Title 44
Taxation

Chapter 18.1
Adoption of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement

R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-18.1-16

§ 44-18.1-16. Telecommunication sourcing definitions.

For the purpose of §§ 44-18.1-15 and 44-18-7, the following definitions apply:

(A) “Air-to-Ground Radiotelephone service” means a radio service, as that term is defined in 47 CFR 22.99, in which common carriers are authorized to offer and provide radio telecommunications service for hire to subscribers in aircraft.

(B) “Call-by-call Basis” means any method of charging for telecommunications services where the price is measured by individual calls.

(C) “Communications Channel” means a physical or virtual path of communications over which signals are transmitted between or among customer channel termination points.

(D) “Customer” means the person or entity that contracts with the seller of telecommunications services. If the end user of telecommunications services is not the contracting party, the end user of the telecommunications service is the customer of the telecommunication service, but this sentence only applies for the purpose of sourcing sales of telecommunications services under § 44-18.1-15. “Customer” does not include a reseller of telecommunications service or for mobile telecommunications service of a serving carrier under an agreement to serve the customer outside the home service provider’s licensed service area.

(E) “Customer Channel Termination Point” means the location where the customer either inputs or receives the communications.

(F) “End user” means the person who utilizes the telecommunication service. In the case of an entity, “end user” means the individual who utilizes the service on behalf of the entity.

(G) “Home service provider” means the same as that term is defined in Section 124(5) of Public Law 106-252 (Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act).

(H) “Mobile telecommunications service” means the same as that term is defined in Section 124(7) of Public Law 106-252 (Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act).

(I) “Place of primary use” means the street address representative of where the customer’s use of the telecommunications service primarily occurs, which must be the residential street address or the primary business street address of the customer. In the case of mobile telecommunications services, “place of primary use” must be within the licensed service area of the home service provider.

(J) “Post-paid calling service” means the telecommunications service obtained by making a payment on a call-by-call basis either through the use of a credit card or payment mechanism such as a bank card, travel card, credit card, or debit card, or by charge made to a telephone number which is not associated with the origination or termination of the telecommunications service. A post-paid calling service includes a telecommunications service, except a prepaid wireless calling service, that would be a prepaid calling service except it is not exclusively a telecommunication service.

(K) “Service address” means:

(1) The location of the telecommunications equipment to which a customer’s call is charged and from which the call originates or terminates, regardless of where the call is billed or paid.

(2) If the location in subsection (K)(1) is not known, service address means the origination point of the signal of the telecommunications services first identified by either the seller’s telecommunications system or in information received by the seller from its service provider, where the system used to transport such signals is not that of the seller.

(3) If the location in subsection (K)(1) and subsection (K)(2) are not known, the service address means the location of the customer’s place of primary use.

History of Section.
P.L. 2006, ch. 246, art. 30, § 12.