Taxes can be complicated – but we’ll make this part easy for you. Below is a quick, easy to understand summary of FirstLight taxes and charges that may be applied to your account based on the types of products you purchase and your service address.
Rates as of 1/15/24. Please note not all of the charges detailed below will apply to your account.
If you have any questions about your invoice or any charge, tax, surcharge or fee that appears on your bill, please contact us by email to [email protected] or by phone at 1-888-832-4976.
Surcharge / Fee / Tax |
Note |
State |
Rate |
| Communications Services Tax | New Hampshire tax on the purchase of telecommunications services | NH | 7.00% |
| Connecticut TRS Surcharge | CT | .05% | |
| ConnectME | A surcharge on intrastate services to support universal availability of broadband in Maine. | ME | 0.25% |
| ConnectME Fund – Wireline | This is in addition to the percentage based rate of 0.25% | ME | $0.10 |
| Cost Recovery Fee | This fee allows FirstLight to recover expenses such as, but not limited to, federal and state regulatory and license fees, fees to fund telecommunications relay services, and costs associated with North American Numbering Plan Administration. It is neither government-mandated nor a tax. | All States | 2.5% – 2.75% |
| E911 | State-authorized charge to support the emergency enhanced 911 database and network | NY | $0.35 – $1.00 |
| NH | $.75 | ||
| ME | $.45 | ||
| MA | $1.50 | ||
| PA | $1.65 | ||
| Tiered rating – rate is cheaper for additional lines | CT | $0.68 | |
| RI | $1.00 | ||
| NJ | $0.90 | ||
| MD | $1.00 | ||
| OH | $0.50 | ||
| DE | $0.60 | ||
| VT | Universal Service Funding | ||
| All Other States | $0.35 | ||
| Federal Excise Tax | Federal tax applied to local telecommunications services, except installation charges and certain bundled products. | All States | 3.00% |
| FCC Line Charge | A fee authorized by the FCC on each telephone line | MA | $6.44 |
| NH | $6.18 | ||
| NY | $6.44 | ||
| ME & PA Single Line Bus | $6.50 | ||
| ME & PA Multi-line Bus | $9.20 | ||
| A fee authorized by the FCC on each high capacity line | MA | $32.20 | |
| NH | $30.90 | ||
| NY | $32.20 | ||
| ME | $46.00 | ||
| Federal Universal Service Fee (FUSF) Surcharge | Currently at 34.6% – range since 2020 is 19.6% – 34.6% | Federal | 34.60% |
| Federal USF Surcharge – VOIP | Federal USF for VOIP services (Safe Harbor discount – based on percentage of “Interstate” usage) | Federal | 22.4554% |
| Intrastate Access Recovery | Surcharge on each telephone line that recovers revenue changes due to recent orders of the FCC. | All States | $3.00 |
| Maine School and Library Fund Surcharge | Per line – Max 25 Lines | ME | $0.21 |
| New York Local District Tax | Applies to local services provided in the relevant school districts and is in addition to other applicable sales taxes. | NY School Districts | Up to 11% |
| New York Local Transit Tax | Applies to local services provided in the relevant municipality and is in addition to other applicable sales taxes. | NY (Buffalo, Rochester & Yonkers) | Up to 3% |
| PA Utility Gross Receipts and Surcharge | PA | 5% | |
| NY (other municipalities) | Up to 1% | ||
| O&M Surcharge | Surcharge to recover state-specific operations and maintenance services that are not covered by service charges. Charge is per invoice. | NY & VT | $3.25 |
| Pre-subscribed Interexchange Carrier Charge (PICC) | A charge authorized by the FCC on each telephone line where FirstLight is not the long distance carrier. | All States | $3.00 |
| A charge authorized by the FCC on each high capacity circuit where FirstLight is not the long distance carrier. | All States | $7.50 | |
| A charge authorized by the FCC on each high capacity circuit where FirstLight is not the long distance carrier. | ME | $5.50 | |
| Sales Tax | Tax on the sale of services and equipment. | MA | 6.25% |
| ME | 5.50% | ||
| NY State | 4.00% | ||
| NY County | Up to 3% | ||
| NY City | Up to 11% | ||
| NY School | Up to 11% | ||
| NY Certain calls | 5.00% | ||
| PA | 6.00% | ||
| CT | 6.35% | ||
| VT | 6.00% | ||
| VT City (Burlington, Dover, Manchester, Middlebury, S Burlington, Stratton, & Williston VT) | 1.00% | ||
| State USF | Subject to change without notice. A surcharge set periodically by the state to fund the universal availability of telephone services. In Maine, funds also support the Communications Equipment Fund, public-interest payphones, and telecommunications relay service. In Vermont, the USF funds E911 services, Lifeline program services and Telephone Relay Services for the deaf and hard of hearing. | VT | 2.40% |
| State USF | Per Line – Max 25 Lines | ME | $0.44 |
| Statutory Gross Receipts | Description NY Telecom Excise Surcharge (CT-186e) | NY | 2.5641% |
| Telecom Sales Tax | Vermont tax on purchase of telecommunications services. | VT | 6.00% |
| City (Burlington, Dover, Manchester, Middlebury, S. Burlington, Stratton & Williston) | 1.00% |
Rev: 1-15-24