TAXES & FEES

Taxes & Fees

Account Setup Fee

The Account Setup Fee is a one-time fee that covers the work to set up your account and activate the service.

City Occupation Tax

An occupation tax levied on Nextlink by some local governments. The rate can change quarterly. By state law, the tax is passed directly to customers.

City Sales Tax

City sales taxes are imposed by some municipalities. State statutes may allow the provider to pass the assessment on to customers. Rates for these taxes vary by city, as well as by the products and services being taxed. Your bill will show two or more “city sales tax” lines if different city sales taxes are applied to various products and services. Additionally, some cities may impose separate occupation taxes on Nextlink, and these are passed on to the customer pursuant to tariff rules.

Convenience Fee

For bill payments that are processed by a Nextlink representative over the telephone, a Convenience Fee of $5.00 will be charged to your account. Nextlink does not charge a convenience fee for most bill payment options. There is no charge to use any one of Nextlink’s other convenient payment options including autopay, online payments, and mailing your payment. Nextlink accepts Visa®, Mastercard®, Discover®, and payments by bank check anytime 24/7 through the Nextlink Connect App at https://nextlink.app/.

County Sales Tax

Tax imposed by the county government. Rates, taxed services, and allocation of tax revenues vary by county. This is also known as a Local County Tax.

E911 Equalization Surcharge

This surcharge provides supplemental funding to regions that do not collect enough money through the 911 Emergency Service Fee to maintain an adequate level of 911 service. It also helps to support 911 rural efforts. Funding goes to regional 911 planning commissions to implement the 911 service and to the State Department of Health to fund poison research and maintenance of the poison control centers.

E911 Recovery Fee

The E911 Cost Recovery Fee is a fee which allows Nextlink to recover the costs of providing this service and maintain full compliance with all regulatory requirements associated with providing this service.

E911 Tax

The 911 Emergency Service Fee provides funding for the operation of 911 emergency telecommunications services in your area. Emergency personnel must have the capability to identify the location of a caller when they dial 911. The fee, which is applied per access line, funds communications systems that support emergency and quick response police, fire and ambulance services with identification of phone number and location. Customers pay for this service and other 911 communication costs through state and county 911 surcharges. Not all counties have the 911 system yet but may collect for future implementation.

The money from the 911 fee can only be spent in the region in which it is collected. The Commission on State Emergency Communications (CSEC), which administers 911 services, allocates funds for specific needs to the individual regional planning commissions. In some states, this fee may appear on the bill combined with other similar fees and surcharges, including Relay/911/Tele Assist Fee

FCC Regulatory Fee

The Federal Regulatory Recovery fee is a percentage of interstate and international usage. It helps recover the amount paid to the federal government for regulatory costs and telecommunication services for the hearing-impaired.

Regulatory Recovery Fee

The Regulatory Recovery Fee is a monthly fee assessed on all Nextlink’s retail customers for the purpose of recovering administrative costs incurred to comply with regulatory obligations. This is a fee that Nextlink assesses and retains.

State Cost Recovery Fee

The State Cost Recovery fee is a non-exemptible monthly charge to help recover certain fees imposed by the state. The fee is equal to the Customer’s total charges for applicable services multiplied by 0.75%.

State Infrastructure Fund

Provides financing for equipment purchases for advanced telecommunications services to public schools, hospitals, and libraries. Funds are distributed by grants. Institutions like public schools, hospitals, and libraries that apply and qualify for the grants covered under the program.

State Sales Tax

State sales tax is imposed by your state government. The services that the tax is applied to vary by state.

Telecommunications Relay Surcharge

This surcharge helps fund communication solutions for hearing- and speech-impaired individuals. This includes telecommunications devices and relay services for hearing- and speech-impaired individuals, the telecommunications relay center, which helps hearing- and speech-impaired individuals communicate, and Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.

The surcharge does not apply with Remote Call Forwarding service. This surcharge is collected by Nextlink and paid to the appropriate state authority. The state authorities use the funds collected to provide telecommunications services for those with special needs.

