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?
On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 9:42 AM, Fred Goldstein <fgoldst...@ionary.com>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 <ch...@lakenetmi.com>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 <jeremysmi...@gmail.com> 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 >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wireless mailing list >>> Wireless@wispa.org >>> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wireless mailing list >> Wireless@wispa.org >> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wireless mailing > listWireless@wispa.orghttp://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > > > -- > Fred R. Goldstein fred "at" interisle.net > Interisle Consulting Group > +1 617 795 2701 > > > _______________________________________________ > Wireless mailing list > Wireless@wispa.org > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > >
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