Calculating the Tax on Radio Access Lines
A radio access line is "the telephone number assigned to or used by a subscriber for two way local wireless voice service available to the public for hire from a radio communications service company. Radio access lines include, but are not limited to, radio-telephone communication lines used in cellular telephone service, personal communications services, and network radio access lines, or their functional and competitive equivalent. Radio communications service company includes those persons or entities that provide commercial mobile radio services and both facilities-based and non facilities-based resellers" (RCW 82.14B.020).
The following are excluded from the statutory definition of radio access lines: one way signaling such as paging service, communications channels suitable only for data trans-mission, non local radio access line service, and private telecommunications systems. An example of a private telecommunications system is a radio dispatch system used by taxicabs or trucking companies.
For radio access lines, the E911 tax applies per cellular telephone number. The county may impose a tax up to 50 cents on those access lines whose place of primary use is located within the county.
The state imposes an additional tax of 20 cents per month for each radio access line whose place of primary use is located within the state. If a cellular phone subscriber has two numbers, then the subscriber pays up to $1.40 cents in E911 taxes per month.
Assigning the Tax to the Correct Jurisdiction
The state E911 tax revenue should be assigned based on the place of primary use which must be the street address representative of where the customer's use of the mobile telecommunications service primarily occurs. This must be: the customer's residential street address, or the primary business street address, within the licensed service area of the home service provider.
Note: Senate Bill 6539 (Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act) with respect to local tax (sales and E911) explains that tax applies based on the "Place of primary use" defined as the street address representative of where the customer's use of the mobile telecommunications service primarily occurs. This must be: the customer's residential street address, or the primary business street address, within the licensed service area of the home service provider.
House Bill 2595 which imposed the state E911 tax also refers to the "place of primary use" as defined in SB 6539.
Exemptions
In general, federal government agencies and instrumentalities, American Indian tribes and foreign governments are exempt from state and local government taxation which includes the E911 excise taxes. However, not all instrumentalities are exempt. Congress states in the federal code whether the instrumentality is immune from taxation and to what extent the immunity is granted. It is necessary to research the federal code that authorizes the instrumentality to accurately determine tax exempt status.
American Indians are only exempt if they live on recognized reservation land and have requested exemption from the serving telecommunications carrier. Their service is taxable if they live off the reservation.
Embassies, consulate offices, and other foreign affair posts are generally immune from federal or state taxation by international agreement. Most foreign government activities are not subject to federal or state taxation by treaty. However, in all cases the respective tax treaty should be consulted because not all countries allow reciprocal tax immunity.
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