Federal Universal Service Fund (USF)

The Federal Universal Service Fund (USF) charge is an FCC-regulated charge that supports telecommunications services in schools, public libraries, and rural healthcare facilities. It also subsidizes local service to high-cost areas and low-income customers. It is a monthly per-line surcharge helps keep local telephone rates affordable.

Starting January 1, 2023, the FCC increased the Universal Service Fund (USF) charge for all markets from 28.9% to 32.6% on applicable qualified charges. This change will automatically show up on customer bills where applicable.

State-Level Universal Service Fund (USF)

Kansas Universal Service Fund (USF)

KUSF was created by the KCC and implemented March 1, 1997, as required by K.S.A. 66-2008. The purpose of the KUSF is to assure quality services are made available to all Kansans at affordable rates. Pursuant to K.S.A. 66-2008(a), every telecommunications carrier, telecommunications public utility, wireless telecommunications service provider and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider that provides intrastate telecommunications services must contribute to the KUSF. The assessment may be passed through to customers, but carriers are not required to do so. Any contributions in excess of distributions collected in any reporting year shall be applied to reduce the estimated contribution that would otherwise be necessary for the following year. The current KUSF assessment rate is 6.88% on intrastate telecommunications revenues.

Nebraska Universal Service Fund (USF)

This program consists of three separate programs: High-Cost Support, Low-Income, and Rural TeleHealth. Each of these programs is designed to complement its counterpart in the Federal Fund. However, unlike the Federal Fund, the NUSF doesn’t include a schools and library component. The High-Cost program is designed to keep basic local rates at the Public Service Commission’s adopted benchmarks of $17.50 and $27.50 for residential and business services, respectively. Discounts of up to $13.50 a month for qualifying low-income individuals are available through the low-income program. The Nebraska Telephone Assistance Program (NTAP) was formerly known as the Lifeline program. The NTAP program provides $3.00 per month of the support with the remainder coming from the Federal Fund. The Rural Tele-Health program builds upon support available from the Federal Fund by providing further reductions in rates for a statewide tele-health network.

 This network will, at a minimum, link 60 critical access hospitals to hub hospitals in Scottsbluff, North Platte, Kearney, Grand Island, Hastings, Norfolk, Lincoln, Fremont, and Omaha. This program is designed to make available to rural Nebraskans, in their hometowns, a similar level and quality of medical services as is available in urban areas. The NUSF is funded by a 6.95% rate assessed on in-state retail revenue. This rate should not be confused with a tax.

 Oklahoma Universal Service Fund (USF)

On November 29, 2022, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission issued Order No. 730170, an Interim Order, in Case No. OSF 2022000045, which adjusts the assessment factor for the Oklahoma Universal Service Fund to $1.85 per connection. Payments of the revised assessment shall begin on January 15, 2023, based on the number of connections provided by each Contributing Provider on November 30, 2022.

Texas Universal Service Fund (USF)

The Texas Universal Service Fund (USF) charge is a surcharge that voice service providers assess to recover their required contributions to the Texas Universal Service Fund. The TX USF primarily supports a program that assists small telephone companies and co-ops providing service in rural areas. Nextlink does not receive any support from this fund. The fund also supports the Specialized Telecommunications Assistance Program (STAP), Relay Texas, and lifeline.

The surcharge is assessed on intrastate voice charges — i.e., calling within Texas — and includes voice telephone service charges and intrastate long-distance services charges.

The surcharge has been the subject of litigation in Texas brought by small telephone companies and co-ops who asserted that the Texas Public Utilities Commission had been underpaying them Universal Service Funds. Recently, a court agreed with them and ordered the Texas Public Utilities Commission to repay small telephone companies and co-ops the shortfall. To collect this shortfall, the Commission ordered all voice telecommunications providers to increase payments to the fund from 3.3% to 24%, resulting in a significantly higher consumer surcharge assessment.