Charges on your phone bill

Below is a list with charges that can be found on a telephone bill:

Federal taxes:

• Federal Excise Tax – 3% tax mandated by the US Federal Government and imposed on all telecommunications services
• Universal Service Fund (USF) - all long distance carriers providing state to state service are required to contribute to this federal fund. The USF is meant to help make telephone service easily accessible and affordable to all Americans and American public institutions. Most carriers choose to pass this charge to consumers. The USF charge also appears on your phone bill as:
• Federal Universal Service Fee
• Universal Connectivity Fee

State, municipal and local taxes:

• 911 Tax – local charge imposed to help pay for emergency services
• State & Local Municipal Tax – charge imposed by state, local, or municipal authorities. Also know as Gross Receipts tax.
• (State) Subscriber Line Charge – charge mandated by some states’ public service or utility commissions to compensate the local phone company for part of the cost of providing local telephone lines associated with state services, i.e., intrastate long distance.
• Telecommunications Relay Services Charge – state charge imposed to finance the Relay Center used to transmit and translate telephone calls for the hearing and and/or speech impared.

Charges imposed by your phone service provider:

• Directory Assistance Charge - Depending on your provider you may be able to make a few Directory Assistance requests for free
• Local Number Portability Charge (LNP) – Phone companies are allowed (not required) to charge a fee for recovering costs involved with providing Telephone Number Portability to their customers
• Low Usage Fee - many companies charge a fee for low monthly usage, usually in the range of $1-$2 for usage less than $15-$20; basically this fee pays for your paper bill, therefore it is often waived if you choose to pay your phone bill online
• Non-Primary Lines - a higher Subscriber Line Charge is imposed for additional lines at the same location
• Operator Assisted Calls Charge
• Single Bill Fee - some companies charge their customers a fee for including all calling costs on one bill; you can avoid this fee by requesting a separate bill for your long distance calls
• Subscriber Line Charge – this was instituted after the break-up of AT&T in 1984 to cover the costs of the local phone network. This charge may also appear on your phone bill as:
  • FCC Charge for Network Access
  • Federal Line Cost Charge
  • Interstate Access Charge
  • Federal Access Charge
  • Interstate Single Line Charge
  • (FCC Approved) Customer Line Charge