The USAC 474 file is a form to request reimbursement from USAC for the discount amount for eligible services and equipment provided to the applicant. Authorized users can create the USAC 474 file for a specific bill period and then submit to USAC for reimbursement. From the E-Rate Utilization view select the Create File tab then select a bill period from the drop-down menu.
Selecting a bill period enables the Create 474 File button.
Note
The date used to tag all utilization in the file is the selected Bill Period End date -1 (last day of the bill period). For example, if the bill period is May 2, 2023 – June 2, 2023, the utilization date is June 1, 2023. This date is used to determine whether the utilization is valid for inclusion in the file. It must fall within the FRN date range.
Clicking that button displays a dialog for entering contact information.
This dialog displays:
Date from the search criteria that was entered
Maximum Records defaults to < 1000. This can be overridden.
Enter the file contact information. You can request to use cookies to populate with the previous values used.
Clicking Submit generates the file and downloads it to the local machine. If the number of records exceeds the max records parameter, multiple files are generated.
Example File:
Note
Submit the file to USAC. For this release, submitting this form is done manually outside the IDI system.
File layout
The 474 file is a comma-delimited text file. The layout includes a file header and file trailer. Within those records, there is a header record, detail records and a trailer record for each service provider (SPIN) included in the file. A detail record exists for each FRN having utilization within the bill period, with the aggregate total for the FRN across all services in the bill period.
Note
Per USAC, the file cannot contain more than 2500 lines and must be less than 200 KB.
All fields in the file are in double quotations:
File Header:
"SRH"
contact name
email address
phone number (10 digits)
Service Provider Header:
"HDR"
Service Provider name
SPIN
contact name
phone number (10 digits)
extension (optional)
Invoice Number – can use Invoice Date for this value
Invoice Date - mmddyyyy
Detail record (DTL): note multiple DTL records within the HDR/TRL grouping for a SPIN
"DTL"
Application number
FRN
Frequency
Billed Date (blank)
Ship Date (use date on utilization record) - mmddyyyy
Total amount billed (sum of eligible charges from the utilization records)
E-Rate Amount (sum the amount USAC is responsible for from utilization records)
Discount Percentage (from FRN configuration)
Service Provide Trailer:
"TRL"
Total E-Rate Discount Amount for the SPIN
Record Count for SPIN
File Trailer:
"SPT"
Number of SPINs (HDR record count)
Number of details (DTL count)
Total E-Rate Discount Amount for the file