4 U.S.C. § 117 — Sourcing rules

Page 16 TITLE 4—FLAG AND SEAL, SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE STATES § 115 1 So in original. Probably should be followed by ‘‘section’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2006 AMENDMENT Pub. L. 109–264, § 1(b), Aug. 3, 2006, 120 Stat. 667, pro- vided that: ‘‘The amendments made by this section [amending this section] apply to amounts received after December 31, 1995.’’ EFFECTIVE DATE Pub. L. 104–95, § 1(c), Jan. 10, 1996, 109 Stat. 980, pro- vided that: ‘‘The amendments made by this section [en- acting this section] shall apply to amounts received after December 31, 1995.’’ § 115. Limitation on State authority to tax com- pensation paid to individuals performing services at Fort Campbell, Kentucky Pay and compensation paid to an individual for personal services at Fort Campbell, Ken- tucky, shall be subject to taxation by the State or any political subdivision thereof of which such employee is a resident. (Added Pub. L. 105–261, div. A, title X, § 1075(a)(1), Oct. 17, 1998, 112 Stat. 2138.) Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE Pub. L. 105–261, div. A, title X, § 1075(a)(3), Oct. 17, 1998, 112 Stat. 2138, provided that: ‘‘The amendments made by this subsection [enacting this section] shall apply to pay and compensation paid after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 17, 1998].’’ § 116. Rules for determining State and local gov- ernment treatment of charges related to mo- bile telecommunications services (a) APPLICATION OF THIS SECTION THROUGH SECTION 126.—This section through 1 126 of this title apply to any tax, charge, or fee levied by a taxing jurisdiction as a fixed charge for each customer or measured by gross amounts charged to customers for mobile telecommunications services, regardless of whether such tax, charge, or fee is imposed on the vendor or customer of the service and regardless of the terminology used to describe the tax, charge, or fee. (b) GENERAL EXCEPTIONS.—This section through 1 126 of this title do not apply to— (1) any tax, charge, or fee levied upon or measured by the net income, capital stock, net worth, or property value of the provider of mobile telecommunications service; (2) any tax, charge, or fee that is applied to an equitably apportioned amount that is not determined on a transactional basis; (3) any tax, charge, or fee that represents compensation for a mobile telecommuni- cations service provider’s use of public rights of way or other public property, provided that such tax, charge, or fee is not levied by the taxing jurisdiction as a fixed charge for each customer or measured by gross amounts charged to customers for mobile telecommuni- cation services; (4) any generally applicable business and oc- cupation tax that is imposed by a State, is ap- plied to gross receipts or gross proceeds, is the legal liability of the home service provider, and that statutorily allows the home service provider to elect to use the sourcing method required in this section through 1 126 of this title; (5) any fee related to obligations under sec- tion 254 of the Communications Act of 1934; or (6) any tax, charge, or fee imposed by the Federal Communications Commission. (c) SPECIFIC EXCEPTIONS.—This section through 1 126 of this title— (1) do not apply to the determination of the taxing situs of prepaid telephone calling serv- ices; (2) do not affect the taxability of either the initial sale of mobile telecommunications services or subsequent resale of such services, whether as sales of such services alone or as a part of a bundled product, if the Internet Tax Freedom Act would preclude a taxing jurisdic- tion from subjecting the charges of the sale of such services to a tax, charge, or fee, but this section provides no evidence of the intent of Congress with respect to the applicability of the Internet Tax Freedom Act to such charges; and (3) do not apply to the determination of the taxing situs of air-ground radiotelephone serv- ice as defined in section 22.99 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations as in effect on June 1, 1999. (Added Pub. L. 106–252, § 2(a), July 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 626.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934, re- ferred to in subsec. (b)(5), is classified to section 254 of Title 47, Telecommunications. The Internet Tax Freedom Act, referred to in subsec. (c)(2), is title XI of Pub. L. 105–277, div. C, Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–719, which is set out as a note under sec- tion 151 of Title 47, Telecommunications. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT Pub. L. 106–252, § 3, July 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 633, pro- vided that: ‘‘(a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in sub- section (b), this Act [enacting this section and sections 117 to 126 of this title and provisions set out as a note under section 1 of this title] and the amendment made by this Act shall take effect on the date of the enact- ment of this Act [July 28, 2000]. ‘‘(b) APPLICATION OF ACT.—The amendment made by this Act [enacting this section and sections 117 to 126 of this title] shall apply only to customer bills issued after the first day of the first month beginning more than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act [July 28, 2000].’’ § 117. Sourcing rules (a) TREATMENT OF CHARGES FOR MOBILE TELE- COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.—Notwithstanding the law of any State or political subdivision of any State, mobile telecommunications services provided in a taxing jurisdiction to a customer, the charges for which are billed by or for the customer’s home service provider, shall be deemed to be provided by the customer’s home service provider. Page 17 TITLE 4—FLAG AND SEAL, SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE STATES § 120 (b) JURISDICTION.