What taxes and fees are billed to my account?
This article will help you understand the specific taxes, surcharges, and regulatory fees that appear on your Phone.com invoice.
Phone.com is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) as an Interconnected VoIP Carrier, which obliges us to collect certain taxes and fees. For general information on understanding FCC-related taxes and fees charged on your phone account, please visit the FCC website.
Taxes and fees are also collected by many states, as well as by some counties and cities, based on state laws and regulations. This is why you may be charged a different total price on your bill for a specific service based on where you live.
We’re often asked why we don’t even out taxes and fees, charging a flat-rate total price across the board, regardless of where our customers live. The answer is that we are not allowed to bundle certain taxes and fees into a lump sum, and are required by law to itemize certain taxes and fees. The amount and type of taxes and fees also change regularly.
We don’t enjoy charging taxes and fees, but we must do so in order to provide our service. Some of the most common taxes and fees we collect include:
Regulatory Recovery Fee
Phone.com uses this fee to recover certain of Ooma’s costs associated with compliance with regulatory, legal and tax requirements including: (1) fees Phone.com is required to pay to support the Telecommunications Relay Services fund, which supports facilities and services used to provide telecommunications services for individuals with hearing or speech disabilities; (2) costs Phone.com incurs administering, billing, collecting and making required tax and regulatory filings and complying with certain federal regulatory obligations; (3) regulatory surcharges Phone.com pays to the providers of telecommunications that Phone.com uses to provide its services.
e911 Service Fee
The 911 Service Fee helps Phone.com recover its costs of providing 911 service for Phone.com customers as required by FCC regulations.
State and Local Taxes and Surcharges
These charges include taxes, fees and surcharges imposed by state, county, parish, borough, district and municipal governments, such as state universal service funds, local 911 services, sales and utility taxes and other local taxes, fees and surcharges, based on the registered location of your Phone.com device. Some of these fees are government mandated charges and others are charges Phone.com passes through to you.