The College Network-collecting sales tax

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Greetings...Has anyone in Texas received notice from The College Network that they failed to collect sales taxes for years of doing business in this state and now are trying to collect from former and current customers? They are sending out letters, and several of my coworkers at the hospital have recieved them, asking for unpaid sales tax. WOW, this is sad and shocking. Imagine buying something from home depot or walmart and they failed to collect sales tax, then years later call you and say they failed to collect taxes and pay the state of Texas, therefore you will have to pay. INCREDIBLE...:coollook:

ERDude, RN

That's iffy with TCN though because the modules *are* a product. They offer both a product and a service so which are they charging sales tax on? I would love to hear an attorney's perspective on this so if anyone does consult one make sure you post an update!

Well, it's a nursing site, so you will probably not run into an attorney on here. That is why someone needs to call the State and get in touch with the revenue department.

A company paying taxes vs an individual paying the taxes ON SOMETHING is not the same thing. As a rule, consumers in most states do not pay taxes on services.

Examples of this are commissions, delivery services, labor associated with homes, auto, etc...daycare services, fees charged by banks on checking accounts and credit cards, brokerage transaction fees, consulting and professional advice.

All of these are services.

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I have been actively searching, I did find a thread on community.lawyers.com. The general opinion is they can't do this.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehabilitation.

If you live in Texas you do not owe on this!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/sales/faq_collect.html#collect6

There will be a link after you click the above link that says something to the effect of who is responsible if the seller fails to collect and pay the tax.

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Maybe things are totally different in Texas with state laws regarding sales and stuff than they are in Florida. Each of the modules I purchased were listed on the contract I signed, including the sales tax, the percentage rate of the loan and the monthly payment. Nothing has changed. I only used them & no other study materials, while going through EC, have a 3.866 gpa. Their materials seemed waaaay too easy. I am currently waiting to take the CPNE. I am almost done with my payment plan, I have around 500 dollars left. I purchased 14 modules, and it was about 4 grand. I hate to hear such bad experiences when things have turned out so well for me. I usually recommend TCN, but I guess I won't if the person lives in Texas that if for sure. Wow!! That bites the big one. Wishing you all the success possible as you work to obtain your goals!!! Keep plugging away!!!:yeah::bowingpur

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Thank you for all of your responses.

I did post my question on justanswer.com and paid a small fee for a consumer protection lawyer to advise me whether or not I owed this money.

From his response: "They cannot make you pay this. If you get a letter from a collection agency, send them a validation letter. You can find a sample at www.californiadebtblog.com."

I will be mailing my letter tommorrow via certified mail.

Also, Thank you Ladylove0823 for the great link. I see you have been an Lvn for 6 years, me too. My wife and I both went to Panola, live in Timpson, used to work just up the road from Lufkin in Nac. Hello neighbor.

Thanks again to everyone for the great responses.

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Specializes in Respiratory Therapy.

Legal or not, I find the practice of asking consumers to help bail you out of your own errors appalling ($700 million bail-out anyone?). Most people have paid large amounts of money to TCN and whether that money was well-spent is known only to the consumer. However, one of the things that you anticipated was that when you wrote that check to them it covered all of the costs, including taxes--it was THEIR responsibility to see to that. You shouldn't have to worry about whether or not state taxes were paid.

Now they find out that they didn't use due diligence in their business practices and failed made a mistake that you, as a consumer, had no knowledge of and should not have known about. It was their responsibility to run the business; you simply wanted your materials.

Then, after discovering that they had made a business faux pas, they rush back to you and ask for more money so they can cover their mistake placing the cost of the mistake back on the trusting consumer.

I had met with TCN and after reading forums here decided to send them packing--I'll do EC directly. After reading about their ridiculous behavior and the way they are treating the consumer with this incident, I'm glad I did! I just hope they don't expect any return business from everyone affected by this poor management.

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I got a call from a collection agency about this. They're trying to collect for TCN but she led me to believe she was from the State of Texas. I gave them a check over the phone. Then I started thinking--she never told me what part of the State. Anyway to make a long story short: I called them back, they agreed not to use the check, and I reported them to the State Comptroller's office. Bottom Line: They can't do this. It's illegal. It's THEIR bad and they have to pay.

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Call the State Comptroller's office and report them. I did that and they laid off.

