Chapter PSC 172
POLICE AND FIRE PROTECTION FEE ON COMMUNICATIONS CONNECTIONS
PSC 172.03 Police and fire protection fee. PSC 172.05 Assessment of fee. PSC 172.06 Filing returns. PSC 172.07 Uncollectible amounts, misidentified accounts, and returns. PSC 172.09 Sales and use tax exemption. PSC 172.12 Collection action authorized. PSC 172.01(1)(1) Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to implement the police and fire protection fee required under s. 196.025 (6), Stats. PSC 172.01(2)(2) Exception. Nothing in this chapter shall preclude the commission from giving special and individual consideration to exceptional or unusual circumstances and, upon investigation of the facts and circumstances involved, adopting requirements that may be other or different than those provided in this chapter. PSC 172.01 HistoryHistory: EmR0919: emerg. cr. eff. 9-11-09; CR 09-086: cr. Register June 2010 No. 654, eff. 7-1-10. PSC 172.02PSC 172.02 Definitions. In this chapter: PSC 172.02(1)(1) “Basic local voice service” means the provision to residential or business customers of an access facility, whether by wire, cable, fiber optics or radio, and essential usage within a local calling area for the transmission of high-quality 2-way interactive switched voice communication. PSC 172.02(3)(3) “Commission” means the public service commission. PSC 172.02(4)(4) “Communications provider” means a person that provides communications service. PSC 172.02(5)(5) “Communications service” means any of the following: PSC 172.02(6)(6) “Communications service connection” means a link with a communications network that provides a person the ability to access that network for voice communications. PSC 172.02(7)(7) “Customer” means a person that purchases a communications service connection. “Customer” includes pay telephone providers, but excludes communications providers that resell communications service. PSC 172.02(10)(10) “Official company lines” means communications service connections that are reserved for a communications provider’s internal administrative use. PSC 172.02(11)(11) “Prepaid wireless retail transaction” means the sale of a prepaid wireless communications plan, but not for resale. A prepaid wireless retail transaction includes any of the following: PSC 172.02(11)(a)(a) The sale of a handset with airtime for a specified dollar amount, or for a specified period of time, such as a finite number of minutes of use or days of service. PSC 172.02(11)(b)(b) The sale of additional airtime, including an additional finite dollar amount of service, additional minutes of use or additional days of service, whether the additional airtime was sold at a retail location, over the internet, by mail, or by telephone call. PSC 172.02(12)(12) “Prepaid wireless communications plan” means a plan for wireless voice service that provides a person the right to utilize wireless voice service, is paid for prior to use, and is sold in predetermined dollar amounts whereby a number of units declines with use of a known amount. PSC 172.02(13)(13) “Place of primary use” has the meaning given in 4 USC 124 (8), except that if a communications provider or retailer does not have the information under that provision, then it means the place to which the sale is sourced under s. PSC 172.05 (2) (b). PSC 172.02(14)(14) “Resale” or “resell” means a communications provider obtaining the use of a communications service connection from a different communications provider and using that connection to provide communications service to an end-user customer. PSC 172.02(15)(15) “Retailer” means a person that sells a prepaid wireless communications plan on behalf of a communications provider. PSC 172.02(16)(16) “Subscriber” means a person that enters into a subscription communications plan with a communications provider. PSC 172.02(17)(17) “Subscription communications plan” means a contract or other service agreement in which a subscriber pays a periodic rate for a communications service, including both recurring and nonrecurring charges, either paid in advance for service to be provided in a subsequent time period or paid in arrears for the service previously provided. PSC 172.02(18)(18) “Voice over internet protocol service” means a service that is provided to customers with either a billing address or a place of primary use within the state, that does all of the following: PSC 172.02(18)(c)(c) Requires internet protocol-compatible customer premises equipment. PSC 172.02(18)(d)(d) Permits users generally to receive calls that originate on the public switched telephone network and to terminate calls to the public switched telephone network. PSC 172.02(19)(19) “Wireless voice service” means commercial mobile radio service, including the resale of commercial mobile radio service but excluding mobile satellite service, that meets all of the following: PSC 172.02(19)(b)(b) Offers real-time, two-way switched voice service that is interconnected with the public switched network. PSC 172.02 HistoryHistory: EmR0919: emerg. cr. eff. 9-11-09; CR 09-086: cr. Register June 2010 No. 654, eff. 7-1-10; correction in (9) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register June 2010 No. 654. PSC 172.03PSC 172.03 Police and fire protection fee. PSC 172.03(1)(1) Fee. Except