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BMB777's profile

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Saturday, September 15th, 2018 9:04 PM

Surcharges and fees, Government taxes and Fees

Could someone help me in determining how to calculate the costs which use percentages within these sections : Federal Universal Service Charge (.179%), SC universal service charge (2.07%), and SC state sales tax- Telecom? 

 

I have a plan which includes mobile share data, as well as, access iPhone 4G for 3 lines.

 

I have not been able to find where exactly these percentages are applied in order to come to the amounts charged to my bill for each. Those I spoke with at at&t were not able to give me a very definite answer and they actually gave me multiple answers....

 

I believe that this information should be provided as the charges can total $20-$40 easily on my bill each month. 

 

I have been told they would not be applied to the amounts which go towards my iPhone installment payments (as they are supposed to be charges by the government based solely on phone usage). I have also been told they are applied solely to the access iPhone 4G charges, to the entire phone charges on the account, or applied specifically to the calls and based on usage. ( In their system automatically generated and that they are unaware how it would be applied or how the system does this)....I am also unsure as to how they would apply the "other surcharges and fees" (1.00%+ 0.37) as they deem necessary or how it would be shown in my bill if these charges were applied to my bill.  

 

 

Seeing as how it is a percent, I would assume it is applied to an amount already first determined for my bill.....

 

 

Contributor

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1 Message

5 years ago

I received my DirecTV bill and going over it I noticed an extra 69 cents added on with the statement "Federal Cost Recovery Charge" I immediately called DirecTV and asked to speak with customer services. A young lady came on the line and I told her my concerns and asked her to please explain the charge and she then placed me on hold and tried her best to come up with something that wasn't very convincing prompting me to ask for someone who could explain the charges to me, she then told me to look on back of bill and where it told about the extra charge being added, I already looked b I couldn't find a number anywhere that had a different that was any different than the one I had called to get to her. She then asked me if she could place me on hold again so she could look for one. When she came back she then proceeded to tell me to call City Hall and ask them to explain the charges and it would only be for 3 months for a total of $4.60 , needless to say it would be more like 6. Reading the info I could get out of what I read this charge is for the hearing or speech impairment , I don't have neither and don't think I should have to pay for something that they haven't been able to collect over the years. My question to you is do I have to pay this charge, it's not the amount but paying for something I don't even use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

5 years ago


@Zoeayla wrote:

I received my DirecTV bill and going over it I noticed an extra 69 cents added on with the statement "Federal Cost Recovery Charge" I immediately called DirecTV and asked to speak with customer services. A young lady came on the line and I told her my concerns and asked her to please explain the charge and she then placed me on hold and tried her best to come up with something that wasn't very convincing prompting me to ask for someone who could explain the charges to me, she then told me to look on back of bill and where it told about the extra charge being added, I already looked b I couldn't find a number anywhere that had a different that was any different than the one I had called to get to her. She then asked me if she could place me on hold again so she could look for one. When she came back she then proceeded to tell me to call City Hall and ask them to explain the charges and it would only be for 3 months for a total of $4.60 , needless to say it would be more like 6. Reading the info I could get out of what I read this charge is for the hearing or speech impairment , I don't have neither and don't think I should have to pay for something that they haven't been able to collect over the years. My question to you is do I have to pay this charge, it's not the amount but paying for something I don't even use.

 


This isn’t the TV forum.  

If it’s a federal tax, it’s on the bill, you have to pay it.  

I assume they are saying it’s for Close caption.  Just like 911 fees we pay on our phone bill, we all pay for the system to work for all.  

Contributor

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2 Messages

5 years ago

Two Lines that are on the same Group Plan:

 

Line 1: $35.00 Phone Access Charge

            $8.99  Mobile Insurance

             iPhoneSE  -  Phone used 0 data for this month

 

Line 2: Exact same plan and phone model - 0 data for this month

 

Both phones were purchased long ago at the same time.  Both lines/phones are spare phones that are kept at the company office "just in case".  Thus, the 0 data usage and 0 calls/texts etc...

 

 Line 1Line 2
State Cost Recovery Fee$0.04$0.13
County District Sales Tax$0.34$0.84
TX State Sales Tax$1.07$2.64

 

I used this example to show that there is literally no difference between plans/equipment/usage and yet the taxes are different.  We have 20 phone lines and this is a VERY common occurrence.  Why would the fees/taxes be different in the above example?

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3 Messages

4 years ago

So why aren't we being charged tax for upgrade fees?

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

4 years ago


@Antraw wrote:

So why aren't we being charged tax for upgrade fees?


Good question. For which I have no answer.  I was not charged tax on an upgrade fee two years ago. At least not that I remember. I did however get charged tax on activation fees for new lines

 

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