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Business Taxes Law Guide—Revision 2025
Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act
Title 18. Public Revenues
Division 2. California Department of Tax and Fee Administration—Business Taxes
Chapter 5.6. Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act.
Article 1. Imposition of Surcharge and Application of Chapter
Regulation 2436
Regulation 2436. Definitions.
Reference: Sections 41003, 41004, 41005, 41006, 41007, 41007.1, 41007.2, 41007.3, 41007.5, 41009, 41010, 41013, 41020, 41028, 41040, 42101 and 42103.2, Revenue and Taxation Code.
(a) Definitions. For purposes of this chapter (Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Regulations, commencing with Regulation 2435), the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) An "access line" shall mean any of the following:
(A) A wireline communication service line.
(B) A wireless communication service line.
(C) A VoIP service line, as defined by Revenue and Taxation Code section 41016.5.
(2) "Access line in this state" means a telephone line, as defined in Public Utilities Code section 233, associated with a billing address located in California.
(3) "Account" means an account issued and maintained by the Department to uniquely identify a service supplier that is registered with the Department pursuant to Regulation 2437 or a seller that is registered with the Department pursuant to Regulation 2437 or 2460.
(A) An "emergency telephone account" shall be issued and maintained for a service supplier that is registered with the Department pursuant to Regulation 2437.
(B) Except as provided in Regulation 2460, a "prepaid MTS account" shall be issued and maintained for a seller, other than a service supplier, that is registered with the Department pursuant to Regulation 2437 or 2460.
(C) Each account shall have its own unique emergency telephone account or prepaid MTS account number.
(4) "Billing agent" shall mean any person that submits a bill to a service user on behalf of a service supplier, reseller, or billing aggregator.
(5) "Billing aggregator" shall mean any person engaged in the business of facilitating the billing and collection of charges for access lines by aggregating the information about access lines supplied by one or more service suppliers and submitting the combined information to one or more local exchange carriers for billing and collection. A billing aggregator may contract with service suppliers to:
(A) receive access line information detail from one or more service suppliers and submit that access line information detail to one or more local exchange carriers acting as billing agents;
(B) receive payments from local exchange carriers acting as billing agents for disbursement as directed by service suppliers; and
(C) prepare and file returns and remit 911 and 988 surcharges to the Department.
A billing aggregator shall identify all service suppliers on whose behalf it will prepare and file returns at such time as the Department requests.
(6) "Business information" means information the Department deems necessary to determine if a person is required to register with the Department under Regulation 2437 or 2460, determine if the person is required to remit the 911 and 988 surcharges and local charges it collects by electronic funds transfer, assign the person a reporting period, and determine how to obtain access to the person's books and records. Such information includes, but is not limited to, the name of the person's business, the addresses of the person's business locations, the date the person's business started or will start, the business's business activities, the business's projected revenue, the name and branch location of the bank or other financial institution where the business maintains its accounts, and the name and contact information of at least one individual the Department may contact to obtain access to the business's books and records.
(7) "Contact information" means information the Department deems necessary to contact and communicate with a person registering under Regulation 2437 or 2460 and with that person's authorized representative(s), if any. Such information includes, but is not limited to, a current mailing address, email address, and telephone number.
(8) "Department" means the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
(9) "Identifying information" means information the Department deems necessary to specifically identify a person registering with the Department under Regulation 2437 or 2460. Such information includes, but is not limited to, the person's name, the person's type (e.g., individual, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, etc.), and the person's federal Employer Identification Number, and may also include, but is not limited to, the person's driver's license number or other government-issued identification card number or entity number issued by the California Secretary of State.
(10) "In this state" means within the exterior limits of the State of California and includes all territory within those limits owned by or ceded to the United States of America.
(11) "Local charge" or "local charges" means the utility user taxes on the consumption of prepaid MTS as described in Revenue and Taxation Code section 42102, and charges that apply to prepaid MTS for access to communication services or to local "911" emergency telephone systems, as described in Revenue and Taxation Code section 42102.5.
(12) "988 surcharge" means the 988 surcharge imposed under chapter 2 of the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act (commencing with Revenue and Taxation Code section 41020).
(13) "911 surcharge" means the 911 surcharge imposed under chapter 2 of the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act (commencing with Revenue and Taxation Code section 41020).