as provided in sub. (2), the fee shall be imposed on all communications service connections with an assigned telephone number, including a communications service provided using a voice over internet protocol connection. PSC 172.03(2)(2) Exemptions. The fee may not be imposed on the following communications service connections: PSC 172.03(2)(a)(a) Those purchased by offices and agencies of the federal government or a sovereign tribe. PSC 172.03(2)(c)(c) Those sold to a communications provider that resells communications service connections and bills end-users for the communications services provided, except that the fee shall be applied by the communications provider that resells communications service connections when the connection is resold to an end-user. PSC 172.03 HistoryHistory: EmR0919: emerg. cr. eff. 9-11-09; CR 09-086: cr. Register June 2010 No. 654, eff. 7-1-10. PSC 172.04PSC 172.04 Registration. Every communications provider and retailer required to impose the fee shall register with the department, in the manner prescribed by the department, to report and remit the fees. PSC 172.04 HistoryHistory: EmR0919: emerg. cr. eff. 9-11-09; CR 09-086: cr. Register June 2010 No. 654, eff. 7-1-10. PSC 172.05(1)(a)(a) Application of fee. A communications provider shall apply a fee of $0.75 per month on each communications service connection established under a subscription telecommunications plan. The communications provider shall remit the fee to the department using the procedure specified in s. PSC 172.06. PSC 172.05(1)(b)(b) Partial month of service. If a communications provider charges a subscriber for less than a full month of subscription communications plan service, the communications provider shall assess the fee in the same way that it assesses the countywide 911 charges under s. 256.35 (3), Stats. A provider that does not assess the 911 fees may assess a full fee if its billing system does not permit the fee to be prorated. PSC 172.05(1)(c)1.1. If a communications provider furnishes multiple communications service connections to a single subscriber account, the communications provider shall impose a fee according to the following schedule: PSC 172.05(1)(c)1.a.a. For subscribers with 10 or fewer communications service connections, $0.75 per connection, per month. PSC 172.05(1)(c)1.b.b. For subscribers with more than 10 communications service connections, $7.50 for the first 10 connections plus $0.075 per service connection in excess of 10, per month. PSC 172.05(1)(c)2.a.a. If a subscriber receives service from more than one communications provider, the communications providers serving the subscriber may not add together the communication service connections to determine the fee imposed on the subscriber. Each communications provider shall determine the fee to be imposed on a subscriber based upon the communication service connections the provider itself provides. PSC 172.05(1)(c)2.b.b. A communications provider may not add together the communications service connections from multiple accounts to determine the fee imposed. Only service connections within an account may be added together. PSC 172.05(1)(c)2.c.c. Notwithstanding subd. 2. b., a communications provider’s billing practices may not have the effect of making it unlikely or impossible for a subscriber with multiple communications service connections billed under a single account to qualify for the reduced fee under subd. 1. b. PSC 172.05(1)(d)(d) Partial payments. If a subscriber remits to the communications provider an amount less than the full amount billed to the subscriber in a given month, the communications provider shall first apply the partial payment to any amount the subscriber owes to the communications provider for the communications service provided. PSC 172.05(1)(e)1.1. On its bill, a communications provider shall identify the fee in one of the following ways: PSC 172.05(1)(e)1.a.a. List the fee separately from other charges on a subscriber’s bill and identify the fee as “police and fire protection fee.” PSC 172.05(1)(e)1.b.b. Combine the fee with a charge imposed under s. 256.35 (3), Stats., and identify the combined fee and charge as “charge for funding countywide 911 systems plus police and fire protection fee.” PSC 172.05(1)(e)1.c.c. Combine the fee with basic rates and either do not identify the fee separately, or state that the basic rate includes the “police and fire protection fee.” PSC 172.05(1)(e)2.2. On the first bill on which the fee appears, a communications provider offering a subscription communications plan shall inform its subscribers by bill message of all of the following: PSC 172.05(2)(a)(a) Application of fee. Any retailer or communications provider that sells a Wisconsin communications service connection established under a prepaid wireless communications plan shall impose a $0.38 fee on each prepaid wireless retail transaction. The fee does not apply to the sale of related wireless handset equipment and accessories. PSC 172.05(2)(b)(b) Determining Wisconsin connection. A communications provider or retailer shall determine if a communications service connection that it sells is a Wisconsin communications service connection as follows:
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