If your business has conducted a traffic study and would like to override the Safe Harbor % Taxable for the Federal Universal ServiceFund within CereTax, follow the steps outlined below. Be sure to consult with your Trusted Tax Advisor before implementing any overrides.
Create the Rule Type
1. Once logged into CereTax, navigate to Rules >Manage Rule Types
2. Select the Profile that this Rule Type is for. If there is only one Profile, this should already be displayed as the default
3. Click + Rule Type
4. Enter the Rule Type Name
5. Select the Rule Level. For this type of configuration, the Rule Level will be Tax.
6. Click Create Rule Type
If there are multiple Profiles within your CereTax account and this Rule Type is needed for each Profile, complete these steps for each Profile.
Set the Criteria and Action Elements
1. Click the Edit icon next to the newly created Rule Type
2 . Set the Criteria element as percentTaxableTypeCode by dragging the percentTaxableType.percentTaxableTypeCode field to the Criteria Element Table
3. Set the Action element as percentTaxable by dragging the percentTaxable field to the Action Element Table
4. Click Save Elements
Create the Rule (to Override the Interstate portion of FUSF)
1. Navigate to Rules > Manage Rules
2. Select the Profile that this Rule Type is for. If there is only one Profile, this should already be displayed as the default.
3. Click Set-up New Rule
4. Fill out the following fields on the Create Rule form:
Rule Name: Enter a name for your rule, ex. “Override FUSF % Taxable - Interstate”. This field has a maximum value of 50 characters.
Description: If desired, enter a description for this rule, “Overrides the FUSF Safe Harbor Rate to Traffic Study Results”. This field has a maximum value of 200 characters.
Start Effective Date: Enter the start date this rule is in effect for, ex. 01/01/2024
End Effective Date: Enter the end date for this rule, ex. 12/31/2099
Rule Type: Select the Rule Type that was created in the previous step
Status: Select Active
Add the Criteria Elements
1. Click + Add criteria
2. Fill out the following fields on the Add Criteria form:
Criteria Element: select “percentTaxableType.percentTaxableTypeCode”from the drop-down
Operator: select “equals” from the drop-down
Select Value and Enter one of the below values:
03 - this overrides the FCC Safe Harbor Rate for VoIP, current rate 64.9%
05 - this overrides the FCC Safe Harbor Rate for Wireless, current rate 37.1%
07 – this overrides the FCC Safe Harbor Rate for Paging, current rate 12%
3. Click Add Criteria
Add the Action Elements
1. Click + Add action
2. Fill out the following fields on the Add Action form:
Action Element: select “percentTaxable”from the drop-down.
Select Value and enter the % value of your traffic study in decimal format, ex. enter 0.15 if you want to override the percent taxable to 15%. The value entered must be in this format.
3. Click Add Action
Save & Sync the Rule
1. Once returned to the Create Rule screen, click Create Rule.
2. Once returned to the main Manage Rules screen, click Sync Rules.
This rule overrides the Interstate portion of the FUSF only, an additional rule will need to be configured to override the Intrastate portion
Create the Rule (to Override the Intrastate portion of FUSF)
1. Navigate to Rules > Manage Rules
2. Select the Profile that this Rule Type is for. If there is only one Profile, this should already be displayed as the default.
3. Click Set-up New Rule
4. Fill out the following fields on the Create Rule form:
Rule Name: Enter a name for your rule, ex. “Override FUSF % Taxable - Intrastate”. This field has a maximum value of 50 characters.
Description: If desired, enter a description for this rule, “Overrides the FUSF Safe Harbor Rate to Traffic Study Results”. This field has a maximum value of 200 characters.
Start Effective Date: Enter the start date this rule is in effect for, ex. 01/01/2024
End Effective Date: Enter the end date for this rule, ex. 12/31/2099
Rule Type: Select the Rule Type that was created in the previous step
Status: Select Active
Add the Criteria Elements
1. Click + Add criteria
2. Fill out the following fields on the Add Criteria form:
Criteria Element: select “percentTaxableType.percentTaxableTypeCode”from the drop-down
Operator: select “equals” from the drop-down
Select Value and Enter one of the below values:
04 - this overrides the Inverse of FCC Safe Harbor Rate for VoIP, current rate 35.1%
06 - this overrides the Inverse of FCC Safe Harbor Rate for Wireless, current rate 62.9%
08 – this overrides the Inverse of FCC Safe Harbor Rate for Paging, current rate 88%
3. Click Add Criteria
Add the Action Elements
1. Click + Add action
2. Fill out the following fields on the Add Action form:
Action Element: select “percentTaxable”from the drop-down.
Select Value and enter the % value of your traffic study in decimal format, ex. enter 0.85 if you want to override the percent taxable to 85%. The value entered must be in this format.
3. Click Add Action
Save & Sync the Rule
1. Once returned to the Create Rule screen, click Create Rule.
2. Once returned to the main Manage Rules screen, click Sync Rules.
