The finance ministry has reportedly issued a draft circular stating that domestic cellular operators providing international roaming services to in-bound roamers will soon have to pay service tax on the fee they receive for such services. The rationale for this decision is that the domestic service provider who enables the inbound roamer to connect to the domestic network on behalf of a foreign operator ultimately collects the service charge for the calls made/received. Hence, service to in-bound roamers, delivered and used within India, cannot be treated as export of service and is liable to tax.
