076 of 2000 - mobile telephone service revenue act o uu-i
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SALT LAKE CITY ORDINANCE
No. 76 of 2000
(Mobile Telephone Service Revenue Act)
AN ORDINANCE ENACTING CHAPTER 3.09 OF THE OF THE SALT LAKE CITY
CODE,RELATING TO THE MOBILE TELEPHONE SERVICE REVENUE ACT.
WHEREAS,customers of mobile telecommunication service can originate a call in one
political subdivision and travel through other political subdivisions during the course of the call;and
WHEREAS,expanded home calling areas and other marketing advances make it increasingly
difficult to assign each transaction to a specific political subdivision;and
WHEREAS,these circumstances make it more difficult to track the separate segments of a
call;and
WHEREAS,the City has the authority to impose a tax,license,fee,license fee,license tax,or
similar charge,or any combination of any of these,based upon the gross revenues of a home service
provider; provided, however, such charges may not total more than six percent(6%)of gross
revenues.
NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council of Salt Lake City,Utah,as
follows:
SECTION I. REPEALER. Any provision of the Salt Lake City Code found to be in conflict
with this ordinance is hereby repealed.
SECTION 2. ENACTMENT. Chapter 3.09 of the Salt Lake City Code,relating to the
Mobile Telecommunication Service Revenue Act,is hereby enacted to read as follows:
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3.09.010 Mobile telephone service revenue tax.
A. Definitions. For purposes of this ordinance, the following terms are defined as
follows:
1. CUSTOMER means:
a. The person or entity, having a place of primary use within the City,
that contracts with the home service provider for mobile telecommunications services; or
b. If the end user of mobile telecommunications services is not the
•\ contracting party, the end user of the mobile telecommunications services; but this clause applies
only for the purpose of determining the place of primary use.
c. CUSTOMER does not include:
(1) A reseller of mobile telecommunications service; or
(2) A serving carrier under an arrangement to serve the customer
outside the home service provider's licensed service area.
2. DESIGNATED DATABASE PROVIDER means a corporation,association,
or other entity representing all the political subdivisions of a state that is:
a. Responsible for providing an electronic database prescribed in
subsection 119(a) of chapter 4, title 4 of the United States Code if the state has not provided such
electronic database; and
b. Approved by municipal and county associations or leagues of the state
whose responsibility it would otherwise be to provide such database prescribed by sections 116
through 126 of chapter 4, title 4 of the United States Code.
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3. ENHANCED ZIP CODE means a United States postal zip code of nine or
more digits.
4. HOME SERVICE PROVIDER means the facilities-based carrier or reseller
with which the customer contracts for the provision of mobile telecommunications services.
5. LICENSED SERVICE AREA means the geographic area in which the home
service provider is authorized by law or contract to provide commercial mobile radio service to the
customer.
6. MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE means commercial mobile
radio service, as defined in section 20.3 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations as in effect on
June 1, 1999. For purposes of this ordinance,mobile telecommunications services shall not include:
a. Pager services using mobile devices that do not allow for two-way
voice communication;
b. Narrowband personal communications services; and
c. Short message services (SMS).
7. PLACE OF PRIMARY USE means the street address representative of where
the customer's use of the mobile telecommunications service primarily occurs, which must be:
a. The residential street address or the primary business street address of
the customer; and
b. Within the licensed service area of the home service provider.
8. PREPAID TELEPHONE CALLING SERVICES means the right to purchase
exclusively telecommunications services that must be paid for in advance, that enables the
origination of calls using an access number, authorization code, or both, whether manually or
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electronically dialed,if the remaining amount of units of service that have been prepaid is known by
the provider of the prepaid service on a continuous basis.
9. RESELLER:
a. Means a provider who purchases telecommunications services from
another telecommunications service provider and then resells, uses as a component part of, or
integrates the purchased services into a mobile telecommunications service; and
b. Does not include a serving carrier with which a home service provider
arranges for the service to its customers outside the home service provider's licensed service area.
10. SERVING CARRIER means a facilities-based carrier providing mobile
telecommunications service to a customer outside a home service provider's or reseller's licensed
service area.
3.09.020 Monthly Tax Levied. There is levied upon every home service provider a tax of
one dollar ($1) per month for each telephone number assigned to any customer whose place of
primary use is within the City. The home service provider may or may not pass this tax on to its
customers. If the home service provider passes the tax on to the customer, and the tax is reflected
on the customer's bill, the tax shall be shown on the bill as a flat rate municipal tax charge.
