I meant those getting 80% profit.

Josh Luthman
Office: 937-552-2340
Direct: 937-552-2343
1100 Wayne St
Suite 1337
Troy, OH 45373
On Jul 28, 2013 7:17 PM, "Jeremy" <[email protected]> wrote:

> (plus taxes and fees)
>
>
> On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 5:17 PM, Jeremy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Josh - $21.95 residential and $29.95 business.
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 5:06 PM, Fred Goldstein <[email protected]>wrote:
>>
>>>  On 7/28/2013 2:20 PM, Jeremy wrote:
>>>
>>> So while I am de minimus should I not be charging a USF fee?  You stated
>>> that I cannot charge more than I pass along but if I pass along nothing
>>> until I am at the 10K mark then am I not supposed to bill it until that
>>> point?
>>>
>>>
>>> Carlos has good advice -- consult a lawyer.  (I'm not a lawyer but I
>>> play an engineer on TV.)  I just checked with one who could not render
>>> actual "advice".  Rather, he explained, "This is one of the mysteries of
>>> USF."
>>>
>>> The FCC forgot about this case when they did the rules.  So the usual
>>> practice seems to be to collect the fees.  You might after all be passing
>>> them along to your wholesale provider, who is charging USF to you.  But if
>>> you do go over the $10k limit, then you could owe retroactively, and in
>>> that case you want the money in the bank!  So unless they've clarified this
>>> in the instructions on the Form 499s (be warned; they do that sometimes,
>>> and you don't know the rule until you read the new fine print), you can
>>> pass along the fee you would be collecting under safe harbor, and apply it
>>> to the USF charges you're being hit with.
>>>
>>> I don't think these crazy fees are a reason to avoid voice services, but
>>> they are a pain to administer.  The FCC is terrible about writing clear
>>> rules.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 9:42 AM, Fred Goldstein 
>>> <[email protected]>wrote:
>>>
>>>>  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]>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]>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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>>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
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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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>>
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