Net telephony - illegal/ taxable?
I talk to my daughter in the US of A almost free through yahoo messenger or skype. The voice is clear and better than that of any conventional telephone and through a web cam, you can actually see the person you are talking to. All that you need is a net connection. Am I breaking any Law? Am I liable to pay any tax? Though my knowledge about tax matters is abysmally low, in spite of spending a whole life time in trying to understand the tax laws, something tells me that as I don't pay any money or receive any money for the sin of talking to my daughter through Yahoo Messenger, I don't need to pay any taxes.
But I am told that the ISPAI has lodged a complaint with the FM's office and DoT that Yahoo, MSN, Net2Phone and Google and some other international companies were providing Internet telephony services in India without a proper licence.
ISPAI had alleged that an ISP licence or a unified access services licence (UASL) is required to provide Internet telephony, which these firms do not possess.
This means that the alleged offenders neither pay service tax (as there is no billing for such calls in India), or the 6% AGR or even the 0.75% of AGR to be paid as ADC. ISPAI had also pointed out that these companies were also violating the security norms governing telecom licences. UASL and ISP licences have to ensure monitoring and surveillance, especially where international voice calls are involved. This gained importance after several terrorist attacks/bomb blasts were linked to calls made to and from destinations outside India.
ISPs want a level playing field as these international service providers carry a superior cost structure that allows them to charge a fraction of the tariffs offered by licensed providers.
Can the Government do anything? And will I continue to have my free talk to the US?