(14) "Ownership information" means information the Department deems necessary to identify the owners of an entity or business. Such information may include, but is not limited to, the owners' names and contact information.
(15) "Person" includes any individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, limited liability company, association, cooperative organization, fraternal organization, nonprofit organization, corporation, estate, trust, business or common law trust, receiver, assignee for benefit of creditors, trustee or trustee in bankruptcy. "Person" does not include a nonprofit hospital, nonprofit educational organization, or a public agency.
(16) "Prepaid consumer" means a person who purchases prepaid MTS in a retail transaction.
(17) "Prepaid mobile telephony services" or "prepaid MTS" means the right to utilize a mobile device for mobile telecommunications services or information services, including the download of digital products delivered electronically, content, and ancillary services, or both telecommunications services and information services, that must be purchased in advance of usage in predetermined units or dollars. For these purposes, "telecommunications service" and "information service" have the same meanings as defined in section 153 of title 47 of the United States Code.
(18) "Public agency" means this state, and any city, county, city and county, municipal corporation, public district, or public authority located in whole or in part within this state which provides or has authority to provide firefighting, police, ambulance, medical, or other emergency services.
(19) "Regulation" means a section in title 18 of the California Code of Regulations.
(20) "Representative information" means information the Department deems necessary to verify that the individual submitting an application for registration is the person registering with the Department or that the individual or individuals submitting an application for registration on behalf of another person is or are authorized to register such person. Such information includes, but is not limited to, each individual's name, title, and contact information.
(21) "Retail transaction" means the purchase of prepaid MTS, either alone or in combination with mobile data or other services, from a seller for any purpose other than resale in the regular course of business. For these purposes, a "purchase" means any transfer of title or possession, exchange, or barter, conditional or otherwise of prepaid MTS for a consideration. Multiple items of prepaid MTS may be purchased at one time in a single retail transaction.
(22) A "retail transaction occurs in the state" under any of the following circumstances:
(A) The prepaid consumer makes the retail transaction in person at a business location in the state (point-of-sale transaction).
(B) If subdivision (a)(22)(A) is not applicable, the prepaid consumer's address is in the state (known-address transaction). A known-address transaction occurs in the state under any of the following circumstances:
(i) The retail sale involves shipping of an item to be delivered to, or picked up by, the prepaid consumer at a location in the state.
(ii) If the prepaid consumer's address is known by the seller to be in the state, including if the seller's records maintained in the ordinary course of business indicate that the prepaid consumer's address is in the state and the records are not made or kept in bad faith.
(iii) The prepaid consumer provides an address during consummation of the retail transaction that is in the state, including an address provided with respect to the payment instrument if no other address is available and the address is not given in bad faith.
(C) If an address is not available to the seller to determine whether any of the circumstances in subdivision (a)(22)(B) exist, the transaction will be deemed to be a known-address transaction occurring in this state if the mobile telephone number is associated with a location in this state.
(23) "Seller" means a person, including a service supplier, that sells prepaid MTS to a person in a retail transaction.
(24) "Service supplier" means a person supplying an access line to a service user in this state.
(25) "Service user" means any person that subscribes for the right to utilize an access line in this state who is required to pay a surcharge under the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act.
(26) "Surcharges" or "911 and 988 surcharges" means two separate charges, the 911 surcharge related to 911 service and the 988 surcharge related to 988 service, for periods on and after January 1, 2023.
(27) "Wireless communications service line" shall mean a telecommunications service provided to an end user with a place of primary use in this state that allows the end user to make an outbound communication to the 911 emergency communications system. A "wireless communications service line" shall include a telecommunications service provided to an end user with a place of primary use in this state that allows the user to make an outbound communication to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, as defined in the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act (commencing with section 53123.1 of the Government Code). A wireless communications service line shall not include prepaid MTS.
(28) A "Wireline communication service" shall mean a local exchange service provided at a physical location in this state that allows the user to make an outbound communication to the 911 emergency communications system and to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, as defined in the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act (commencing with section 53123.1 of the Government Code). For the purposes of the surcharges, a wireline communication service access line does not include a direct inward dialing number, extension, or other similar feature that routes an inbound call and cannot provide access to the 911 emergency communications system.
History—New regulation filed July 16, 2025, and operative October 1, 2025 (Register 2025, No. 30).