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Pennsylvania taxes, surcharges & fees
Taxes, surcharges and fees defined
Review our guide to understanding the taxes listed on your services bill in Pennsylvania, including district-specific fees.
Defined in the tax definitions chart are the who, what, and where for each type of charge that may appear on your bill. Also, a legend shows the key codes that represent which type of service and who is being charged.
Legend
Key codes for the Tax Definitions Guide represent the type of service and who is being charged.
| Key | Tax Type | Key | Imposed On |
|---|---|---|---|
| T | Telephone (Voice) | C | Customer |
| C | Cable (Video) | R | RCN |
| D | Data (Internet) | R/P | RCN passed through to Customer |
| M | Mobile | S | Surcharge imposed by RCN |
Also in this region
See the Tax Definitions Guide for each state in this region:
Pennsylvania tax, surcharge & fee guide
| Tax, fee or surcharge | Tax, fee or surcharge for T, C, D, or M | Imposed on | Definition | Location on the bill where the charge appears in the Tax, Surcharge, or Fee section |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Excise Tax | T | C | A federal tax on local telephone services and surcharges. | Telephone |
| Federal Universal Service Fund | T, M | R/P | A federal surcharge on interstate and international telephone services to support universal service programs such as the schools and libraries discount program. The Federal USF may also be assessed on phone surcharges. | Telephone, Mobile |
| State Sales Tax | T, C, D, M | C | A tax levied by a state government on the sale of tangible personal property and/or certain services. | Telephone, Cable, Data, Mobile |
| State Gross Receipts Tax | T, M | R/P | A tax levied by the state government on telephone services. | Telephone, Mobile |
| State Telecom Relay Surcharge | T, M | R/P | A state surcharge on telephone access lines to support the telephone relay service designed for persons who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. | Telephone, Mobile |
| City Sales Tax | T, C, D, M | C | A tax levied by a local government on the sale of tangible personal property and/or certain services. | Telephone, Cable, Data, Mobile |
| 911 Tax – State, County or City | T, M | C | The E911 system utilizes a system to automatically route emergency telephone calls to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). The enhanced 911 system allows the PSAP operator to automatically see the phone number and address of the person calling. The E911 fee covers the expenses for the E911 system. All lines (residential and commercial) are subject to a monthly E911 charge per line which is imposed by the respective Public Service commissions. | Telephone, Mobile |
| Universal Service Charge | T, M | R | The purpose of this fund is to maintain the affordability of local service rates for customers while allowing rural telephone companies to reduce accesss charges and intra-LATA toll rates, on a revenue-neutral basis, thereby encouraging greater competition. The charge is not passed on to the customer. | Telephone, Mobile |
| Subscriber Line Charge | T | S | Monthly recurring charge applied to all phone line, trunk, and PRI services offered pursuant to RCN’s tariffs and/or price lists. There are no exemptions associated with this product charge. Rates are subject to change. This charge is not government mandated nor a tax or fee imposed on you by the government. It is a surcharge RCN assesses and retains. | Telephone |
| Port Charge | T | S | This surcharge is assessed only on commercial customers using ISDN and DS-1 products. It is a recurring charge for the use of the port which interfaces and connects the local loop to a high-speed network. This charge is not government mandated nor a tax or fee imposed on you by the government. It is surcharge RCN assesses and retains. | Telephone |
| Regulatory Administration Fee | T | S | This fee is assessed to recover the cost of complying with certain federal impositions related to voice service. It is a monthly charge to defray a portion of the fees paid to support government programs such as Telecommunications Relay Service and Local Number Portability, along with other charges assessed by the FCC, and additional indirect costs associated with administering and complying with government programs. This charge is not a customer tax or fee assessed by a government agency. It is a surcharge RCN assesses and retains. | Telephone |
| Franchise Fee | C | R/P | A fee paid to a municipality to allow use of the public streets and rights-of-way and operate a cable television system within that municipality. This is a contractual agreement with the town/city and is normally assessed on all cable revenue. | Cable |
| Cable Regulatory Fee | C | R/P | This fee is an annual assessment imposed by the FCC pursuant to Public Law 103-66, Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. The FCC uses these monies to offset costs associated with its enforcement, public service, international and policy and rulemaking activities. | Cable |
| Network Access and Maintenance Fee | D | S | A fee to defray costs associated with building and maintaining RCN’s fiber powered broadband network, as well as the costs of expanding network capacity to support the continued increase in customers’ average bandwidth consumption. This fee is not a government mandated tax or fee imposed on you by the government. This is a fee that RCN assesses and retains. | Data |
| Broadcast Surcharge | C | S | Recovery of a portion of the rapidly increasing costs charged by local broadcast TV stations for carriage rights. This fee is not a government mandated tax or fee imposed by the government. This is a fee RCN assesses and retains. | Cable |
| Entertainment Surcharge | C | S | Recovery of a portion of the rapidly escalating charges levied by entertainment networks such as Viacom, AMC, Scrippts Networks and others. This fee is not a government mandated tax or fee imposed by the government. This is a fee RCN assesses and retains. | Cable |
| Sports Surcharge | C | S | Recovery of a portion of the rapidly increasing costs of sports related programming. This fee is not a government mandated tax or fee imposed by the government. This is a fee RCN assesses and retains. | Cable |
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