Payment and Procedures Public Notice for FY 2012 Regulatory Fees
PUBLIC NOTICE
Federal Communications Commission
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
445 12th St., S.W.Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
Washington, D.C. 20554
TTY: 1-888-835-5322
Released August 13, 2012
DA 12-1294
Payment Methods and Procedures For Fiscal Year 2012 Regulatory Fees
The Commission’s automated filing and payment system (“Fee Filer”) is now available for filing andpayment of FY 2012 regulatory fees. Regulatory fee payments must be RECEIVED by the
Commission no later than 11:59 PM, ET, on September 13, 2012.
As set forth in 47 U.S.C. 159(a), the Commission is required by Congress to collect regulatory fees to
recover the regulatory costs associated with its enforcement, policy and rulemaking, user information,
and international activities. Licensees and regulatees are assessed fees calculated as set forth in (See
Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2012, Report and Order, 77 FR 46307 at ¶ 4
(August 3, 2012) (“FY 2012 Regulatory Fees Report and Order”)). The Commission also publishes
industry-specific guidance in Who Owes Fees & What is My Fee FY 2012, which can be found on the
Commission website at http://transition.fcc.gov/fees/regfees.html.
MANDATORY USE OF FEE FILER
The use of the online system (Fee Filer) for filing of regulatory fees has not changed from when theprocess was first initiated in FY 2009: licensees and regulatees must first enter the Commission’s Fee
Filer system with a valid FRN and password, and follow the online prompts to generate a Form 159-E
voucher to be submitted with the appropriate regulatory fee payment to the designated entity, U.S.
Bank. Use of the online Fee Filer system is mandatory, and only Form 159-E vouchers generated from
Fee Filer will be permitted to be submitted with regulatory fee payments to U.S. Bank. Instructions on
the use and submission of Form 159-E payments also are available on the Commission’s website in the
publication, Who Owes Fees & What is My Fee FY 2012, referenced above. Hardcopy/paper bills are
no longer mailed by the FCC; however, bills are available for viewing in the “Regulatory Fee” link of
Fee Filer. For additional information, filers may contact the Financial Operations Help Desk at 877-
480-3201, Option 4.
There are many benefits to licensees and regulatees in using the Commission’s Fee Filer system: 1)
expeditious submission of payment; 2) no postage or courier costs (when paid electronically through
Fee Filer); 3) fewer errors caused by illegible handwriting or payments submitted without an FRN
number or the appropriate data attributes (e.g., payers will avoid receiving delinquency notices because
of payment submission errors); 4) improved recordkeeping and payment reconciliation; 5) reduced
administrative burden on both licensees and regulatees on Commission staff in processing regulatory
fee payments; 6) less expensive than a wire transfer; and 7) a reduced burden of preparing, mailing,
and storing paper documents.
HARDCOPY BILLS WILL NO LONGER BE MAILED BY THE FCC
As in FY 2011, the FCC in FY 2012 will not mail hardcopy bills for the following fee categories:Interstate Telecommunications Service Providers (ITSPs)
Service Providers for FY 2012.
Satellite Space Station Licensees
Services Licensees for FY 2012.
Earth Station Licensees
Services Licensees for FY 2012.
Cable Television Relay Service (CARS) Licensees
FY 2012.
MAKE SURE YOUR FCC REGISTRATION NUMBER (FRN) IS CURRENT IN CORES
It is very important for licensees and regulatees to have a current and valid FRN address on file in theCommission’s Registration System (CORES). To file and pay regulatory fees, licensees will need to
have their FRN passwords available when entering the Commission’s electronic filing and payment
system (Fee Filer). In some instances, it will reduce a licensee’s reporting burden to use a specific
FRN and password that is linked to a particular regulatory fee bill when entering Fee Filer. If you do
not have an FRN, please go to www.fcc.gov and click on the link to FCC Registration Number (FRN)
Commission Registration System (CORES) to obtain one.
LIMITATIONS ON CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS
The U.S Treasury is rejecting the processing of Credit Card transactions greater than$49,999.99. The U.S. Treasury has published Treasury Financial Manual (TFM) No. A-2012-
02 (http://fms.treas.gov/tfm/vol1/announc.html) of February 2012 in which agencies are
directed to limit Credit Card collections amounts not to exceed $49,999.99.
