| TAX TYPES |
TAX FOR:
T, C, or D |
IMPOSED
ON |
DEFINITION |
| Federal Excise Tax |
T |
C |
A federal tax on intrastate, interstate and international
telephone services and surcharges. |
| Federal Universal Service Fund |
T |
R, P |
A federal surcharge on interstate and international telephone
services to support universal service programs such as the schools and libraries discount
program. The Federal USF is also assessed on the Federal Line Charge and the Local Number
Portability Charge. |
| Federal Telecom Relay Surcharge |
T |
R, P |
A federal surcharge on interstate and international
telephone services to support the telephone relay service designed for persons who are
deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. The Federal TRS is also assessed on the
Federal Line Charge and the Local Number Portability Surcharge. The rate is
currently .08%. |
| State Sales Tax |
T, C, or D |
C |
A tax levied by a state government on the sale of
tangible personal property and/or certain services such as telephone or cable. |
| Simplified Municipal Telecom Tax |
T |
R, P |
A tax levied by a local government on all intrastate telephone
services. |
| ST Telecommunications Excise Tax |
T |
R, P |
A tax levied by a state government on all intrastate telephone
services. |
| ST Universal Service Fund Surcharge - Local |
T |
|
A surcharge assessed on local and intrastate regional and
intrastate long distance calls. Funds raised by this levy are used to keep basic local
phone service affordable for subscribers of telecommunications carriers located in rural
and high cost areas within the state. |
| State P.U.C. Tax |
T |
|
A state imposed tax on the gross receipts on utility bills
which supports the work of the Illinois Commerce Commission. |
| State Infrastructure Fee |
T |
C |
A fee levied by the state government on the gross
charges for intrastate telephone services. |
| County and City Sales Tax |
T, C or D |
C |
A tax levied by a local government on the sale of
tangible personal property and/or certain services such as telephone or cable. |
| 911 Tax - State, County or City |
T |
R, P |
The E911 system utilizes a computerized system to automatically
route emergency telephone calls to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). The
enhanced 911 system allows the PSAP operator to automatically see the phone number and address
of the person calling. The E911 fee covers the installation and maintenance expenses for the
E911 system. All lines (residential and commercial) are subject to a monthly E911 charge per
line which is imposed by the respective state and local Public Service commissions. However,
the way that the charge is applied varies by state and in some markets vary by county as well. |
| Universal Service Charge |
T |
R |
The purpose of this fund is to maintain the affordability of local
service rates for customers while allowing rural telephone companies to reduce accesss charges and
intra-LATA toll rates, on a revenue-neutral basis, thereby encouraging greater competition. The
charge cannot be passed on to the customer. |
| Federal Line Charge |
T |
C |
A nationwide charge that is designed to recover a portion of local
telephone companies' costs associated with providing long distance carriers with access to the
local phone network. Long distance carriers pay the remainder of the cost. This charge is
regulated by the FCC. |
| Local Number Portability |
T |
C |
Local Number Portability charges provide funds for significant
upgrades to networks, services and systems that will allow customers to keep their phone
numbers when they change local phone companies. Per an FCC ruling, each access line is
subject to a this monthly charge regardless of whether the number has been ported or not. |
| Port Charge |
T |
C |
This surcharge is assessed only on Commercial customers using
ISDN and DS-1 products. It is a recurring charge for the use of the port which interfaces
and connects the local loop to a high-speed network. |
| Franchise Fee |
C |
R, P |
A fee paid to a municipality to allow use of the public streets
and rights-of-way and operate a cable television system within that municipality. This is a
contractual agreement with the town/city ans is normally assessed on all cable revenue. |
| Amusement Tax |
C |
C |
An amusement tax is imposed by the City of Chicago upon the patrons
of every amusement within the City. Amusement includes any paid television programming whether
transmitted by wire, cable, fiberoptics, laser, microwave, radio, satellite, or similar means. |
| Regulatory Fee |
C |
R, P |
This fee is an annual assessment imposed by the FCC pursuant to
Public Law 103-66, Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. The FCC uses these monies to
offset costs associated with its enforcement, public service, international and policy and
rulemaking activities. |
