Telecom tax is notoriously complex. With thousands of taxing jurisdictions in the U.S. and more added regularly—telecom providers face a constant challenge: how do you charge the right tax, to the right customer, in the right location?
For telecom companies dealing with taxes on telecommunications, a missed jurisdiction or outdated boundary line could mean under-collection (leading to audits), over-collection (leading to customer frustration), or total non-compliance. That's where GIS (Geographic Information Systems) steps in—and where CereTax is doing something truly different.
We sat down with Andre Jones, GIS Specialist at CereTax, to discuss how his team is redefining precision in telecom sales tax through rooftop accuracy and real-time jurisdiction updates.
FOUNDATION: What Is GIS and Why It Matters
Q: For people who aren’t familiar, how would you explain what GIS is and why it matters in sales tax automation?
A: GIS is computer software that allows an organization to relate all of its data to points, lines, or areas upon the earth (from GIS Department, Buncombe County, North Carolina). For CereTax, this means relating all data to the geography of different taxing jurisdictions. This matters in sales tax automation because tables and databases can only take you so far when it comes to geographic data.
Q: What does GIS mean specifically in the context of telecom, and why is it so important?
A: GIS ties tax data to the exact physical geography where a transaction occurs. For telecom companies, that means precisely locating infrastructure like towers, switches, and service lines—not just at the ZIP code level, but at the rooftop level. This is crucial because telecom infrastructure often sits on jurisdictional borders where tax rules can differ even block by block.
Q: What’s one common misconception businesses have about GIS in the tax space?
A: That GIS in sales tax automation is an optional add-in. In reality, it’s foundational to accuracy. Without GIS, location precision falls apart, especially in industries like telecom.
THE CHALLENGE: Why Telecom Tax is Uniquely Complex
Q: What kind of sales tax compliance issues are most common in the telecom space, and how does CereTax help mitigate those?
A: In telecom, many compliance challenges stem from the need to maintain accurate and timely tax boundary data. While this is important across all industries, telecom is especially affected due to attributional nexus—a situation where infrastructure like towers or switches in a state can create an indirect physical presence in a jurisdiction, creating tax obligations. With over 10,000 telecom tax jurisdictions in the U.S., jurisdictional overlap and ambiguity are common. It’s not unusual for state, municipal, and local authorities to have conflicting claims on the same area, especially for services like E911.
CereTax addresses these challenges by combining rooftop-level GIS accuracy with active, ongoing research. The GIS team not only keeps jurisdictional boundaries updated in real time but also documents boundary sources with references to legal authorities. This proactive approach reduces the chance of tax misapplication and helps clients maintain compliance, avoid audits, and build trust with tax authorities through defensible data.
Q: Why is rooftop accuracy especially important for telecom taxation?
A: In telecom, infrastructure can create attributional nexus—meaning that simply having a tower or switch in a jurisdiction may trigger tax obligations. If GIS data is outdated or imprecise, a company could end up under-collecting and risking audits, or over-collecting and frustrating customers. Rooftop accuracy ensures taxes on telecommunications are collected and remitted properly.
"GIS isn’t an optional add-on. It’s the foundation of accurate telecom taxation. Without it, the whole system is guesswork."
THE CERETAX DIFFERENCE: How We Solve It
Q: How does CereTax ensure accuracy at such a detailed level?
A: It starts with the data. CereTax prioritizes latitude and longitude coordinates over ZIP codes or even full addresses. That location is then matched against a proprietary, actively maintained jurisdiction boundary dataset. This allows for pinpoint accuracy when identifying applicable state, county, city, or special tax jurisdictions.
Q: Can you walk us through what happens in the GIS engine from the moment a user submits an address to when a tax rate is returned?
A: The process begins when a client submits a tax calculation request, which typically includes details like what was sold, for how much, and most importantly—where it was sold. That "where" becomes the situs, or taxable location. Clients can provide anything from a basic ZIP code to a full latitude and longitude. The CereTax engine is built to prioritize the highest level of precision available, starting with lat/long, full addresses, and finally ZIP codes.
Once the situs is defined, the calculation engine gets to work. It runs a series of geospatial searches to determine where that point falls within CereTax’s proprietary GIS boundary dataset. After this analysis, the engine matches the situs to a geocode that connects it to all relevant tax jurisdictions—state, county, city, and any special tax districts. Within milliseconds, the system returns a full tax response, including jurisdiction names, taxability rules, and applicable tax rates.
Q: Are there any regulatory or legal challenges you face when collecting and integrating jurisdiction data from local sources?
A: Yes, there are several. These challenges stem from how fragmented and inconsistent jurisdictional data can be across different states and municipalities.
- Regulatory notices: Some states—like Kansas, Texas, and Utah—publish detailed quarterly updates about municipal and district boundary changes. Others offer little or no public guidance.
- Research gaps: Because many states don’t maintain centralized GIS data, CereTax must research at the municipal or district level, often sourcing data from dozens of different agencies.
- Digitization issues: Many boundaries come from low-resolution scanned maps or outdated documents. Poor image quality or vague borders can reduce accuracy when converting them into digital formats.
Despite these hurdles, CereTax maintains a rigorous sourcing and validation process to ensure GIS data is reliable and audit-ready.
Q: What sets CereTax apart from other platforms like Avalara or Vertex?
A: Many legacy platforms rely on static, infrequently updated boundary data. At CereTax, the GIS team updates special tax jurisdiction boundaries weekly or even daily. They perform deep research, review annexation documents, digitize maps, and maintain an evolving, real-time GIS system. That ongoing commitment to data integrity reduces risk and improves compliance.
Q: How does GIS data tie into other parts of the CereTax platform (reporting, audit logs, analytics, etc.)?
A: GIS powers multiple layers of the CereTax platform. In reporting, users can trace transactions down to the exact taxing authorities involved—and potentially even visualize those boundaries within the platform. Audit logs document every jurisdictional change with timestamps, ordinance references, and reasons for updates. This transparency ensures clients can not only calculate taxes accurately but also defend their calculations with confidence.
Q: What are clients excited about when they learn about CereTax's GIS capabilities?
A: Sales teams report that the combination of rooftop accuracy and real-time updates is a compelling differentiator. Clients value accuracy, of course, but also transparency and trust. The ability to demonstrate why a tax rate applies, and to show maps and logs backing it up, creates confidence.
LOOKING AHEAD
Q: What’s next for GIS at CereTax?
A: We’re working to make GIS more than just a backend tool. Our roadmap includes building interactive dashboards, real-time validation features, and jurisdiction simulation tools. The ultimate goal is to give clients full control and visibility.
Q: What excites you most about being in GIS right now—especially at a company like CereTax?
A: Growth. There’s a huge opportunity to develop a spatial strategy for boundary updates as we scale. Seeing how GIS evolves with our platform and how we’re shaping the industry standard is incredibly motivating.
Q: If there’s one thing you want clients to take away about GIS at CereTax, what would it be?
A: That GIS is the unsung hero of sales tax compliance—especially in telecom. It may not be the flashiest feature, but it’s what makes everything else work. If we get the boundaries right, everything else falls into place.
Ready to take the guesswork out of telecom tax?Connect with our team to see how CereTax is transforming telecom sales tax with rooftop accuracy, real-time jurisdiction data, and GIS innovation built for scale.
