PreparedEmergency Telephone Users Surcharge (911 and 988) · California Department of Tax and Fee Administration

California 911 surcharge remittance

We prepare a filing packet for Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Return, in the portal's own order. You key it into the portal and certify it there.

The state accepts no document for this filing: the return is keyed into the agency’s portal. What follows is the computed figure set in the portal’s own order, for you to enter.

California accepts no document for this filing. The statute requires filing “using electronic media” and the regulation requires it “through the Department’s website”, and there is no downloadable form, no fillable PDF, no workbook and no form number — both research passes searched the department’s forms library independently and found only its program publication. What the product produces for California is the computed figure set the provider keys into the department’s online services: the 911 total and the 988 total as two separate amounts, with the counts and provenance behind each.

The rate in force now

Rate: $0.41 per line per month · 911 surcharge; $0.05 per line per month · 988 surcharge
Effective: 2026-01-01 → 2026-12-31
Cite: Rev. & Tax. Code §41030(a), (f)(1) — annual determination by the Office of Emergency Services
Form rev.: the state publishes no revision label
Source: CDTFA Special Notice L-1012, November 2025 — 2026 rates
Retrieved: Wed, August 12, 2026 · two independent fetches agree

Cadence

Monthly · set by statute

“On or before the last day of the second month following each month in which the surcharges were collected, a return for that month shall be filed by a service supplier with the department using electronic media.”

Rev. & Tax. Code §41052(a)

Every service supplier files monthly. There is no small-filer quarterly or annual election. Prepaid mobile telephony sellers file quarterly, but that is a different remitter class and out of scope.

Due dates

Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Return and payment

To: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration
Rule: the last day of the 2nd month after the period ends
Weekends: a weekend or holiday moves the date to the next business day
Applies to: Monthly

“On or before the last day of the second month following each month in which the surcharges were collected, a return for that month shall be filed by a service supplier with the department using electronic media.”

Rev. & Tax. Code §41052(a)

The department’s own worked example: a January collection period is due 31 March.

A due date falling on a weekend or a state holiday moves to the next business day. The engine applies United States federal holidays; California state holidays were not captured by the research record and are not applied, so a deadline landing near one should be checked.

Because the due date sits two months back, a return being filed now is for a collection month two months earlier, and must be priced at that month’s rates. The engine resolves by collection month, never by filing date.

Counting rule

Per access line, per month or partial month that a service user subscribes with a service supplier. Lines supplying lifeline service, lines connected to public telephones, and lines for which no charges are billed to the service user are excluded from the count. Only one payment per month is required with respect to the surcharges on an access line, even where lines or stations from more than one supplier are used.

The operative rule for this product. A VoIP subscriber subscribes for the same number of access lines as the total number of concurrent outbound calls that can be placed to the 911 emergency communications system at a single point in time using the service. Concurrent outbound-call capacity — not the number of telephone numbers, not seats, not subscribers. Inbound-only paths with no outbound 911 route do not count.

Per-customer cap
No per-customer or per-location numeric cap exists in the statute or the regulations. Both research passes searched and found none.

“subscribes with a service supplier for the same number of access lines as the total number of concurrent outbound calls that can be placed to the 911 emergency communications system at a single point of time using the service”

18 CCR Reg. 2437(a)

“Only one payment per month … shall be required with respect to the surcharges on an access line”

Rev. & Tax. Code §41021(b)

Collection allowance

No collection allowance or administrative retention was found. Both research passes reviewed Revenue and Taxation Code chapter 2 in full, §§41020 to 41056, §41073, §§41129 to 41130, and 18 CCR regulations 2435 to 2446 in full. Part 20 runs to §41176 across seven chapters, and chapters 5 to 7 were not read line by line, so this is recorded as not found rather than as a proven absence. On everything reviewed, the full amount collected is remitted.

Rev. & Tax. Code Part 20, Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act

Rate history

5 windows on record

The engine resolves the window that covers the filing period, never the latest one. A back period therefore prices at the rate that was in force for it.

2020-01-01 → 2022-12-31
$0.30 per line per month · 911 surcharge
Rev. & Tax. Code §41030(a), (f)(1) — annual determination by the Office of Emergency Services
https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/special-taxes-and-fees-tax-rates/ · retrieved Wed, August 12, 2026
No 988 surcharge existed in this window and there was no field for one on the return.
2023-01-01 → 2023-12-31
$0.30 per line per month · 911 surcharge; $0.08 per line per month · 988 surcharge
Rev. & Tax. Code §41030(a), (f)(1) — annual determination by the Office of Emergency Services
https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/special-taxes-and-fees-tax-rates/ · retrieved Wed, August 12, 2026
The 988 surcharge appears on the return from filing periods ending January 31, 2023 onwards.
2024-01-01 → 2024-12-31
$0.30 per line per month · 911 surcharge; $0.08 per line per month · 988 surcharge
Rev. & Tax. Code §41030(a), (f)(1) — annual determination by the Office of Emergency Services
https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/special-taxes-and-fees-tax-rates/ · retrieved Wed, August 12, 2026
A separate window from 2023 even though neither figure moved. Each 1 January is its own determination, and merging them would mis-price an amended or late return for a 2023 month.
2025-01-01 → 2025-12-31
$0.41 per line per month · 911 surcharge; $0.08 per line per month · 988 surcharge
Rev. & Tax. Code §41030(a), (f)(1) — annual determination by the Office of Emergency Services
https://cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/L969.pdf · retrieved Wed, August 12, 2026
2026-01-01 → 2026-12-31
$0.41 per line per month · 911 surcharge; $0.05 per line per month · 988 surcharge
Rev. & Tax. Code §41030(a), (f)(1) — annual determination by the Office of Emergency Services
https://cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/l1012.pdf · retrieved Wed, August 12, 2026
The next determination publishes on or before October 1, 2026, for periods from January 1, 2027, in a department special notice. A period in 2027 is refused until that window is recorded.

