Lawmakers: Let's be sure we're collecting VoIP tax

[The Straight Story]

Lawmakers: Let's be sure we're collecting VoIP tax
A proposal would allow states to tax calls based on a customer's residence

U.S. lawmakers want to make sure they're collecting enough taxes on your VoIP service.

Members of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee's commercial and administrative law subcommittee on Tuesday expressed concern that some VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services could escape state or local taxes because of the mobility of VoIP equipment.
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Officials with two VoIP providers and two state organizations asked subcommittee members to clarify where VoIP service can be taxed. A clarifying law would not only protect VoIP providers from customer lawsuits, but it would also potentially protect customers from multiple states trying to tax their VoIP service, said Robert Cole, manager of tax accounting for Sprint Nextel.

With traditional phone service, state and local taxes were based on where phone calls originated from, typically a customer's home or business. But VoIP allows customers to take their device and plug into the Internet at multiple locations while keeping the same phone number, raising questions about which state or local government has taxing jurisdiction.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/033109-lawmakers-lets-be-sure-were.html