(a) For the purpose of this article, the following terms shall have the respective meanings ascribed by this section:
(1) BUSINESS. All activities relating to the furnishing of utility services.
(2) DEPARTMENT. The Department of Revenue of the State of Alabama.
(3) DOMESTIC WATER. All water except water that is sold to persons for use or consumption in industrial processes and not primarily for human consumption.
(4) GROSS RECEIPTS. The value proceeding or accruing from the furnishing of utility services, all receipts actual and accrued, without any deduction on account of the cost of the utility services sold, the cost of the materials used, labor or service cost, interest paid, or any other expense whatever, and without any deductions on account of losses.
(5) GROSS SALES. The value proceeding or accruing from the furnishing of utility services, and including the proceeds from the sale of any utility services handled on consignment by the taxpayer, without any deduction on account of the cost of the utility services sold, the cost of the materials used, labor or service cost, interest paid, or any other expenses whatever and without any deductions on account of losses.
(6) PERSON. An individual, firm, copartnership, association, trustee, receiver, corporation, or other entity, and shall specifically include the State of Alabama, every county in the State of Alabama, every municipal corporation in the State of Alabama, the United States of America and its agencies, and every public corporation or entity organized under the laws of the United States of America or under the laws of any state of the United States of America and operating in the State of Alabama, as well as every private or nonpublic entity.
(7) PURCHASE. Utility services which are acquired, with or without consideration, whether such acquisition is effected by a transfer of title or of possession, or of both, or a license to use or consume, whether such transfer is absolute or conditional, and by whatsoever means the same shall have been effected.
(8) RETAIL SALE. All sales except those defined herein as wholesale sales.
(9) SALES PRICE. The total amount for which utility services shall have been sold, or, if not sold or sold for only a nominal amount, the fair market value thereof, valued in money, whether paid in money or otherwise, and includes any amount for which credit is given to the purchaser by the seller, without any deduction therefrom on account of the cost of the utility services sold, the cost of the materials used, labor or service cost, interest charged, losses, or any other expenses whatever; provided, that cash discounts allowed and taken shall not be included.
(10) STORAGE. Any keeping or retention in the State of Alabama of utility services for any purpose, except sale in the regular course of business or subsequent use solely outside the State of Alabama.
(11) TAXPAYER. Any person liable for taxes under the provisions of this article.
(12) USE. The exercise of any right or power over utility services or the disposition thereof incident to a proprietary or possessory interest therein, except that it shall not include the sale of utility services in the regular course of business.
(13) UTILITY. Every person regularly engaged in furnishing utility services to another person in the State of Alabama.
(14) UTILITY GROSS RECEIPTS TAX. The tax levied by Article 3 of this chapter.
(15) UTILITY SERVICES. Electricity, domestic water, natural gas, telegraph services, and telephone services; provided, however, that “utility services” shall not mean electricity, domestic water, natural gas, telephone services, or telegraph services stored, used, or consumed by a utility regularly engaged in furnishing the same such services to the public, other than by a municipality or other municipal entities organized by a municipality.
(16) WHOLESALE SALE. A sale or exchange of utility services by a utility to any person or any other utility engaged in the resale of such utility services in the regular course of business.
(17) TELEPHONE SERVICES. Local telephone service, interstate telephone service which originates or terminates within this state but does not both originate and terminate in this state and is charged to a service address in this state, and intrastate toll telephone service, private communications service, teletypewriter, and computer exchange service. The term “telephone services” includes transmission by or through any media such as wires, cables, microwaves, light waves, or any combination of those or similar media. It includes, but is not limited to, telephone services sold by motels and hotels to their customers or to others, telephone services sold by colleges and universities to their students or to others, and telephone services sold by hospitals to their patients or to others. The term “telephone services” shall not include:
(i) Telephone services provided through any pay telephone;
(ii) Any excise, franchise, or similar tax or like fee or assessment levied by the United States, by the State of Alabama, or by any political subdivision, upon the purchase, sale, use, or consumption of any telephone services, which tax, fee, or assessment is collected by the seller from the purchaser;
(iii) The furnishing of any telephone services for resale, including access charges paid by an interexchange carrier, provided that any utility making a sale of telephone services for resale shall obtain a certificate from the purchaser of such services certifying that such services are purchased for the purpose of resale, the form of the certification to be determined by rules and regulations to be promulgated by the department;
(iv) Charges for customer premises equipment, including such equipment that is leased or rented by the customer from any source;
(v) Cable television service, paging services, specialized mobile radio, or mobile telecommunications service; or
(vi) Services which are ancillary to the provision of telephone service but are not directly related to the transmission of voice, data, or information such as directory advertising and installation and repair of equipment and inside wiring.
