Surcharge Rates
There are a number of surcharges and taxes assessed on telecommunications services by the State of California, city and county governments, and federal agencies. These taxes and surcharges are collected by telecommunications carriers which then remit these funds as directed by the appropriate authorities.
Beginning April 1, 2023, the CPUC is transitioning the Public Purpose Program surcharges to the access line flat rate surcharge mechanism adopted in D.22-10-021. This new surcharge mechanism will assess a flat rate surcharge for each active access line that telephone corporation services in California.
New Flat Rate Surcharges - Beginning April 2023
Beginning April 1, 2023, the Public Purpose Program surcharge is a single flat rate that is assessed for each active access line. This surcharge applies to all telephone corporations including wireline, wireless (prepaid and postpaid), and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
|
Effective Date |
Flat Rate Surcharge Amount * |
Amount of Total Flat Rate Surcharge |
Percentage of Total Flat Rate Surcharge |
||||||||||
|
4/1/2023 |
$0.60 |
$0.11 |
$0.08 |
$- |
$0.18 |
$0.14 |
53.99% |
9.62% |
7.54% |
0.00% |
16.04% |
12.82% |
|
*Assessed for each active access line
Legacy Surcharge Rates Based on Intrastate Revenue - Prior to April 2023
Prior to April 2023, the CPUC had six individual surcharges, one for each of the Public Purpose Programs. Since January 1, 2019, the rates illustrated below applied to ALL telecommunications services - including intrastate prepaid wireless services which was previously subject to the Prepaid MTS Act. Click on the Surcharge to access the Adopting Resolution.
|
Effective |
DDTP* |
TOTAL | |||||
| 02/02/2022 | 4.750% | 1.11% | 0.700% | 0.000% | 0.780% | 1.019% | 8.359% |
| 12/01/2020 | 4.750% | 0.500% | 0.700% | 0.000% | 0.780% | 1.019% | 7.749% |
| 09/01/2018 | 4.750% | 0.500% | 0.350% | 0.000% | 0.780% | 0.560% | 6.94% |
| 03/01/2018 | 4.750% | 0.500% | 0.350% | 0.000% | 1.080% | 0.560% | 7.240% |
|
12/01/2016 11/01/2016 10/01/2015 08/01/2015 06/01/2015 02/01/2015 01/01/2015 10/01/2014 04/01/2014 02/01/2014 10/01/2013 04/01/2013 12/01/2012 |
6.680% 7.144% 7.894% 6.194% 4.794% 4.644% 4.344% 2.924% 2.584% 2.284% 2.584% 2.804% 2.780% |
||||||
|
07/01/2012 |
2.269% | ||||||
|
11/01/2011 |
1.869% | ||||||
|
05/01/2011 |
1.729% | ||||||
|
12/01/2010 |
1.879% | ||||||
|
05/01/2010 |
1.989% | ||||||
|
01/01/2010 |
2.009% |
* DDTP: This surcharge is designated "CA Relay Service and Communications Devices Fund."
The end-user surcharges are assessed on consumers' intrastate telecommunications services except for the following:
-
Universal Lifeline Telephone Service (ULTS);
-
Charges to other certificated carriers for services that are to be resold;
-
Coin sent paid telephone calls (coin in box) and debit card calls;
-
Customer-specific contracts effective before 9/15/94;
-
Usage charges for coin-operated pay telephones;
-
Directory advertising;
-
One-way radio paging; and
-
Services used by incarcerated people (beginning 4/1/2023).
The end-user surcharges are collected by the telecommunications carriers. They, in turn, remit the surcharges as directed by the Commission.