Understanding the Taxes and Regulatory Charges section of your invoice

Taxes and Regulatory Charges

The “Taxes and Regulatory Charges” section of your invoice covers the following fees:

• Federal Universal Service Fund
• State and Local Taxes and Fees
• 911 Tax
• Emergency 911 Service Fee
• Compliance and Administrative Cost Recovery Fee

Below is a detail of what each of those items include.

1. Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF)
   • What it is: A national program to make telecom services affordable and available everywhere, especially in rural and low-income areas, and to subsidize schools, libraries, and rural healthcare connectivity. As stated under the FCC Universal Support Mechanisms, all telecommunications and interconnected VoIP providers are required to pay into the FUSF
   • Who imposes it: U.S. Federal Government (FCC).
   • Why you’re charged: PanTerra, like all telecom and VoIP providers, must pay into this fund. They’re allowed to recover their cost from customers, but they cannot charge you more than they actually pay.
   • Variable rate: Changes quarterly; current rates are on the FCC’s site here: Contribution Factor.
2. State, Local, and Provincial Taxes
   • What it is: Sales taxes or telecom-specific surcharges imposed by your state, province, city, or county.
   • Who imposes it: Local and regional governments.
   • Why you’re charged: These are mandatory taxes — amounts go directly to those governments, not to PanTerra.
   • Varies by location: Mandatory surcharges may be imposed by local governments; therefore, these taxes and surcharges vary by jurisdiction.
3. 911 Tax
   • What it is: A government-mandated tax to fund local emergency response (fire, police, ambulance, etc.).
   • Who imposes it: Local governments.
   • Why you’re charged: Every phone service provider must collect and remit this to help fund emergency services.
4. Emergency 911 Recovery Service Fee
   • What it is: A PanTerra-specific fee for the cost of providing 911/E911 service (routing your call to the right local dispatcher with your address/location info).
   • Who imposes it: This is not a government-mandated charge, this is PanTerra’s cost recovery. Customers are charged the Emergency Recovery Service Fee at the same rate for all applicable seats.
   • Why you’re charged: Covers system upkeep and operations that ensure emergency calls work for each user/seat.
5. Compliance and Administrative Cost Recovery Fee
   
   • What it is: A PanTerra-specific charge to recover costs of complying with telecom rules and maintaining certain infrastructure and intellectual property.
   • Examples of what it covers:
     • Contributions to Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) which supports facilities and services that provide telecommunications services for individuals with hearing or speech disabilities.
     • Local Number Portability (LNP) and caller ID authentication (STI-GA).
     • FCC and other regulatory compliance (privacy, anti-fraud, numbering, accessibility, etc.).
     • Payments to underlying telecom providers for network access and call termination.
     • Costs for certain network facilities and services, certain data centers, and the operation, protection, and maintenance of necessary network infrastructure and data centers.
     • Charges associated with filing and maintaining patents, trademarks and other proprietary rights; and some administrative costs associated with providing its services
   • Who imposes it: This is not a government-mandated charge; this is PanTerra’s cost recovery.
   • Why you’re charged: To offset operational and compliance costs that aren’t covered by standard service fees.