On 7/28/2013 2:34 PM, Faisal Imtiaz wrote:
Hi Fred,
on a related note... Neustar sending bills to anyone/everyone filling
out FCC form 499, for LNP system, is that legit ?
Good question. They are allowed to charge for LNP, and the formula for
that is subject to some current arguments. It is based on revenues,
form 499. I'm not sure who is exempt, if anyone.
Regards.
Faisal Imtiaz
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From: *"Fred Goldstein" <[email protected]>
*To: *[email protected]
*Sent: *Sunday, July 28, 2013 11:42:04 AM
*Subject: *Re: [WISPA] VoIP Taxes, Fees, & Insanity
On 7/28/2013 12:46 AM, Jeremy wrote:
From what I read it seems like you can collect whatever you want
directly from your customers but it may be considered as income
and taxed as such. So you can't really pass it on as a direct fee
and bypass your income tax liability for it.
No. Federal billing rules say that you cannot collect more on your
retail bill for FUSF than you pass along. No markups allowed. Most
of the other charges can also be passed along one for one, but state
rules could vary.
But the rate is not exactly what you think. The Federal USF rate is
calculated as a percentage, changed quarterly (it has gone over 17%),
of your interstate telecommunications service billing. If you are
providing local telephone service, that line item is not subject to
USF as it is intrastate, not intersate. Internet access is not
subject to USF as it is information service, not telecommunications
service. The tax was meant to apply to long distance calls, which
were a lot of money back in the day.
If you are (as is the norm nowadays) providing a service that does not
charge explicitly for interstate long distance, then you have two
options. There is a "safe harbor" of 64.9%, wherein that percentage
of the total phone package is deemed interstate. So if you sold it
for $10/month, the tax would be applied to $6.49 of it. This number
was computed back when VoIP services were primarily used as cheap
dial-around long distance, not as primary lines, so the "PIU"
(percentage interstate use -- this number comes up a LOT in telecom
billing) was high.
You can also compute what percentage of your calls are actually
interstate, and pay USF on that percentage of the bill. This involves
filling out the Form 499-Q's correctly, but it is the norm nowadays.
Bear in mind that there is a "de minimis" rule. If you would owe less
than $10k/year, then you only file Form 499-A (annual, vs. quarterly),
and don't pay anything. BUT you then are treated as a retail customer
of your wholesale provider(s), and *they* collect USF on what they
bill you. If you are no de minimis, and do actually pay USF, then you
tell that to your providers, who have to verify it against FCC
records, and then they don't charge you USF. It's sort of like a
retailer's exemption on sales tax; it's only collected once. Note
that this whole system is on the docket at the FCC and they're still
thinking about how to revise it, but don't seem to have a consensus,
so they're just putting it off.
On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 10:26 PM, Chris Fabien
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
That looks about right, it varies by state/locality of course.
We collect Federal USF, State use tax, state and county E911.
The USF you get to pocket until your required contributions
are $10k/year - under that you are considered "de minimus" and
just have to file the annual form.
When we set up our billing the Telecom Relay Fund passed under
our radar so now we're just paying for that out of pocket. I'm
not sure if you are allowed to collect that specifically from
your customers as well.
On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 12:20 AM, Jeremy
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I am attempting to figure out all of the taxes for VoiP
and the main thing that has me confused is the Universal
Service Fund. It seems that my state (Utah) has a USF of
0.45%
http://www.psc.state.ut.us/utilities/telecom/documents/Rule%20746-360%20amendment.rtf
Then it also seems like the Feds want 15.1%?? That is
huge!
http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/contribution-factor-quarterly-filings-universal-service-fund-usf-management-support
Then there is sales and use tax of
*State Sales & Use -* 4.7%
*Municipality Sales & Use - *varies - see
http://tax.utah.gov/salestax/rate/13q3combined.pdf
Then we have E911:
*E911 State -* .08
*E911 County -* .61
*Poison Control -* .07
*-------------------------------*
*Total for E911 -* .76
Then, since October 2011 we are also liable for the
*Telecommunications Relay Fund* - .06
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-11-150A1.pdf
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--
Fred R. Goldstein fred "at" interisle.net
Interisle Consulting Group
+1 617 795 2701
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--
Fred R. Goldstein fred "at" interisle.net
Interisle Consulting Group
+1 617 795 2701
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