The revised policy, effective June 30, 2012, lowers the maximum dollar amount allowed for a
Credit Card transaction (previously at $99,999.99) and eliminates the maximum dollar limit for
a debit card transaction. This new limit now applies to Credit Card transactions only.
In addition, the U.S. Treasury will reject multiple Credit Card transactions from a single credit
card in a single day that accumulate to more than $49,999.99. Transactions that cause the total
of the transactions charged to the credit card on that day to exceed the total daily dollar-value
limit of $49,999.00 will reject, the transactions that are below the limit will process.
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The FCC will institute policies that will conform to the U.S. Treasury policy. Entities needing
to remit amounts of $50,000.00 or greater need to use alternative methods of payment: check,
debit card, ACH or FedWire. Additional information can be found at
http://transition.fcc.gov/fees/regfees.html.
The FCC will post warnings on various FCC websites to remind entities making payments to
the FCC of the U.S. Treasury policy of rejecting credit card transactions that exceed this single
day limit of $49,999.99 per Credit Card per day.
Regulatory Fee payments that violate the U.S. Treasury limit and are rejected by Treasury
causing a payment not to meet the specified payment window requirements will be subjected to
interest, fees, and a 25% Late Payment Penalty.
ELECTRONIC FILING AND PAYMENT PROCEDURES (FOR ALL ENTITIES)
You will need to enter the FCC’s Fee Filer system to begin the process of filing your FY 2012 regulatoryfees. The Fee Filer web application is located at: www.fcc.gov/feefiler. After logging in with your FRN
and password, select the Regulatory Fees option to display your billed and non-billed regulatory fee
obligations. It is the responsibility of the licensee to determine the fullest extent of their regulatory fee
obligation. When you enter Fee Filer, fee information associated with your FRN will be presented. You
may make adjustments, corrections, additions, or deletions to this information presented, if necessary.
Please note that you are required to report and pay for all regulatory fees that you owe, regardless of
whether those fees are presented through this feature.
For technical assistance regarding the use of Fee Filer, you may call the Commission’s Financial
Operations Help Desk at (877) 480-3201 and select Option 4.
PAYMENT METHODS
Licensees and regulatees may pay their regulatory fees by any of the following methods;·
Check
·
Money order
·
Credit card (online or by mail)
·
Wire transfer
· ACH (Automated Clearing House) / debit from bank account (online) via fee filer
Check or Money Order:
Communications Commission. Please note that only Form 159-E vouchers generated from Fee
Filer will be permitted to be submitted with regulatory fee payments to U.S. Bank.
Note: US Bank’s/Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland – will convert check payments drawn on
personal checking accounts into an electronic funds transfer. “Electronic fund transfer” is the term
used to refer to the process in which we electronically instruct your financial institution to transfer
funds from your account to our account, rather than processing your check. By sending your
completed, signed check to us, you authorize us to copy your check and to use the account
information from your check to make an electronic fund transfer from your account for the same
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amount as the check. If the electronic fund transfer cannot be processed for technical reasons, you
authorize us to process the copy of your check.
Credit Card
(online or by mail):·
The FCC accepts these credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express.
·
To pay online by credit card, you must first submit your electronic filing information via the FCC’s
Fee Filer web application; you will then have the option to pay online by choosing the “Pay by
Credit Card” option.
·
Limitations on credit card transactions: The U.S. Treasury will reject credit card transactions
greater than $49,999.99 from a single credit card in a single day, in accordance with U.S. Treasury
Financial Manual (TFM) No. A-2012-02.
·
When paying by credit card by mail (must be accompanied with a Form 159-E), you must
complete both:
o the “Credit Card Payment Information” section with all the requested credit card information
along with your signature, and
o the “Certification” section by signing and dating the bottom of Form 159-E.
Wire Transfer:
funds from your account to the Federal Reserve Bank, NYC (TREAS NYC). All payments made by
wire transfer (payable to the Federal Communications Commission) must be supported by a completed
Form 159-E remittance voucher, which must be faxed to FCC Government Lockbox – Regulatory Fees
(U.S. Bank in St. Louis, Missouri) at (314) 418-4232 at least one hour before the wire transfer on the
same business day, so as not to delay crediting your account. Due to the Federal Reserve process,
most wire transfers initiated after 6:00 p.m. (EDT) will be credited the next business day. Indicate
on the top of the remittance instrument "Wire Transfer - Regulatory Fee Payment." The Form 159-E
generated from Fee Filer will already have the Lockbox number (“979084”) pre-printed on the form.
