South Carolina Code 58-9-2220. Retail telecommunications services business license taxes; maximum rates
(1) A business license tax levied by a municipality upon retail telecommunications services for the years 1999 through the year 2003 shall not exceed three-tenths of one percent of the gross income derived from the sale of retail telecommunications services for the preceding calendar or fiscal year which either originate or terminate in the municipality and which are charged to a service address within the municipality regardless of where these amounts are billed or paid and on which a business license tax has not been paid to another municipality. The business license tax levied by a municipality upon retail telecommunications services for the year 2004 and every year thereafter shall not exceed the business license tax rate as established in § 58-9-2220(2). For a business in operation for less than one year, the amount of business license tax authorized by this section must be computed based on a twelve-month projected income.
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 58-9-2220
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Service address: means the location of the telecommunications equipment from which telecommunications services are originated or at which telecommunications services are received by a retail customer. See South Carolina Code 58-9-2200
- Telecommunications company: means a provider of one or more telecommunications services. See South Carolina Code 58-9-2200
- telecommunications service: includes , but is not limited to, local telephone services, toll telephone services, telegraph services, teletypewriter services, teleconferencing services, private line services, channel services, Internet protocol telephony, and mobile telecommunications services and to the extent not already provided herein, those services described in North American Industry Classification System Manual (NAICS) 5171, 5172, 5173, 5174, and 5179, except satellite services exempted by law. See South Carolina Code 58-9-2200
(2) The maximum business license tax that may be levied by a municipality on the gross income derived from the sale of retail telecommunications services for the preceding calendar or fiscal year which either originate or terminate in the municipality and which are charged to a service address within the municipality regardless of where these amounts are billed or paid and on which a business license tax has not been paid to another municipality for a business license tax year beginning after 2003 is one percent of gross income derived from the sale of retail telecommunication services.
(3) A business license tax levied by a municipality upon the retail telecommunications services provided by a telecommunications company must be levied in a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory manner upon all providers of retail telecommunications services.
(4) The measurement of the amounts derived from the retail sale of telecommunications services does not include:
(a) an excise tax, sales tax, or similar tax, fee, or assessment levied by the United States or any state or local government including, but not limited to, emergency telephone surcharges, upon the purchase, sale, use, or consumption of a telecommunications service, which is permitted or required to be added to the purchase price of the service; and
(b) bad debts.
(5) A business license tax levied by a municipality upon a telecommunications company must be reported and remitted on an annual basis. The municipality may inspect the records of the telecommunications company as they relate to payments under this article.
(6) The measurement of the amounts derived from the retail sale of mobile telecommunications services shall include only revenues from the fixed monthly recurring charge of customers whose service address is within the boundaries of the municipality.