Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Revenue › Chapter Tax 11 - Sales And Use Tax › Subchapter VIII - Service Enterprises › Section Tax 11.66 - Telecommunications and telecommunications message services

Current through June 24, 2024
(1)
				DEFINITIONS. In this section:
(a)
				"Air-to-ground radio telephone service" means a radio service in which common
				carriers are authorized to offer and provide radio telecommunications service
				for hire to subscribers in aircraft.
(b) "Ancillary services" are those services
				that are associated with or incidental to providing telecommunications
				services, including detailed telecommunications billing, directory assistance,
				vertical service, and voice mail services.
(c) "Call-by-call basis" means any method of
				charging for telecommunications services by which the price of such services is
				measured by individual calls.
(d)
				"Communications channel" means a physical or virtual path of communications
				over which signals are transmitted between or among customer channel
				termination points.
(e) "Conference
				bridging service" means an ancillary service that links 2 or more participants
				of an audio or video conference call and may include providing a telephone
				number, but does not include the telecommunications services used to reach the
				conference bridge.
(f) "Customer,"
				for purposes of this section, means a person who enters into a contract with
				the seller of telecommunications services or, in any transaction for which the
				end user is not the person who entered into a contract with a seller of
				telecommunications services, the end user of the telecommunication services.
				"Customer" does not include a person who resells telecommunications services
				or, for mobile telecommunications services, a serving carrier under an
				agreement to serve a customer outside the home service provider's licensed
				service area.
(g) "Customer channel
				termination point" means the location where a customer inputs or receives
				communications.
(h) "Detailed
				telecommunications billing service" means an ancillary service that separately
				indicates information pertaining to individual calls on a customer's billing
				statement.
(i) "Directory
				assistance" means an ancillary service that provides telephone numbers or
				addresses.
(j) "Eight hundred
				service" means a telecommunications service that allows a caller to dial a
				toll-free number without incurring a charge for the call and is marketed under
				"800," "855," "866," "877," or "888" toll-free calling, or any other number
				designated as toll-free by the federal communications commission.
(k) "End user" means the person who uses a
				telecommunications service. In the case of an entity, "end user" means the
				individual who uses the telecommunications service on the entity's
				behalf.
(l) "Fixed wireless service"
				means a telecommunications service that provides radio communications between
				fixed points.
(m) "Home service
				provider" means a home service provider under
				section
				124(5) of
				P.L.
				106-252, the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing
				Act. Section
				124(5) of
				P.L.
				106-252 provides that "home service provider"
				means the facilities-based carrier or reseller with which the customer
				contracts for the provision of mobile telecommunications services.
(n) "International telecommunications
				services" means telecommunications services that originate or terminate in the
				United States, including the District of Columbia and any U.S. territory or
				possession and originate or terminate outside of the United States, including
				the District of Columbia and any U.S. territory or possession.
(o) "Internet access services" means sending
				messages and information transmitted through the use of local, toll, and
				wide-area telephone service; channel services; telegraph services;
				teletypewriter; computer exchange services; cellular mobile telecommunications
				services; specialized mobile radio; stationary two-way radio; paging service;
				or any other form of mobile and portable one-way or two-way communications; or
				any other transmission of messages or information by electronic or similar
				means between or among points by wire, cable, fiber optics, laser, microwave,
				radio, satellite, or similar facilities. "Internet access services" does not
				include telecommunications services to the extent that such services are
				taxable under s. 77.52(2) (a) 5
				am., Stats.
(p) "Interstate
				telecommunications services" means telecommunications services that originate
				in one state or U.S. territory or possession and terminate in a different U.S.
				state or territory or possession.
(q) "Intrastate telecommunications services"
				means telecommunications services that originate in one state or U.S. territory
				or possession and terminate in the same state or U.S. territory or
				possession.
(r) "Mobile
				telecommunications service" means a mobile telecommunications service under
				4 USC
				116 to
				126, as amended by
				P.L.
				106-252, the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing
				Act. "Mobile telecommunications service" is defined in
				4 USC
				116 to
				126, as amended by
				P.L.
				106-252, to mean commercial mobile radio service,
				as defined in 47 CFR
				20.3 as in effect on June 1, 1999.
				"Commercial mobile radio service" is defined in
				47 CFR
				20.3 to mean a mobile service that is either
				of the following:
1. A mobile service that is
				all of the following:
a. Provided for profit,
				that is, with the intent of receiving compensation or monetary gain.
b. An interconnected service.
c. Available to the public, or to such
				classes of eligible users as to be effectively available to a substantial
				portion of the public.
2.
				The functional equivalent of a mobile service described in subd.
				1.
(s) "Nine hundred
				service" means an inbound toll telecommunications service purchased by a
				subscriber that allows the subscriber's customers to call the subscriber's
				prerecorded announcement or live service. "Nine hundred service" does not
				include any charge for collection services provided by the seller of the
				telecommunications services to the subscriber or for any product or service the
				subscriber sells to the subscriber's customers. A "nine hundred service" is
				designated with the "900" number or any other number designated by the federal
				communications commission.