3.09.030 Remittance Date.
1. Within thirty(30)days after the end of each calendar month,the home service
provider taxed hereunder shall file,with the City Treasurer,a report computing the tax. Coincidental
with the filing of such report,the business shall pay,to the City Treasurer,the amount of the tax due
for the calendar month subject to the report. If the 30th day after the end of each calendar month falls
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on a Saturday, Sunday, or state or federal holiday, the deadline for filing the monthly report and
remitting payment for that month is extended to the next subsequent business day.
2. Delinquent Payment. Any payment not paid when due shall be subject to a
delinquency penalty charge of ten percent (10 %) of the unpaid amount. Failure to make full
payment and penalty charges within sixty(60)days of the applicable payment date shall constitute a
violation of this ordinance. All overdue amounts,including penalty charges,shall bear interest until
paid at the rate of an additional ten percent(10 %) per annum.
3. Reconciliation. Within three (3) years after the filing of any report or the
making of any payment, the City Treasurer may examine such report or payment, determine the
accuracy thereof, and, if the City Treasurer finds any errors, report such errors to the home service
provider for correction. If any tax,as paid, shall be found deficient,the home service provider shall
within sixty(60) days remit the difference, and if the tax as paid be found excessive, the City shall
within sixty (60) days refund the difference plus interest at the same rate as if such amount was
deficient. In the event of a disagreement,the home services provider shall file under protest pending
the resolution of the dispute between the parties or through the courts.
4. Record Inspection. The records of the home service provider pertaining to the
reports and payment of the tax, including, but not limited to, any records deemed necessary by the
City to calculate or confirm proper payment by the home service provider, shall be open for
inspection by the City and its duly authorized representatives upon reasonable notice at all reasonable
business hours of the home services provider within the statute of limitations period defined in the
"Reconciliation" subsection above.
5. Home Service Provider Duty to Cooperate on Record Inspection.
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a. In order to facilitate any record inspection,the home service provider
shall, upon thirty (30) days' prior written request:
(1) Grant the City or its duly authorized representatives reasonable
access to those portions of the books and records of the home service provider necessary to calculate
and confirm property payment of the tax; or
(2) Provide the City or its duly authorized representatives with
reports containing or based on information necessary to calculate and confirm proper payment of the
tax.
b. Any requests for such books,records,reports,or portions thereof shall
specify in writing the purpose for such request. Any books, records, reports, or portions thereof
provided by the home service provider to the City under a claim that such documents are confidential
business records are hereby designated as"protected records"and shall not be copied or disclosed by
the City to third parties without the written permission of the home service provider, unless such
documents are determined by a court of law to constitute"public records"within the meaning of the
Utah Government Records Access and Management Act.
3.09.040 Requirement to Maintain Electronic Database or Enhanced Zip Code Listing.
1. Electronic Database.
a. Provision of Database: The State may provide an electronic database
to a home service provider; or, if the State does not provide such an electronic database, the
designated database provider may choose to provide an electronic database to a home service
provider.
b. Format:
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(1) Such electronic database,whether provided by the State or the
designated database provider, shall be provided in a format approved by the American National
Standards Institute's Accredited Standards Committee X12, which, allowing for de minimis
deviations, designates for each street address in the City, including, to the extent practicable, any
multiple postal street addresses applicable to one street location,the appropriate taxing jurisdictions,
and the appropriate code identified by one nationwide standard numeric code.
(2) Such electronic database shall also provide the appropriate code for
each street address with respect to political subdivisions that are not taxing jurisdictions when
reasonably needed to determine the proper taxing jurisdiction.
(3) The nationwide standard numeric codes shall contain the same
number of numeric digits, with each digit or combination of digits referring to the same level of
taxing jurisdiction throughout the United States, using a format similar to FIPS 55-3 or other
appropriate standard approved by the Federation of Tax Administrators and the Multistate Tax
Commission or their successors. Each address shall be provided in standard postal format.
2. Notice; Updates. The State or designated database provider that provides or
maintains an electronic database described above shall provide notice of the availability of the then-
current electronic database and any subsequent revisions thereof, by publication in the manner
normally employed for the publication of informational tax, charge, or fee notices to taxpayers in
such State.
3. User Held Harmless. A home service provider using the data contained in an
electronic database described above shall be held harmless from any tax,charge,or fee liability that
otherwise would be due solely as a result of any error or omission in such database provided by the
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City or designated database provider. The home service provider shall reflect changes made to such
database during a calendar quarter, not later than thirty (30) days after the end of such calendar
quarter the State has issued notice of the availability of an electronic database reflecting such
changes under the "Notice; Updates" subsection above.