The term “local telephone service” means the access to a local telephone system, and the privilege of telephonic-quality communication with substantially all persons having telephone stations constituting a part of such local telephone system.
The term “toll telephone service” means (A) a telephonic-quality communication for which there is a toll charge which varies in amount according to the distance and elapsed transmission time of each individual communication, or (B) a service that entitles the subscriber or user, upon the payment of a periodic charge that is determined as a flat amount or upon some basis of total elapsed transmission time, or upon some combination thereof, to the privilege of an unlimited number of telephonic communications to or from all or a substantial portion of the persons having telephone or radio telephone stations in a specified area which is outside the local telephone system area in which the station provided with this service is located. The term “toll telephone service” includes wide-area telephone service charges.
The term “private communications service” means a communication service that entitles the subscriber or user to exclusive or priority use of a communication channel or group of channels, regardless of whether such channel or group of channels may be connected through switching with a service described in this subparagraph.
The terms “teletypewriter” and “computer exchange service” mean the access from a teletypewriter, telephone, computer, or other data station of which such station is a part, and the privilege of intercommunication by such station with substantially all persons having teletypewriter, telephone, computer, or other data stations constituting a part of the same teletypewriter or computer exchange system. The terms “teletypewriter” and “computer exchange service” do not include the storage of data or information for subsequent retrieval, the retrieval of data or information, or the processing, or reception and processing, of data or information intended to change its form or content, and the term “computer exchange service” does not include the Internet nor access thereto.
The term “intrastate,” as applied to telephone services, includes only those services originating and terminating wholly in this state.
The term “call-by-call basis” means any method of charging for telephone service where the price is measured by individual calls.
The term “communications channel” means a physical or virtual path of communications over which signals are transmitted between or among customer channel termination points.
The term “customer” means the person or entity that contracts with the seller of telephone services. If the end user of the telephone services is not the contracting party, the end user of the telephone service is the customer of the telephone service, but this sentence only applies for the purpose of sourcing sales of telecommunications under Section 40-21-81. “Customer” does not include a reseller of telephone service.
The term “customer channel termination point” means the locations where the customer either inputs or receives the communications.
The term “end user” means the person who utilizes the telephone service. In the case of the entity, “end user” means the individual who utilizes the service on behalf of the entity.
The term “post-paid calling service” means the telephone service obtained by making a payment on a call-by-call basis either through the use of a credit card or payment mechanism such as a bank card, travel card, credit card, or debit card, or by charge made to a telephone number which is not associated with the origination or termination of the telephone service. A post-paid calling service includes a telephone service that would be a prepaid calling service except it is not exclusively a telephone service.
The term “place of primary use” means the street address representative of where the customer’s use of the telephone service primarily occurs, which must be the residential street address or the primary business street address of the customer.
The term “service address” means:
(A) The location of the telecommunications equipment to which a customer’s call is charged and from which the call originates or terminates, regardless of where the call is billed or paid.
(B) If the location in (A) is not known, service address means the origination point of the signal of the telephone services first identified by either the seller’s telephone system or in information received by the seller from its service provider, where the system used to transport such signals is not that of the seller.
(C) If the location in (A) and (B) are not known, the service address means the location of the customer’s place of primary use.
(b) “Herein,” “hereby,” “hereunder,” “hereof” and other such words of reference shall refer to this article as a whole, and not solely to the particular section or portion of this article in which any such word may be used.
(c) The definitions set forth in this section shall be deemed applicable whether the words defined are used in the singular or the plural.