Washington Supreme Court to Hear Assurance Lifeline Tax Challenge

The Washington Supreme Court agreed to hear Assurance Wireless' petition for review of a lower court ruling that rejected its argument that the carrier's Lifeline services don't involve a retail sale. The case (101873-8) is to be heard during the court's fall term. Assurance said in an April petition the state's retail sales tax for telecom services isn't possible for its Lifeline service because it offers free service to eligible consumers, saying the carrier "cannot be held secondarily liable for failing to collect sales tax from an unidentified buyer." Washington's Department of Revenue (DOR) disagreed, saying Assurance "seeks discretionary review to rehash the same arguments it offered." The FCC "does not incur the legal obligation to pay Assurance and is not the 'buyer' of Lifeline service under this court’s precedent," said Attorney General Robert Ferguson (D) in a May response on behalf of DOR: "Assurance throughout this appeal has pushed factual and legal arguments that are unsupported by the record or relevant law."