Act No. 8 of 2005 permits a business license rate of 1 percent (1.00%) on telecommunication companies. Municipalities participating in the TTCP adopted ordinances that levy this rate.
The tax is based on the gross income from retail telecommunication services for the calendar or fiscal year ending in 2014. Taxable services are those that either originate or terminate in the municipality and are charged to a service address within the municipality. The tax is due regardless of where these services are billed or paid and on which a business license tax has not been paid. The gross income excludes taxes collected for any other governmental entity (i.e. 911, access fees, sales tax). Gross income from mobile telecommunications services includes only revenues from the fixed monthly recurring charges of customers whose service address is within the municipality's corporate limits.
The tax should be paid annually by January 1. We will not consider filings complete unless all required documentation is submitted by January 31. Payments received after January 31 are subject to a 5 percent penalty each month.
The Municipal Association of South Carolina has upgraded the software used to administer the program. Telecommunications companies must update their contact information, report gross income and pay taxes online. Reporting gross income by municipality may be added manually to the online system or uploaded as a CSV file.
The only method of reporting gross income, paying the business license tax (if applicable) and updating contact information is online.
Instructions for accessing the online reporting system were included in the annual company mailing. If you have not received the annual mailing, contact ttcp@masc.sc.
Businesses that have not operated in South Carolina, gone out of business (cancelled your SC Public Service Commission certificate-provide a copy of the cancelled certificate; cancelled your FCC registration-provide a copy of the Order granting discontinuance), has no revenue or for any other reason, you are required to notify our office. Visit the online system to update your contact information and submit a $0 return.
New companies commencing business this year should file their municipal gross reporting information based on their projected gross income from the start date of business to December 31, 2014.
If your company currently has an existing telecommunications franchise or contractual agreement with a municipality, the franchise or contractual fee should be paid directly to the municipality. Upon the franchise or contractual agreements expiration, your company must pay the business license tax described above.
The CSV (comma separate value) file layout is as follows: "Municipality", "Taxable Gross Income"
Descriptions:
- Municipality - name of the participating municipality
- Taxable Gross Income - the amount of taxable premiums written by the company for the municipality.
Example:
"City A","$1,200.00"
"City B","$400,342.00"
The upload function requires the municipality's name to appear exactly as it does in our system. In municipalities where you do not have gross income, the upload function requires that 0.00 be entered into each cell.