| (1) Providers subject to assessments. The TUSF assessments
shall be payable by all telecommunications providers having access
to the customer base; including but not limited to wireline and wireless
providers of telecommunications services. The following entities are
exempt from paying TUSF assessments on the services that they sell
to their guests or tenants but are not exempt from TUSF pass-through
assessments from telecommunications providers:
(A) a hotel or motel;
(B) an owner or lessor of an office or residential
building development that contracts and pays for telecommunications
services for resale to guests or tenants; and
(C) a development that contracts and pays for telecommunications
services for resale to guests or tenants.
(2) Definitions. For the purposes of this section the
following definitions apply:
(A) Actual intrastate telecommunications services receipts--Telecommunications
services receipts that are clearly identifiable as intrastate telecommunications
services receipts, as defined in subparagraph (E) of this paragraph.
(B) FCC--means the Federal Communications Commission.
(C) Interstate communications--Has the meaning assigned
by 47 U.S.C. §153(22).
(D) International communications--Has the meaning assigned
by 47 U.S.C. §153(17) (foreign communications).
(E) Intrastate telecommunications services receipts--Taxable
telecommunications services receipts as reported by the telecommunications
provider under Chapter 151 of the Texas Tax Code, with the exception
of:
(i) Pay telephone service revenues received by providers
of pay telephone services, which are exempt from the TUSF assessment
pursuant to PURA §56.022(c)(2);
(ii) Telecommunications services receipts from interstate
communications and international communications included in telecommunications
services receipts reported under Chapter 151 of the Texas Tax Code;
and
(iii) TUSF surcharges collected from customers.
(F) Receipts--Has the meaning assigned by Texas Tax
Code §151.007.
(G) Safe-Harbor intrastate telecommunications services
receipts--Means intrastate telecommunications receipts calculated
by applying a commission-ordered percentage to telecommunications
services receipts that are not clearly identifiable as intrastate.
(H) Telecommunications provider--Has the meaning assigned
by PURA §51.002(10).
(I) Telecommunications services--Has the meaning assigned
by Texas Tax Code §151.0103.
(3) Basis for assessments. Assessments will be based
upon the following:
(A) Actuals. Effective December 1, 2017, assessments
shall be made to each telecommunications provider based upon its monthly
taxable actual intrastate telecommunications services receipts reported
by that telecommunications provider under Chapter 151 of the Texas
Tax Code.
(B) Commission-Ordered Safe Harbor. A telecommunications
provider that is unable to calculate actual intrastate telecommunications
services receipts by January 1, 2007, and does not meet the de minimus
exemption in subsection (c) of this section, may request, and the
commission may grant for good cause, the modification or waiver of
the requirement set forth in subsection (a) of this section, to allow
the telecommunications provider to calculate all or some of its intrastate
taxable telecommunications receipts using the relevant commission-ordered
safe-harbor percentage. Requests for waiver will be subject to administrative
review unless the presiding officer determines at any point during
the review that the request should be docketed. The presiding officer
will issue an order approving, denying or docketing the request for
waiver within 180 calendar days of the filing date of the waiver request.
(i) A request for waiver must contain, at a minimum:
(I) an affidavit from a corporate officer of the telecommunications
provider attesting to the fact that the telecommunications provider
is unable to calculate all or some of its actual intrastate telecommunications
services receipts and, if applicable, that the telecommunications
provider is using a safe harbor authorized by the FCC;
(II) a date by which the telecommunications provider
will be able to calculate actual intrastate telecommunications services
receipts;
(III) an explanation detailing why the telecommunications
provider is unable to calculate actual intrastate telecommunications
services receipts and why a waiver is necessary;
(IV) a detailed description of the safe-harbor percentage
that is requested and how it will be applied;
(V) if applicable, a compliance tariff filing pursuant
to paragraph (6)(C) of this subsection; and
(VI) any other information that the telecommunications
provider believes will aid in rendering of a decision.
(ii) If a telecommunications provider requests a permanent
waiver from reporting its TUSF assessment based on actual intrastate
telecommunications services receipts, then the telecommunications
provider must file a waiver containing all elements in clause (i)
of this subparagraph, as well as an explanation detailing why a permanent
waiver is required, and why it is in the public interest.
(iii) A telecommunications provider that has been granted
a waiver shall apply, for the duration of that waiver, a safe-harbor
percentage to its telecommunications services receipts using one of
the methods described in subclauses (I) or (II) of this clause as
follows:
(I) If a telecommunications provider is reporting interstate
communications and international communications revenues for assessment
for the federal universal service fund based on an FCC safe-harbor
percentage, then the telecommunications provider shall apply the inverse
of that percentage to its telecommunications services receipts as
reported under Chapter 151 of the Texas Tax Code. The resulting total
will be the telecommunications provider's safe-harbor-calculated total
intrastate telecommunications services receipts to which the TUSF
assessment rate shall apply pursuant to paragraph (4) of this subsection.
(II) If a telecommunications provider is not using
an FCC safe-harbor percentage, the telecommunications provider shall
apply a commission-ordered safe harbor percentage to its telecommunications
services receipts under Chapter 151 of the Texas Tax Code as described
in its waiver request approved by the commission. The resulting total
will be the telecommunications provider's safe-harbor-calculated intrastate
telecommunications services receipts to which the TUSF assessment
rate shall apply pursuant to paragraph (4) of this subsection.
(iv) If a telecommunications provider that has been
granted a waiver seeks to change its safe-harbor assessment methodology,
or seeks an extension of its existing waiver, it must file another
waiver request with the commission.
(v) A telecommunications provider may, at any time
during the duration of its waiver and upon notice to the commission
and the TUSF administrator, change its methodology to assess actual
intrastate telecommunications services receipts. This will terminate
any existing waiver.
(C) De minimus exemption. A telecommunications provider
that is unable to calculate actual intrastate telecommunications services
receipts by January 1, 2007, and whose TUSF assessment is less than
$500 per month using the relevant commission-ordered safe-harbor percentage,
is not required to file a waiver request pursuant to subparagraph
(B) of this paragraph.
(D) Intrastate telecommunications services receipts
received by telecommunications providers from telecommunications services
supplied to pay telephone providers for the provision of pay telephone
services are subject to TUSF assessment.
(4) Assessment. Each telecommunications provider shall
pay its TUSF assessment each month by multiplying the commission-approved
assessment rate by the basis for assessments as determined pursuant
to paragraph (3) of this subsection.
(5) Reporting requirements. Each telecommunications
provider shall report its taxable intrastate telecommunications services
receipts under Chapter 151 of the Tax Code to the commission or the
TUSF administrator. When reporting its intrastate telecommunications
services receipts, each telecommunications provider shall report its
total taxable telecommunications services receipts under Chapter 151
of the Tax Code, and indicate which methodology or methodologies (i.e.,
actual and/or commission-ordered safe-harbor percentage) it used to
arrive at its total intrastate telecommunications services receipts.
Cont'd... |