Zero-report rule

A period with nothing collected still gets filed

The state requires the return for a period in which nothing was collected. The product prepares that period like any other, and the state's own words are below.

“You must file a return electronically even if you have no surcharges to report.”

CDTFA Publication 39A

“You must file your returns by the due date to be considered on time, even if no amount is owed.”

CDTFA, Telecommunication Service Suppliers industry guide

There is no de minimis, no small-filer election and no way to skip a month. A registered supplier with no California subscribers in a month still files. California never goes quiet, and the filing calendar has to reflect that.

Record retention

4 years

Records sufficient to determine the surcharges collected, for four years from the date the surcharge is due. The general recordkeeping duty also appears at §§41129 and 41130 and at 18 CCR Reg. 2443.

“All service suppliers must maintain required records for at least four years and make them available for examination by us on request.”

CDTFA Publication 39A, restating Rev. & Tax. Code §41056

Registration

Every service supplier in California is required to register with the department, through its online services.

https://onlineservices.cdtfa.ca.gov/eserv/?Link=RegLanding

The agency’s portal

Return: Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Return
Portal: https://onlineservices.cdtfa.ca.gov/_/
Form: The state publishes no form identifier. No department-assigned form number exists or was located for this return. It is a portal workflow rather than a numbered instrument, and unlike the department’s other programmes it has no entry in the numbered-form series. Both research passes reached the same negative independently.

The filer logs in to CDTFA Online Services and selects “File a Return” on the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge account. Payment must accompany the return, by electronic funds transfer.

Remit to

State, single agency

Agency: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration
Division: Special Taxes and Fees Division — Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Program
Payee: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration
Address: Filed and paid through CDTFA Online Services. Electronic funds transfer is mandatory for service suppliers.
Contact: https://onlineservices.cdtfa.ca.gov/_/
Rate set by: The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services determines both surcharge amounts annually, on or before 1 October, effective the following 1 January, and notifies the department, which issues the rate-change notice to service suppliers.
Payment: electronic funds transfer — the state requires it

Electronic funds transfer is mandatory for a service supplier under the Department’s own regulation. The Department separately states that electronic funds transfer is required once estimated average monthly liability reaches twenty thousand dollars; both research passes agree those are two statements of the same requirement rather than a conflict, and the regulation is the one that binds a service supplier regardless of the amount.

Out of scope

What this page does not cover.

California’s prepaid mobile telephony services surcharge and its percentage-of-price local charge
They are collected at retail point of sale by the seller under Revenue and Taxation Code Part 21, on a quarterly cadence. Different remitter, different cadence, and the only place a local component appears.
The California Public Utilities Commission’s public-purpose program surcharges
An entirely different remittance. The Commission does not collect the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge; the Office of Emergency Services sets its rates and the Department of Tax and Fee Administration collects it.

Everything else this record does not know

Rate history · not on record

Rate history before January 1, 2020 is not carried. Before that date the surcharge ran on a percentage of intrastate charges rather than a flat per-line amount, and neither research pass recorded that schedule. A period before January 1, 2020 is refused rather than priced.

Searched: The department’s rate tables, which list the pre-2020 percentage rates without the full schedule being captured.

Zero report · not on record

The absence of any sworn-declaration or attestation requirement for zero-liability returns is a not-found rather than a proven absence. Neither research pass read chapter 4 of the Act in its entirety.

Searched: §§41052 and 41053, Reg. 2437, and regulations 2435 to 2446 in full; chapter 4 sampled.

Citations · not on record

The subsection carrying the billing-aggregator rule is unresolved: one research pass places it at Reg. 2437(a)(5), read verbatim from the full regulation page, and the other at Reg. 2440(a)(5). Both describe the same rule in the same terms. Only the subsection number is in doubt.

Searched: The department’s law-guide pages for Reg. 2437 and the full chapter 5.6 text.

What the form counts · not on record

The exact field labels and layout of the online return were not inspected. Neither research pass logged into the department’s portal; both worked from its published filing instructions and industry guide, so the field vocabulary here is at the instructions level.

Searched: The department’s online-filing instructions for this return and its industry guide.

Sources

Every fact above traces to one of these, retrieved Wed, August 12, 2026.

The record was reached by two independent research passes that agreed. Each source below opens at the address it was read from, with the date it was read.

CDTFA — Special taxes and fees rate tables

The 911 and 988 surcharge amounts with their effective-date windows from 2020 through 2026.