FCC FUSF charges clarification

Wed Oct 14 21:45:22 UTC 2020

On Wed, 14 Oct 2020, Nuno Vieira via NANOG wrote:
> So... my question IS:   Is an European company (or whatsoever foreign
> wholesale company) WITHOUT ANY customers in USA liable to pay those
> taxes to the carrier ?

Those aren't customer taxes, they are company surcharges with names to 
discourage customers from complaining about them.  They are like "resort 
fees" hotels add on top of room rates or "fuel surcharge" added by package 
delivery companies. Commonly called "junk fees" even if many companies add 
the same fees.

You'll need to speak with your corporate lawyer how to negotate contracts 
and billing arrangements. Depending on your negotiating power, you may or 
may not be successfull.

As you've noticed different companies make business decisions to have 
different surchages, which indicates they aren't determined by a common 
government entity.  Another way you can tell they aren't real taxes, 
carriers charge government agencies the same surcharges even though 
government agencies are tax-exempt.