4. Procedure If No Electronic Database Provided.
a. Safe Harbor: If neither the State nor the designated database provider
provides an electronic database,a home service provider shall be held harmless from any tax,charge,
or fee liability in the City that otherwise would be due solely as a result of an assignment of a street
address to an incorrect taxing jurisdiction, if the home service provider employs an enhanced zip
code to assign each street address to a specific taxing jurisdiction and exercises due diligence to
ensure that each such street address is assigned to the correct taxing jurisdiction. If an enhanced zip
code overlaps boundaries of taxing jurisdictions of the same level,the home service provider must
designate one specific jurisdiction within such enhanced zip code for use in taxing the activity for
such enhanced zip code. Any enhanced zip code assignment changed is deemed to be in compliance
with this section. For purposes of this section,there is a rebuttable presumption that a home service
provider has exercised due diligence if the home service provider demonstrates that it has:
(1) Expended reasonable resources to implement and maintain an
appropriately detailed electronic database of street address assignments to taxing jurisdictions;
(2) Implemented and maintained reasonable internal controls to
promptly correct misassignments of street addresses to taxing jurisdictions; and
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(3) Used all reasonably obtainable and usable data pertaining to
municipal annexations, incorporations, reorganizations, and any other changes in jurisdictional
boundaries that materially affect the accuracy of such database.
b. Termination of Safe Harbor: The "Safe Harbor" subsection above
applies to a home service provider that is in compliance with the requirements of the"Safe Harbor"
subsection with respect to a state for which an electronic database is not provided,until the later of:
(1) Eighteen (18)months after the nationwide standard numeric
code has been approved by the Federation of Tax Administrators and the Multistate Tax
Commission; or
(2) Six(6)months after the State or a designated database provider
in the State provides such database.
3.09.050 Place of Primary Use.
1. A home service provider is responsible for obtaining and maintaining the
customer's place of primary use. Subject to the "Requirement to Maintain Electronic Database or
Enhanced Zip Code Listing" section above, and if the home service provider's reliance on
information by its customer is in good faith, a home service provider:
a. May rely upon the applicable residential or business street address
supplied by the home service provider's customer.
b. Is not liable for any additional taxes, charges, or fees based on a
different determination of the place of primary use for taxes, charges, or fees that are customarily
passed on to the customer as a separate address under existing agreements.
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2. A home service provider may treat the address used by the home service
provider for tax purposes for any customer under a service contract or agreement in effect two (2)
years after the date of this amendment to this ordinance as that customer's place of primary use for
the remaining term of such service contract or agreement, excluding any extension or renewal of
such service contract or agreement, for purposes of determining the taxing jurisdiction to which
taxes, charges, or fees on charges for mobile telecommunication services are remitted.
3.09.060 Tax Against Customer. Each customer shall accurately report the customer's place
of primary use. The customer shall be liable for any taxes not paid by the home service provider as a
result of the customer's failure to accurately report the customer's place of primary use.
3.09.070 Nonapplication. This ordinance does not apply to the determination of the taxing
situs of:
1. Prepaid telephone calling services; or
2. Air-ground radiotelephone service, as defined in section 22.99 of title 47 of
the Code of Federal Regulations as in effect on June 1, 1999.
3.09.080 Implementation Date. If this ordinance is adopted before January 1, 2001,a home
service provider shall have a minimum of thirty(30) days' notice before being obligated to collect
the tax described in the ordinance. After January 1, 2001, a home service provider shall have a
minimum of sixty (60) days' notice before being obligated to collect the tax described in this
ordinance. After January 1, 2001, a home service provider shall receive a minimum of sixty (60)
days' notice regarding any changes to this ordinance.
3.09.090 Severability. If the "Monthly Tax Levied" section above is for any reason
determined to be, or is rendered,illegal, invalid, or superceded by other lawful authority, including
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any state or federal, legislative,regulatory,or administrative authority having jurisdiction thereof,or
determined to be unconstitutional, illegal, or invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such
section shall be deemed a separate,distinct,and independent provision,and such determination shall
have no effect on the validity of any other section;provided,however,upon such event and in lieu of
such tax, there is levied upon every home service provider a tax equal to six percent (6%) of the
annual gross revenue of the home service provider generated from services and products to
customers.
SECTION 3. This ordinance shall take effect January 1, 2001.
Passed by the City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah this 14th day of November ,
2000.
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CHAIRPERS 6.\
ATTEST:
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CHIEF DEPUTY CI RE ORDER ,' "' ' �"''
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Transmitted to Mayor on 1 i -) - 60 t''' , "IV*7-:`-:
Mayor's Action: Approved. Vetoed.
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CHIEF DEPUTY CITY RE�_�
(SEAL)
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Bill No. 76 of 2000. �y'+"'
Published: November 24, 2000 . �(' Qy
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