911 Surcharge, 988 Surcharge, and Local Charge Rates for Sellers of Prepaid Mobile Telephony Services (MTS) and Telecommunication Service Suppliers

911 Surcharge, 988 Surcharge, and Local Charge Rates

The 911 surcharge is a flat rate of no more than $0.80 cents and the 988 surcharge is a flat rate of no more than $0.30 cents, as determined annually by the Office of Emergency Services (OES). The OES determines the rate by October 1st of each year, to be effective the following January 1st to December 31st. Links to the current 911 and 988 surcharge rates are available in the next section below for sellers and telecommunication service suppliers.

Collecting the 911 Surcharge and 988 Surcharge

Sellers

The 911 surcharge and 988 surcharge are flat rates and apply to each transaction involving a sale of prepaid mobile telephony services (MTS) to a California consumer, unless the transaction is otherwise exempt. If a portion of the transaction is tax exempt but any portion includes a non-exempt sale of prepaid MTS, the 911 and 988 surcharges still apply to the retail transaction. If you do not make the sale at your business location (for example, you make sales through your website), the 911 and 988 surcharges generally still apply if the known address of the customer is in California. See the Known Address Transaction heading below to determine if your customer's known address is in California.

Rate Information: If you are a seller of prepaid MTS, please find the current 911 and 988 surcharge rates and/or local charge rates by going to our 911 Surcharge, 988 Surcharge, Rate and Local Charge Rates for Sellers of Prepaid Mobile Telephony Services (MTS) webpage.

Telecommunication Service Suppliers (Service Supplier)

The 911 and 988 surcharges are a flat rate and apply to each access line in which a service user subscribes for use in California each month or partial month. The 911 and 988 surcharges apply unless the access line is otherwise tax exempt.

Rate Information: If you are a service supplier, please see our Tax Rates – Special Taxes and Fees webpage and scroll down to the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge – 911 Surcharge and 988 Surcharge heading to view current and historical 911 and 988 Surcharge rates.

Collecting local charges

Sellers (other than service suppliers) must collect local charges as a percentage of the selling price of prepaid MTS sold at retail. If you are making sales of prepaid MTS from your business location, you should generally charge and collect the correct local charge rate for the city and/or county where your business is located. However, if you do not make the sale at your business location (for example, you make sales through your website), local charges may still apply if the known address of the customer is in California. Please see our Known Address Transaction heading below to determine if your customer’s known address is in California.

Known address transaction

In general, there are three circumstances under which a retail sale of prepaid MTS occurs in California and is subject to the 911 surcharge, 988 surcharge, and local charges (if applicable). First, sales of prepaid MTS from your California business location are subject to the 911 surcharge, 988 surcharge, and local charges (if applicable). Second, if the sale is a “known address transaction” it occurs in California and is subject to the 911 surcharge, 988 surcharge, and local charges (if applicable).

A "known address transaction" occurs in this state and the 911 surcharge, 988 surcharge, and local charges (if applicable) apply under any one of the following circumstances:

  1. The item is shipped to, or picked up by, your customer at a California location, or
  2. Your records show that the customer's address is located in California, or
  3. Your customer provides you an address in California during the sales transaction (for example, a billing address).

Third, when you make online sales and do not know your customer's address, the sale of prepaid MTS occurs in California and the 911 surcharge, 988 surcharge, and local charges (if applicable) apply if your customer has a mobile telephone number that is associated with a location in California.

To determine the correct prepaid MTS rate for your online sales, you should charge the prepaid MTS rate based on the known California location or address of your customer in the order listed above.

For purposes of determining the correct local rate to charge, when you do not sell prepaid MTS to the customer at your business location, but one of the above scenarios applies, you should charge the local charge rate that applies to the known California location or address of your customer, in the order listed above.

Please visit our 911 Surcharge Rate, 988 Surcharge, and Local Charge Rates for Sellers of Prepaid Mobile Telephony Services (MTS) page to find your applicable local charge rate(s).

Rate changes

When the 911 surcharge, 988 surcharge, and/or local charge rates change, the CDTFA notifies registered prepaid MTS sellers by providing information in a Special Notice You may also sign up to receive email notifications from us and to get the latest news and updates.

Legislative information

For more information about the 911 Surcharge rate, see Senate Bill (SB) 96.

For more information about the 988 Surcharge rate, see Assembly Bill (AB) 988.

For more information about the extension of local charges, see Senate Bill (SB) 344 (stats. 2019, ch, 642).