1 edit | reply to nsumner
Re: [Lingo] Complain here about 18% in new fees/tax!! This is essentially correct, nsumner. The tax depends on statutory definitions of "local telephone service" and "toll telephone service" that were enacted in 1965. The IRS regulations relating to this tax pre-date these definitions, so there is a real lack of clarity about whether and how the tax should be imposed on VoIP providers (a pretty good analysis can be found at »www.techlawjournal.com/topstorie···0702.asp ). It is not necessarily retroactive to apply this tax to VoIP providers, because the IRS could claim that they have always met the statutory definitions.
What I'd like to know is whether Lingo intends to pay these funds over to the federal government. If they do, then I have less objection to their collecting them. But somehow I doubt it.
The regulatory recovery fee is another story. That is a concept borrowed from the world of regulated utilities, which often seek and obtain approval to pass on added costs to ratepayers (e.g., a fuel cost adjustment) in between general rate cases. But those utilities at least have to justify the increase to a regulatory commission that has staff to investigate and challenge it. We have no such protection here, but we do have the ability to vote with our feet. |