—All charges for mobile tele- communications services that are deemed to be provided by the customer’s home service pro- vider under sections 116 through 126 of this title are authorized to be subjected to tax, charge, or fee by the taxing jurisdictions whose territorial limits encompass the customer’s place of pri- mary use, regardless of where the mobile tele- communication services originate, terminate, or pass through, and no other taxing jurisdiction may impose taxes, charges, or fees on charges for such mobile telecommunications services. (Added Pub. L. 106–252, § 2(a), July 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 627.) Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT Section effective July 28, 2000, and applicable only to customer bills issued after the first day of the first month beginning more than 2 years after July 28, 2000, see section 3 of Pub. L. 106–252, set out as a note under section 116 of this title. § 118. Limitations Sections 116 through 126 of this title do not— (1) provide authority to a taxing jurisdiction to impose a tax, charge, or fee that the laws of such jurisdiction do not authorize such juris- diction to impose; or (2) modify, impair, supersede, or authorize the modification, impairment, or supersession of the law of any taxing jurisdiction per- taining to taxation except as expressly pro- vided in sections 116 through 126 of this title. (Added Pub. L. 106–252, § 2(a), July 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 627.) Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT Section effective July 28, 2000, and applicable only to customer bills issued after the first day of the first month beginning more than 2 years after July 28, 2000, see section 3 of Pub. L. 106–252, set out as a note under section 116 of this title. § 119. Electronic databases for nationwide stand- ard numeric jurisdictional codes (a) ELECTRONIC DATABASE.— (1) PROVISION OF DATABASE.—A State may provide an electronic database to a home serv- ice provider or, if a State does not provide such an electronic database to home service providers, then the designated database pro- vider may provide an electronic database to a home service provider. (2) FORMAT.—(A) Such electronic database, whether provided by the State or the des- ignated database provider, shall be provided in a format approved by the American National Standards Institute’s Accredited Standards Committee X12, that, allowing for de minimis deviations, designates for each street address in the State, including to the extent prac- ticable, any multiple postal street addresses applicable to one street location, the appro- priate taxing jurisdictions, and the appro- priate code for each taxing jurisdiction, for each level of taxing jurisdiction, identified by one nationwide standard numeric code. (B) Such electronic database shall also pro- vide the appropriate code for each street ad- dress with respect to political subdivisions which are not taxing jurisdictions when rea- sonably needed to determine the proper taxing jurisdiction. (C) The nationwide standard numeric codes shall contain the same number of numeric dig- its with each digit or combination of digits re- ferring 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 Com- mission, or their successors. Each address shall be provided in standard postal format. (b) NOTICE; UPDATES.—A State or designated database provider that provides or maintains an electronic database described in subsection (a) shall provide notice of the availability of the then current electronic database, and any subse- quent revisions thereof, by publication in the manner normally employed for the publication of informational tax, charge, or fee notices to taxpayers in such State. (c) USER HELD HARMLESS.—A home service provider using the data contained in an elec- tronic database described in subsection (a) shall be held harmless from any tax, charge, or fee li- ability that otherwise would be due solely as a result of any error or omission in such database provided by a State or designated database pro- vider. The home service provider shall reflect changes made to such database during a cal- endar quarter not later than 30 days after the end of such calendar quarter for each State that issues notice of the availability of an electronic database reflecting such changes under sub- section (b). (Added Pub. L. 106–252, § 2(a), July 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 627.) Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT Section effective July 28, 2000, and applicable only to customer bills issued after the first day of the first month beginning more than 2 years after July 28, 2000, see section 3 of Pub. L. 106–252, set out as a note under section 116 of this title. § 120. Procedure if no electronic database pro- vided (a) SAFE HARBOR.—If neither a State nor des- ignated database provider provides an electronic database under section 119, a home service pro- vider shall be held harmless from any tax, charge, or fee liability in such State that other- wise would be due solely as a result of an assign- ment of a street address to an incorrect taxing jurisdiction if, subject to section 121, the home service provider employs an enhanced zip code to assign each street address to a specific taxing jurisdiction for each level of taxing jurisdiction and exercises due diligence at each level of tax- ing jurisdiction to ensure that each such street address is assigned to the correct taxing juris- diction. If an enhanced zip code overlaps bound- aries of taxing jurisdictions of the same level, the home service provider must designate one