After making a career in multi-state corporate sales and use tax, I am still amazed at how complicated this industry is.  As if understanding the concept of sales and use tax isn’t difficult enough, throw in seller’s use, gross receipts, retailer’s use, excise tax, vendor’s use, B&O, and the daunting world of telecom taxes, it can be confusing to even the most seasoned professionals. There are many different industries and each one has its own set of regulations and can be quite complicated to navigate without help. 

I speak with several companies each week that are in the process of launching a new VoIP telecommunications service.  Misinformation abounds including……”Since it’s delivered over the Internet I thought it was tax free.”  I hear the following comment also…..”My carrier is collecting and paying all the taxes and fees for me.”

A focus of our practice is telecom tax, so we couldn’t help but be intrigued by the events of the International Telecommunications Union, which recently concluded in Dubai.  

The International Telecommunications Union’s World Conference opened in Dubai yesterday.  The purpose of the meeting is to review telecom regulations created in 1988.  This includes regulations on the internet.

At TaxConnex, we provide VoIP Tax outsourcing services to many of our clients.  We follow the VoIP/Telecom space with interest as IP based services continue to replace the PSTN.

Earlier this week I talked with a firm that audits telecommunications bills looking for over charges on the invoices from the service providers to the customer.  We lamented the fact that we never see telecom service providers apply the same taxes and fees to services especially related to VoIP taxes and fees.  Why is this?

If you’re in the process of launching a VoIP service, the tax and regulatory compliance requirements can be daunting. There’s a myriad of VoIP taxes and fees across the country. You may be curious as to the distinction between taxes and fees in this context. I describe the telecom taxes as those taxes administered by the state Departments of Revenue and local jurisdictions.  

Have you been following the stories about the UN's desire to gain more control of the internet from the US?  If you are a VoIP provider and are interested in VoIP tax (telecom tax), then maybe you should.

Most days I talk with at least one company that’s preparing to launch a VoIP service.  Various platform providers have made it simple to deliver the service; however, the various sales and telecom taxes (not to mention the regulatory requirements) add a great deal of complexity to a start-up business.  Consider a company preparing to launch a VoIP service and the various taxes and fees they must contend with – sales tax, communications services tax, utility users tax, gross receipts tax, 911 fees, USF contributions, FCC licensing…the list is seemingly endless.

(PRWEB) TaxConnex, America’s leading independent provider of sales and use tax outsourcing services, invites Telecom and VoIP service providers to meet and hear TaxConnex’s Founding Partner, Robert Dumas, CPA at the ISP America conference.  Robert will speak at the Tax Workshop and Presentation, covering topics related to telecom tax for start ups and new entrants.

One of TaxConnex’s business partners recently launched a new Software as a Service (SaaS) solution aimed at calculating telecom taxes and VoIP taxes.  The newly launched CCH CorpSystem SureTax Telecom solution provides a real-time, web-based tax calculation solution that leverages CCH’s telecom tax rates and applicability rules.

There are very few sales tax services that focus on telecom tax compliance.  I’ve seen a lot of interest from this segment of the market recently – not only with VoIP providers but with established telco’s.  I think this is mainly due to the disruption created in the market by Thomson Reuters (f.k.a. Tax Partners) and KPMG.  Thomson Reuters has historically been the leading telecom tax service provider but their recent decision to leave the transaction tax outsourcing business has caused a number of companies to re-evaluate their plans.