Here are some common charges that are usually found in a phone bill:

1. 911 – This charge is imposed by local government to help pay for emergency services such as fire and rescue.
   
2. Federal Excise Tax – It is a three percent (3%) tax mandated by the federal government for all telecommunication services. This includes local, long distance and wireless bills.
   
3. (Federal) Subscriber Line Charge – This charge may appear as "FCC Charge for Network Access," "Federal Line Cost Charge," "Interstate Access Charge," "Federal Access Charge," "Interstate Single Line Charge," "Customer Line Charge" or "FCC-Approved Customer Line Charge.” The FCC caps the maximum price that a company may charge for this. This is not a government charge or tax and it does not end up in the government’s treasury.
   
4. Local Number Portability Charge (LNP) – This charge provides residential and business telephone customers with the ability to retain their existing local telephone numbers when switching from one local service provider to another. This is not a tax but a fixed monthly charge.
   
5. State & Local Municipal Tax – It may also appear on the phone bill as “Gross receipt tax” in some state. Imposed by the state, local and municipal governments on goods and services.
   
6. (State) Subscriber Line Charge – Mandated by some states’ public service or utility commissions to compensate the local phone company for part of the cost of providing local telephone lines associated with state services.
   
7. Telecommunications Relay Services Charge – It is a state charge that helps to pay for the relay center, which transmits and translates calls for hearing-impaired and speech-impaired people.
   
8. Service Fund (USF) or Universal Connectivity Fee - The USF helps to make phone service affordable and available to all Americans, including consumers with low income and those living in areas where the costs for providing telephone service is high. This fund helps provide schools, libraries and rural health care providers with discount phone services. Congress has mandated that all telephone companies providing interstate service must contribute to USF.
   

FCC has set the following rules and guideline for phone bills to avoid fraud or any confusion on charges made.

The phone bill needs to be clearly organized; it must identify the service provider. If there will switching fee it must have the name of the new provider and the date when the switch was made. There must be no misleading description on the charges. They must also list their toll-free number on the phone bill for the customer to call in case they have any inquiry on the charges that was listed on their phone bill. If the bill is sent by e-mail, they must include the e-mail address or the website where they can be able to send in their inquiry. The phone bill must also have a standardized label when there are charges relating to federal regulatory action and subscriber line charges.

English Spanish