of the contract price that is equivalent to the unbundled sales price to the cell phone, and the rest to the service.” Therefore, the court held, the regulation was not contrary to the California Revenue and Taxation Code.
The court also looked at Regulation 1585’s history, noting that a regulation is likely correct if it has “consistently maintained the interpretation in question, especially if [it was] longstanding.” In supporting its conclusion in favor of the regulation’s validity, the court discussed how Regulation 1585 became operative in 1999 and had not been amended since.
- Procedural Challenge to Regulation 1585
The plaintiffs also contended that the regulation’s promulgation did not satisfy the requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act because the Department did not thoroughly discuss the economic impact the regulation would have on businesses. Nonetheless, the court concluded that the Department was not required to discuss the economic impact of retailers because there was substantial evidence in place to support that Regulation 1585 would not adversely impact businesses and individuals. And, the court held that the Department met all other procedural requirements set forth by the Administrative Procedures Act when promulgating Regulation 1585.
- Application of Regulation 1585
In applying the regulation, the court concluded that the carrier-retailers were not truly offering a discount on the cell phones because they were being compensated by the monthly payments in the bundled transaction. Therefore, the court held that sales tax should be applied on the full price of the cell phone.
Ultimately, the Court of Appeal held for the Department, finding that (1) the Department could allocate a portion of the contract price in a bundled transaction based on the full price of the cell phone, and (2) the regulation was adopted in compliance with the Administrative Procedures Act.