| 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. |
| County or 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. |
| State Gross Receipts Tax |
T |
R, P |
A tax levied by a state government on all intrastate
telephone services. |
| School District Tax |
T |
R, P |
School districts with territory in cities with populations
of 125,000 or less may impose this tax. This tax may be levied in addition to a similar
city or county tax or a city or county sales tax. The tax is imposed on all local or
long distance intrastate telecommunication charges. |
| State Excise Tax |
T |
R, P |
A tax levied by a state government on all intrastate
telephone services. |
| MTA Surcharge |
T |
R, P |
A surcharge which is assessed on NY state gross receipts
and NY state excise taxes. It applies only to the 12 county Metropolitan Commuter
Transportation District. The receipts from the surcharge are earmarked for the Mass
Transportation Operating Assistance Fund which supports public transportation. |
| City Excise Tax |
T |
R, P |
This is an excise tax New York City imposes on the provider
of utility services for the privilege of exercising their franchise, holding property or
doing business in New York City. |
| 911 Tax - State, County or City |
T |
C |
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. |
| Franchise Fee - Telephone |
T |
R, P |
A fee paid to a municipality to allow use of the public
streets and rights-of-way and to provide telephone service within that municipality.
This is a contractual agreement with the town/city and is usually assessed on all
telephone services. |
| Targeted Accessibility Fund |
T |
R |
The Targeted Accessibility Fund (TAF) was established to
fund Lifeline, emergency services (911), and telecommunication relay service (TRS) for
the hearing impaired. The fee is assessed on intrastate gross revenue and carrier access
charges. The fee cannot be passed on to customers. |
| City Gross Receipts Tax |
T |
R |
A tax levied by a local government on all intrastate telephone
services. This tax cannot be a separately stated charge on a customer's bill. The company
can increase the tarriffed rate to include this tax. RCN currently does not increae the
tarriffed rate for service to recoup this tax. |
| 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 - Cable |
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. |
| OVS Fee - Cable |
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 and is normally assessed on all cable revenue. |
| 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. |
| PEG Access Fee |
C |
R, P |
The NYC PEG Access fee provides:for the upgrade, purchase
and/or rental of public access facilities and equipment for the City of New York, to
assist in defraying the operating expenses of the NYC Community Access Organization (CAO)
and the expneses of the activities that the CAO may undertake,for grants to qualified
persons for the development of programming for the Public Channels, for the support the
programming initiatives of the CAO, for grants to independent programmers. |
