Half-Day Pre-Conference Tutorial - May 13, 2025
"Understanding Communications Taxation"
8:30AM - 12:30PM: Tuesday May 13, 2025
(Pending Confirmation)
Led by Rick Heller, Kathy Saxton, and the Deloitte Tax Telecommunications Team
4 CPE Credits
This session requires the "conference and tutorial" registration.
The agenda below is preliminary, and may be updated before the program.
A longtime mainstay, with over fifteen years at the TeleStrategies’ Communications Taxation event, this intense, yet entertaining, seminar continues to be refreshed and updated to cover not only the basics of our current transaction tax system for communications, but a deeper dive into key tax and industry considerations associated with “cutting edge” services and applications. This is an absolute must for people new to the communications or emerging services space or the adjacent converging sectors or even those who feel they might want to attend a refresher encompassing all aspects of Communications Tax 101+. The program continues to be focused on the core aspects of communications taxation with some deeper dives into specific telecommunications taxation issues and on the more challenging issues facing today’s communications professional.
Deloitte Presenters:
- Rick Heller
- Kathy Saxton
- Justin Gulotta
- Kristy Kirk
- Marcia Shippey-Pryce
Agenda:
- Trends in Today’s Communications Sector
- Evolving communications thru software-based technology
- How we got here and where are we heading
- Everything as-a-Service and what does that mean?
- Are we bundling……or unbundling?
- Trends around bundles and ala carte offerings
- Convergence of communications, software, and everything else
- What are the impacts and how to approach?
- Telecom Networks & Technology Overview
- Technological changes from circuit-switched through 5G wireless
- Basic network discussion to be able to “talk-the-talk”
- Communications Transaction Tax Basics – What You Need to Know, from the start…
- Evolution of communications taxation
- The basic building blocks of communications taxation
- Tax technical intricacies from voice to data and from wireline to wireless to emerging services
- The History of Communications Taxation – how did we get to where we are?
- Regulatory and Federal Universal Service vs. State Telecom Tax Overview
- The “questions” that guide the way
- Defining the product/service – never as easy as you think
- Identifying the various taxes, tax types, tax bases, nexus, sourcing
- Interplay with regulatory fees and surcharges
- Sourcing issues for voice, wireline, and wireless services
- Bundled charge issues
- Prepaid Arrangements
- Internet Access Services
- Customer Exemptions and certificates
- Property Tax
- A primer on the basics of property tax
- Local vs central assessment
- Who’s subject to what
- The basics of central assessment
Communications Tax Audit & Technology
- The cycle of defending a communications tax audit
- Best practices for best results
- Equipment taxation and related exemptions
- How to identify potential refunds
- How to identify offsets
Schedule:
8:30 am –12:30: Tutorial Session