(t)
				"Paging service" means a telecommunications service that transmits coded radio
				signals to activate specific pagers and may include messages or
				sounds.
(u) "Place of primary use"
				means the residential street address or the primary business street address of
				the customer. In the case of mobile telecommunications services, "place of
				primary use" means a street address within the licensed service area of the
				home service provider.
(v)
				"Postpaid calling service" means a telecommunications service that is obtained
				by paying for it on a call-by-call basis using a bankcard, travel card, credit
				card, debit card, or similar method, or by charging it to a telephone number
				that is not associated with the location where the telecommunications service
				originates or terminates. "Postpaid calling service" includes a
				telecommunications service, not including a prepaid wireless calling service,
				that would otherwise be a prepaid calling service except that the service
				provided to the customer is not exclusively a telecommunications
				service.
(w) "Prepaid calling
				service" means the right to exclusively access telecommunications services, if
				that right is paid for in advance of providing such services, requires using an
				access number or authorization code to originate calls, and is sold in
				predetermined units or dollars that decrease with use in a known
				amount.
(x) "Prepaid wireless
				calling service" means a telecommunications service that provides the right to
				utilize mobile wireless service as well as other nontelecommunications
				services, including the download of digital products delivered electronically,
				content, and ancillary services, and that is paid for prior to use and sold in
				predetermined units or dollars that decrease with use in a known
				amount.
(y) "Private communication
				service" means a telecommunications service that entitles the customer to
				exclusive or priority use of a communications channel or group of
				communications channels, regardless of the manner in which the communications
				channel or group of communications channels is connected, and includes
				switching capacity, extension lines, stations, and other associated services
				that are provided in connection with the use of such channel or
				channels.
(z) "Radio service" means
				a communication service provided by the use of radio, including radiotelephone,
				radiotelegraph, paging, and facsimile service.
(zb) "Radiotelegraph service" means
				transmitting messages from one place to another by means of radio.
(zf) "Radiotelephone service" means
				transmitting sound from one place to another by means of radio.
(zk) "Service address" as defined in s.
				77.51(17m),
				Stats., means any of the following:
1. The
				location of the telecommunications equipment to which a customer's
				telecommunications service is charged and from which the telecommunications
				service originates or terminates, regardless of where the telecommunications
				service is billed or paid.
2. If
				the location under subd. 1. is not known by the seller who sells the
				telecommunications service, the location where the signal of the
				telecommunications service originates, as identified by the seller's
				telecommunications system or, if the signal is not transmitted by the seller's
				telecommunications system, by information that the seller received from the
				seller's service provider.
3. If
				the locations described under subds. 1. and 2. are not known by the seller who
				sells the telecommunications service, the customer's place of primary use.
(zp) "Telecommunications
				services" as defined in s.
				77.51(21n),
				Stats., means electronically transmitting, conveying, or routing voice, data,
				audio, video, or other information or signals to a point or between or among
				points. "Telecommunications services" includes the transmission, conveyance, or
				routing of such information or signals in which computer processing
				applications are used to act on the content's form, code, or protocol for
				transmission, conveyance, or routing purposes, regardless of whether the
				service is referred to as a voice over Internet protocol service or classified
				by the federal communications commission as an enhanced or value-added nonvoice
				data service. "Telecommunications services" does not include any of the
				following:
1. Data processing and information
				services that allow data to be generated, acquired, stored, processed, or
				retrieved and delivered to a purchaser by an electronic transmission, if the
				purchaser's primary purpose for the underlying transaction is the processed
				data.
2. Installing or maintaining
				wiring or equipment on a customer's premises.
3. Tangible personal property.
4. Advertising, including directory
				advertising.
5. Billing and
				collection services provided to 3rd parties.
6. Internet access services.
7. Radio and television audio and video
				programming services, regardless of the medium in which the services are
				provided, including cable service, as defined in
				47 USC
				522(6), audio and video
				programming services delivered by commercial mobile radio service providers, as
				defined in 47 CFR
				20.3, and the transmitting, conveying, or
				routing of such services by the programming service provider.
8. Ancillary services.
9. Digital products delivered electronically,
				including software, music, video, reading materials, or
				ringtones.
(zs)
				"Value-added nonvoice data service" means a service that otherwise meets the
				definition of telecommunications services, in which computer processing
				applications are used to act on the form, content, code, or protocol of the
				information or data provided by the service and are used primarily for a
				purpose other than for transmitting, conveying, or routing data.
(zw) "Vertical service" means an ancillary
				service that is provided with one or more telecommunications services and
				allows customers to identify callers and to manage multiple calls and call
				connections, including conference bridging services.
(zy) "Voice mail service" means an ancillary
				service that allows a customer to store, send, or receive recorded messages,
				not including any vertical service that the customer must have to use the voice
				mail service.