Sandy Beaches Software (SBS)’ billing and customer-care software, IntegriBill, was updated to include the CereTax next-gen communications tax engine. One of the key improvements of CereTax is breaking out recovery fees, which enables SBS clients to recover costs as a pass-through on their invoices, adding to the bottom line.
The North American Numbering Plan Administration fee, Local Number Portability fees, Interstate Telecommunications Service Providers Fund and Federal Telecommunications Relay Service Fund (FTRS) are included as part of the CereTax tax-rating process. Previously, SBS recovered only client obligation amounts for the FRTS.
“The CereTax engine is much more granular than the tax solutions that we’ve used in the past,” said Jeff Lytle, SBS president and founder. “Clients will have the option to recover these fees on the invoices we generate while remaining compliant in Truth-in-Billing standards.”
“The Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF) is one of the most complex responsibilities for voice providers,” added Red Jacket Solutions’ president, Thomas Forte, a well-respected telecom compliance consultant and thought leader in the industry. “Sandy Beaches Software’s (SBS) implementation of the CereTax platform allows IntegriBill users to choose which of the three FCC accepted methodologies to collect FUSF is the best reflection of their traffic.”
“SBS has utilized a few different tax engines throughout our 35-year history,” added Lytle. “Based on the feedback from our programmers in charge of the CereTax conversion, this was much smoother and more efficient than the previous two. CereTax’s excellent customer service and their program’s flexibility were the key differentiators.”
Billing software from SBS has always included tax-specific features, including detailed reporting by jurisdiction, 499 data points, Broadband Data Collection information and tax-exemption tracking. The CereTax engine returns the exemption amounts by customer as an added feature for SBS clients.
“Our staff prides itself on our up-to-date knowledge regarding tax compliance, Truth-in-Billing and tax mapping,” said Lytle. “We provide support in all these areas, eliminating our client’s need to learn yet another software package to effectively run their business. If a client has an issue or needs clarification pertaining to their taxes, SBS has the expertise to handle it and the accuracy of CereTax to back that knowledge up.”
