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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
12 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2024
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Indemnifications
In the normal course of business, the Company may agree to indemnify other parties, including customers, lessors, and parties to other transactions with the Company with respect to certain matters, such as breaches of representations or covenants or intellectual property infringement or other claims made by third parties. These agreements may limit the time within which an indemnification claim can be made and the amount of the claim. In addition, the Company has entered into indemnification agreements with its officers and directors.
It is not possible to determine the maximum potential amount of the Company's exposure under these indemnification agreements due to the limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement. Historically, payments made by the Company under these agreements have not had a material impact on the Company's operating results, financial position, or cash flows. Under some of these agreements, however, the Company's potential indemnification liability might not have a contractual limit.
Operating Leases
The Company's lease obligations consist of the Company's principal facility and various leased facilities under operating lease agreements. See Note 6, Leases, for more information on the Company's leases and the future minimum lease payments.
Purchase Obligations
The Company's purchase obligations include contracts with third-party customer support vendors and third-party network service providers. These contracts include minimum monthly commitments and the requirements to maintain the service level for several months.
During the year ended March 31, 2024, the Company entered into a $28.1 million noncancellable three-year hosting service contract. During the three months ended December 31, 2023, the Company placed an additional $1.0 million order to the existing noncancellable three-year hosting service contract. The updated commitment of $11.4 million remains due during fiscal 2025 and $10.1 million will be due during fiscal 2026.
The total contractual minimum commitments were approximately $61.2 million as of March 31, 2024.
Legal Proceedings
The Company may be involved in various claims, lawsuits, investigations, and other legal proceedings, including intellectual property, commercial, regulatory compliance, securities, and employment matters that arise in the normal course of business. The Company determines whether an estimated loss from a contingency should be accrued by assessing whether a loss is deemed probable and can be reasonably estimated. The Company regularly evaluates current information to determine whether any accruals should be adjusted and whether new accruals are required. Actual claims could settle or be adjudicated against the Company in the future for materially different amounts than the Company has accrued due to the inherently unpredictable nature of litigation. Legal costs are expensed as incurred.
The Company believes it has recorded adequate provisions for any such lawsuits and claims and proceedings as of March 31, 2024. The Company believes that damage amounts claimed in these matters are not meaningful indicators of potential liability. Some of the matters pending against the Company involve potential compensatory, punitive, or treble damage claims or sanctions, that, if granted, could require the Company to pay damages or make other expenditures in amounts that could have a material adverse effect on its Consolidated Financial Statements. Given the inherent uncertainties of litigation, the ultimate outcome of the ongoing matters described herein cannot be predicted, and the Company believes it has valid defenses with respect to the legal matters pending against it. Nevertheless, the Consolidated Financial Statements could be materially adversely affected in a particular period by the resolution of one or more of these contingencies.
State and Local Taxes and Surcharges
From time to time, the Company has received inquiries from a number of state and local taxing agencies with respect to the remittance of sales, use, telecommunications, excise, and income taxes. Several jurisdictions currently are conducting tax audits of the Company's records. The Company collects and/or accrues for all taxes and surcharges that it believes are required. The amounts that have been remitted have historically been within the accruals established by the Company. The Company conducts periodic reviews of the taxability of its services with respect to sales, use, telecommunications or other similar indirect taxes and adjusts its accrual when facts relating to specific exposures warrant such adjustment. A similar review was performed on the taxability of services provided by Fuze and it was determined that certain services may be subject to sales, use, telecommunications or other similar indirect taxes in certain jurisdictions. Based on such assessments, as of March 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company had accrued contingent indirect tax liabilities of $19.2 million and $13.5 million, respectively.
FCC Investigation of 8x8, Inc. and Fuze, Inc.
On November 17, 2023, the Company received a letter of inquiry from the Enforcement Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) requesting certain information and supporting documents related to an investigation of potential violations by 8x8 and Fuze in connection with certain prior period regulatory filings and payments. The Company has cooperated with the FCC in this matter and responded to the letter of inquiry. If the FCC were to pursue separate action against the Company, the FCC could seek to fine or impose regulatory penalties or civil liability on the Company. The Company received a Universal Service Administrative Company ("USAC") letter dated February 1, 2024 rejecting Fuze’s previously filed 499-A returns for calendar years 2021 and 2022 and informing the Company that USAC would apply the safe harbor to Fuze revenues for those years for assessing Universal Service Fund ("USF") payments. The Company subsequently received an invoice from USAC dated March 22, 2024 in the amount of $14.9 million for additional USF fees owed for those calendar years by Fuze, Inc. The Company has since refiled the 499-A returns for calendar years 2021 and 2022 for Fuze, Inc. and recorded an additional liability of $5.6 million, which the Company has since paid subsequent to March 31, 2024. The Company submitted an appeal to USAC of the remaining amount of the invoice dated March 22, 2024. The Company's appeal is ongoing and the Company continues to cooperate with the FCC's investigation of this matter.