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I got a call from a collection agency about this. They're trying to collect for TCN but she led me to believe she was from the State of Texas. I gave them a check over the phone. Then I started thinking--she never told me what part of the State. Anyway to make a long story short: I called them back, they agreed not to use the check, and I reported them to the State Comptroller's office. Bottom Line: They can't do this. It's illegal. It's THEIR bad and they have to pay.

Stop payment on the check through your bank. I would NOT trust them to not use it. No way.

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Hello all

I too have just received a notice (Dec 2008) that I have been turned over to a collection agency for taxes due.

This is ridiculous. It's almost 2009, I paid them off completely in 2004 (almost 5 yrs after the fact) and how can they come back at me for taxes when they were operating illegally in the state of Texas. These people own a business and know there are rules, regulations and laws that all vary from state to state. They knew they were providing a service (counseling, etc) and selling a product (modules).

I signed a contract with this company some time in 2003 and paid off my contract in 2004. I met my obligation.

After deciding to change my degree plan, I contact TCN and was told that they were going to charge me $200 to review my transcripts.

I was also told that if I needed to update any of the study modules, that I could send them back, but would have to pay something like $25 to get an updated module.

What BS.... the sales rep and his wife who led seminar told us nothing of these hidden costs...in fact, they painted a very rosey picture of how wonderful TCN is, but left out the very important details of costs to you that you would not find out until further down the line.

I would certainly avoid doing business with this group and would be leery of others who provide this type of service.

I am checking into this matter now, with plans to contact the Texas State Attorney General, State Comptroller, BBB and a tax attorney.

If anyone hears or knows of any actions or information regarding this situation, please post here and lets spread the word to EVERYONE affected by this mess.

My advice to everyone is to contact ALL of the people above in writting. Once they see a trend of 1000's of people in the state of Texas complaining about this issue, perhaps someone in power will take a stance, but if you don't write, they won't know you and many others has a problem with this.

TCN did NOT operate withing the confines of Texas Law. On the State Comptrollers website, there is information for businesses to determine if their business MUST collect taxes and how to pay them and if you do NOT understand the rules, you can contact the comptrollers office to determine if you must collect taxes, TCN simply failed to follow through on this as a responsible business should have.

My one questions is, when did this going into law in the state of Texas. As I am not a business expert, I thought that as long as a person in Texas (or other state) bought something from another state that there were no sales tax.... I believe at somepoint, alot of states were changing that because of loss of sales via internet..... and perhaps I am complelely off base.... maybe there is an expert out there....

Perhaps, TCN will let us return their product for a full refund.

As I learn more on this matter, I will post as well, but I am NOT paying this until I know my rights and I am consider filing suit against them (if possible), because now they are going to hurt my excellent credit with this mess that they created.

Please keep posting on this matter, I want to hear more about other peoples dilemma.

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This has probably been mentioned but I don't feel like rereading the thread and its worth repeating anyway. Make sure those of you being turned into collection send a certified letter to the collection agencies disputing this debt! Right or wrong, unless you do that your credit rating will be affected so cover yourselves until you get it worked out!

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This has probably been mentioned but I don't feel like rereading the thread and its worth repeating anyway. Make sure those of you being turned into collection send a certified letter to the collection agencies disputing this debt! Right or wrong, unless you do that your credit rating will be affected so cover yourselves until you get it worked out!

Yes! This is EXACTLY how you go about this! Download a copy of "The Fair Credit Reporting Act" summary of rights. Follow it to the letter. Have your lawyer draft the reply letter (I had Prepaid Legal at the time) but you can do it yourself. Everything should be mailed by certified mail. Record EVERY conversation with collection agencies - you DO NOT have to tell them it is being recorded but it may be beneficial from the stand point of them being totally above board in what they tell you.

The strategy here is to place the burden on TCN and the collection agency to provide proof ,in written form, of your debt. DENY EVERYTHING (even if you do owe it!). TCN then has to pay someone to gather every piece of paper, copy it, and send it to you (or your lawyer - recommended Prepaid Legal). Make it as costly as possible for TCN !:banghead: Since they are "sharing" part of the collected monies with the collection agency - TCNs recovery amount is growing slimmer and slimmer.

Your end game here is to get TCN to cease and desist without affecting your credit or if you really end up owing them something - to offer a settlement amount that is acceptable to both parties and that any payment results in TCN to cease and desist without affecting your credit.:yeah:

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