Ringover billing includes mandatory taxes and fees as well as recovery fees specific to your telecommunications services. In this guide, you will learn how to identify and understand each tax or fee line appearing on your invoice for complete transparency.
1. Distinguish government-imposed taxes and fees
These mandatory fees are required by federal, state, and local governments to fund public services and regulatory programs. They are calculated based on your billing address and appear as separate line items.
Here is the breakdown of these government taxes:
- Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF) : Regulated by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), this fund ensures access to quality telecommunications in rural or low-income areas. The amount is calculated as a percentage of your invoice according to the current rate updated periodically by the FCC.
- Federal regulatory fee : This fee contributes to the FCC's administrative costs for its regulatory and oversight activities. It appears as a fixed amount per user or a percentage of your invoice.
- State and local taxes : Each state and local jurisdiction may impose its own specific taxes (telecommunications sales taxes, state regulatory fees for public utility commissions, local utility user tax - UUT, or other regional surcharges).
- 911 fee : Imposed at the local or state level, this fee funds emergency services (police, fire department, ambulance). Collected under the heading "911 Fee", Ringover remits it in full to the relevant authorities.
2. Identify recovery fees applied by Ringover
These internal recovery fees are not taxes and are not imposed by any government entity. Ringover applies them to offset costs related to regulatory compliance, network infrastructure, and emergency services support in order to provide you with secure, high-quality communication services.
These fees are broken down into two distinct categories:
Compliance and administrative cost recovery fee (CRF)
This fee allows Ringover to recover costs associated with two major areas:
- Regulatory compliance : Compliance with FCC regulations, caller ID verification, fraud prevention, adherence to data protection and privacy laws, and management of phone number allocation rules.
- Network management and infrastructure : Maintenance of phone numbers and call routing systems, management of third-party carrier costs, and securing and upgrading data centers and network infrastructure.
Billing information:
- Cost : $2.97 per user per month (billed monthly, or annually for annual subscriptions).
- Nature : The CRF is not a government tax.
E911 regulatory recovery fee
This fee funds the operation, maintenance, and upgrading of emergency calling services, in accordance with FCC regulations on 911 and E911.
- What this fee covers : Maintenance and technical improvement of E911 systems, hardware and software updates to optimize location tracking and emergency call routing, and overall compliance with safety requirements.
Billing information:
- Cost : $0.97 per user per month (billed monthly, or annually for annual subscriptions).
- Nature : This amount is essential to ensure the handling and location-based routing of emergency calls (911/E911).
3. Manage multi-state billing
If your team members or users are spread across different states, tax management follows a single address rule.
To understand how taxes apply territorially, follow this calculation rule:
- Check the primary billing address registered on your Ringover account.
- Note that taxes are calculated exclusively based on this single billing address.
- Ignore the actual physical or geographical location of individual users for this calculation.
4. FAQ
I have users in multiple states. How are taxes calculated?
Taxes and fees are calculated exclusively based on the billing address registered on your Ringover account, regardless of the physical location of your individual users.
🎉 You now know how taxes and recovery fees are calculated on your Ringover account and can analyze your invoices with complete transparency!