Regulatees should discuss arrangements (including bank closing schedules) with their bankers several
days before they plan to make the wire transfer to allow sufficient time for the transfer to be initiated
and completed before the deadline, especially if the wire transfer is an international one. Complete
instructions for making wire payments are posted at http://transition.fcc.gov/fees/wiretran.html.
When initiating the wire transfer, please provide your bank with the following information to complete
the transfer:
ABA Routing Number: 021030004
Receiving Bank: TREAS NYC
33 Liberty St.
New York, NY 10045
BNF: FCC/ACCT--27000001
PAYER FRN (Exactly as on remittance instrument)
PAYER NAME (Exactly as on remittance instrument)
Phone: (Daytime Phone #, exactly as on remittance instrument)
VOUCHER NUMBER
(Exactly as on remittance (Form 159-E) instrument)4
ACH Payments (Debit from Bank Account)
To pay online from a bank account, you must first submit your electronic filing information via the
FCC’s Fee Filer web application; you will then have the option to pay online by choosing the “Pay
from Bank Account” option. Note: You are strongly encouraged to contact your financial
institution to verify the correct Routing Number for this method of payment is being used.
·
You may choose to pay from one of the following types of accounts: Personal Checking, Personal
Savings, Business Checking, and Business Savings.
·
For purposes of meeting the filing deadline, the FCC will consider the payment to be received at
the time your account information is successfully accepted; however, funds may not clear from
your bank account for up to 2 business days. Licensees and Regulatees are responsible for
obtaining confirmation from their financial institution that their payment was successfully debited
from their account.
Your payment by Check, Money Order, or Credit Card must be accompanied by Form 159-E
generated from Fee Filer:
Federal Communications Commission
Regulatory Fees
P.O. Box 979084
St. Louis, MO 63197-9000
Courier delivery address:
Federal Communications Commission
Regulatory Fees
C/O U.S. Bank – Government Lockbox #979084
SL-MO-C2-GL
1005 Convention Plaza
St. Louis, MO 63101
Attn: FCC Government Lockbox
DE MINIMIS FEE PAYMENT LIABILITY
Licensees and regulatees whose total FY 2012 regulatory fee liability, including all categories of feesfor which payment is due, amounts to less than $10 will be exempted from payment of FY 2012
regulatory fees.
OTHER QUESTIONS REGARDING REGULATORY FEES
To help you understand your regulatory fee obligations, the following Fact Sheets and Websites areavailable at http://transition.fcc.gov/fees/regfees.html:
FACT SHEET: WHAT YOU OWE - CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEMS—FY2012
FACT SHEET: WHAT YOU OWE - MEDIA SERVICES LICENSEES—FY2012
FCC LOOK-UP WEBSITE FOR MEDIA SERVICES LICENSEES OWING FY 2012 REGULATORY
FEES
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FACT SHEET: WHAT YOU OWE - COMMERCIAL WIRELESS SERVICES—FY2012
FACT SHEET: WHAT YOU OWE - INTERNATIONAL AND SATELLITE SERVICES LICENSEES—
FY2012
PUBLIC NOTICE: SUBMARINE CABLE SYSTEMS—FY2012
FACT SHEET: WHAT YOU OWE - INTERSTATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE PROVIDERS—
FY2012
FACT SHEET: WAIVERS, REDUCTIONS AND DEFERMENTS OF REGULATORY FEES—FY2012
FACT SHEET: REGULATORY FEE EXEMPTIONS—FY2012
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Please contact the Commission’s Financial Operations Help Desk with inquiries regarding regulatoryfees at (877) 480-3201 Option 4 or e-mail your inquiries to ARINQUIRIES@FCC.GOV
Public Notices and Fact Sheets can be ordered by calling (888) 225-5322. Materials can also be
obtained by writing to: Federal Communications Commission, ATTN: Consumer Information Center,
445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C., 20554.
- FCC -
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