Voice chat providers may be taxed

According to an article in Hindustan Times,

Consumer Internet giants like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s MSN, which have been offering telephony-like facilities through their messenger software, may soon come into the service tax net, industry sources say.

If these portals are charging Indian netzines to use their voice chat I agree with the govt – pay the service tax to the Govt of India. But these portals are not charging a dime, so why would they pay the service tax to Govt of India? Or is the Govt asking them to pay the service tax on the advertisement revenue that is made from India during that voice chat (phew! this is one long convoluted statement).

Every netzine in India is paying the service tax for the internet connectivity they use. This is acceptable, but paying service tax on a freebie?

BG Mahesh

Internet application ideator and implementor. Been there and done that since early 1990s. I like to present data to the common man in the simplest manner on the internet.

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