Legitimately, I have no idea what you wouldn’t just sign up with a white label or something similar who does the taxes for you.
It seems like it’s way more expensive to start from scratch. Your profit can’t be that much more doing it yourself
this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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This is the exact answer I'm not interested in, unfortunately. I've already gone through the trouble of figuring out how to do everything else myself including the 499 filing, the 4 digit identifier, even how to stir/shaken sign everything.
I'm just looking for how the tax side functions since I haven't seen it anywhere or if I have it wasn't nearly as detailed as I was looking for.
I know a consulting firm that does this, but the community rules may restrict me from providing their name.
Whatever you do, if you decide to go with CSI (Compliance Solutions), vet the hell out of them. They used to do taxes for SkySwitch and that white label provider got hit with FCC fines to the tune of almost $2M for violations.
Yeah. Which is partly why I want to know how everything works.
If I have to build my own solution that parses line by line through a CSV and runs logic, queries a DB that gets updates with new tax tables and spits out numbers so bet it. I'm willing to go that far since I have a background already doing similar things.
I'm guessing someone may just direct me to all the FCC rules, guidelines, and tax literature. I would be happy with that as well as long as it was complete.
I probably don't want to maintain this forever but it can't be that impossible to calculate everything for your first few customers.
What jurisdiction(s) are you selling VOIP in?
Also a bit unrelated - which vendor did you go with for the STIR SHAKEN solution?
Even if you don't use Skyetel, they have some info on taxes that might be helpful for you or point you in some directions and fill up some knowledge gaps.
https://support.skyetel.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051660293-Taxes-and-Regulatory-Fees
https://support.skyetel.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047843714-FCC-Registration-and-USF-charges
Also search "tax" in their KB search bar.
Hi OP,
There are billing platforms that make this easy. Datagate (I work here) is an easy to use system that automates all the tax calculations and can even send taxes out to your accounting system (without being super cost-prohibitive)
I believe some providers also offer simple billing systems but the downside there is getting locked into the provider and not having as much flexibility.
A lot of our clients will work with companies such as CLA, Inteserra, CSI etc for compliance work (registrations, filings, returns etc) but you’re probably small enough to handle that in-house for the time being.
You can also probably get by with calculating taxes manually if it’s just a few clients but if you’re trying to grow this part of your business, a good billing system can really make it much easier to scale.
Feel free to DM me if you have any questions.
Good luck!
This was incredibly helpful. Thanks!
Could something like rev.io be useful here for you? We use Skyetel and they handle all of the reporting and taxes, but Rev was something we looked at when looking to resell Telnyx.
I’ll give you a hint, maybe it’s helpful. Compliance is probably going to run you about $600 per month, for one state and an agent. Other states could be possible.
I wouldn’t run a telco business without tax compliance, specially if you are not selling thru a reseller with tax compliance. It’s possible for you to file yourself, but I don’t recommend it as it is highly complex but not impossible.
Lots of tax compliance companies out there as well as white label providers. GL!