Annual Regulatory Fees Due in September

While the final fee amounts and filing window have not yet been announced, all commercial broadcasters will have to pay annual FCC regulatory fees for Fiscal Year 2020 this September.  Typically, the final regulatory fee order is released in the first week or so of September, and in conjunction with that release, the FCC’s Fee Filer system is activated so that stations can find the amounts due.  The Fee Filer system is also where stations will electronically submit fees by the deadline.

This link will take stations to the Fee Filer system, where the licensee’s FRN or CORES username will be needed to log in.  Currently, the alert in red letters at the top of the page notes that the module for making FY 2020 regulatory fee payments is not yet available.  Check back periodically; at some point, it will change to allow the viewing of fees and payment submission.  Last year, the de minimis threshold was $1,000, so if a station regulatory fee (or combined fees for one licensee) was lower than that, no amount had to be paid.  It’s unknown whether the threshold amount will remain at $1,000 or not, and of course fees for stations that were below the threshold last year may have gone up, so be sure to log in and double check your fee amount.