sales tax on platinum

[Taddy Mason]

i got one of the discount coupons for platinum and actually have digital money to buy some, but when i try, it tries forcing me to pay $1.08 in sales tax. why? why would i pay tax on fake currency that can only be used to buy digital products in a digital game? i don't have to pay sales tax on anything else i buy on steam and i don't pay sales tax on gift cards-either online or in stores. is this normal? obviously, i can afford a measly dollar, but it's the principal of the matter. there's no reason i should be paying a tax on this transaction and i'm hoping to find a way to support this game and the devs without also paying unnecessary money to someone else.
is it just dependent on your IP location and where the site thinks you are in the world? i know some states in america are scummy and try to tax certain internet purchases, but not all of them are garbage like that and even if they were, like i said before, you don't pay tax on gift cards or other fake money that can only be used in certain locations. to do so would defeat the purpose. you wouldn't buy a $50 steam or PlayStation gift card if you had to pay an extra couple of $$ in tax.

[No_Quarter]

tax may be linked to yoru purchase methot and your bank, example, my bank reserves around 10% out of any PayPal purchase. They keep it for a while and they return it.... almost every time, they kinda lost 10$ last time and I was too lazy to fight for it.

[Taddy Mason]

No-I didn’t even get to select a payment method. I just clicked on the amount I wanted and it made me sign into Steam thru my browser and when I did, I saw the price plus tax-and there’s never been tax before because there’s nothing to tax and no reason to tax digital purchases if we’re not being provided municipal internet services by the government charging the tax.

It can’t be the payment method-it’s gotta be something else

[NikemanBOOM]

Originally posted by Taddy Mason:

No-I didn’t even get to select a payment method. I just clicked on the amount I wanted and it made me sign into Steam thru my browser and when I did, I saw the price plus tax-and there’s never been tax before because there’s nothing to tax and no reason to tax digital purchases if we’re not being provided municipal internet services by the government charging the tax.

It can’t be the payment method-it’s gotta be something else

It may be because Steam is charging sales tax now.

[GunsForBucks]

Try to go directly to the site without steam running.

I always buy direct from the website but if I have steam running it trys to force me into that... or did before anyway.

[Kexin]

Originally posted by Taddy Mason:

i got one of the discount coupons for platinum and actually have digital money to buy some, but when i try, it tries forcing me to pay $1.08 in sales tax. why? why would i pay tax on fake currency that can only be used to buy digital products in a digital game? i don't have to pay sales tax on anything else i buy on steam and i don't pay sales tax on gift cards-either online or in stores. is this normal? obviously, i can afford a measly dollar, but it's the principal of the matter. there's no reason i should be paying a tax on this transaction and i'm hoping to find a way to support this game and the devs without also paying unnecessary money to someone else.
is it just dependent on your IP location and where the site thinks you are in the world? i know some states in america are scummy and try to tax certain internet purchases, but not all of them are garbage like that and even if they were, like i said before, you don't pay tax on gift cards or other fake money that can only be used in certain locations. to do so would defeat the purpose. you wouldn't buy a $50 steam or PlayStation gift card if you had to pay an extra couple of $$ in tax.

Because its a SALE not a gift card FFS. DE is basically selling you their fake game money and then pocketting your cash as profits. You're not exchanging real money for tokens at the casinos here.

[Miro Laaksonen]

You pay the sales tax when you buy something from Steam. It's included in the price.

[Handoiron]

When you purchase a gift card, the tax is paid when you exchange that gift card for your purchase, not when you buy the gift card.

When you purchase platinum online, you pay the tax for the purchase. Even if you go to the site that doesn't charge you tax when you purchase, you are still ultimately responsible for that tax. It just isn't included at the time of purchase.

Sure, you could probably get away with not reporting that purchase as taxable, and it's highly unlikely that anyone wil come breaking down your door for that $1.08 in taxes, but you still are responsible for it.

[^3Tinkles]

Originally posted by Miro Laaksonen:

You pay the sales tax when you buy something from Steam. It's included in the price.

[Taddy Mason]

Originally posted by Miro Laaksonen:

You pay the sales tax when you buy something from Steam. It's included in the price.

I’m not trying to buy anything from Steam. I’m trying to buy platinum directly from DE’s website-no Steam needed. I don’t want steam to get so much as a dime of what I’m trying to give to DE.

[Taddy Mason]

Originally posted by Handoiron:

When you purchase a gift card, the tax is paid when you exchange that gift card for your purchase, not when you buy the gift card.

When you purchase platinum online, you pay the tax for the purchase. Even if you go to the site that doesn't charge you tax when you purchase, you are still ultimately responsible for that tax. It just isn't included at the time of purchase.

Sure, you could probably get away with not reporting that purchase as taxable, and it's highly unlikely that anyone wil come breaking down your door for that $1.08 in taxes, but you still are responsible for it.

Thank you for agreeing with me even though you worded it weirdly. You don’t pay sales tax when you buy gift cards or fake currency for other games. Items you buy with gift cards can be taxed, but the gift card itself isn’t. Nor should it be.

[Taddy Mason]

Originally posted by Kexin:

Originally posted by Taddy Mason:

like i said before, you don't pay tax on gift cards or other fake money that can only be used in certain locations. to do so would defeat the purpose. you wouldn't buy a $50 steam or PlayStation gift card if you had to pay an extra couple of $$ in tax.

Because its a SALE not a gift card FFS. DE is basically selling you their fake game money and then pocketting your cash as profits. You're not exchanging real money for tokens at the casinos here.

You even quoted me saying that you don’t pay taxes on fake money bought for other video games and then ignored it to focus on the gift cards I mentioned as an example.

[Taddy Mason]

Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

Try to go directly to the site without steam running.

I always buy direct from the website but if I have steam running it trys to force me into that... or did before anyway.

Thank you. I will try this.

[Miro Laaksonen]

Originally posted by Taddy Mason:

Originally posted by Miro Laaksonen:

You pay the sales tax when you buy something from Steam. It's included in the price.

I’m not trying to buy anything from Steam. I’m trying to buy platinum directly from DE’s website-no Steam needed. I don’t want steam to get so much as a dime of what I’m trying to give to DE.

Yes, but you yourself said "I don't have to pay sales tax on anything else i buy on steam "

[Handoiron]

Originally posted by Taddy Mason:

Originally posted by Handoiron:

When you purchase a gift card, the tax is paid when you exchange that gift card for your purchase, not when you buy the gift card.

When you purchase platinum online, you pay the tax for the purchase. Even if you go to the site that doesn't charge you tax when you purchase, you are still ultimately responsible for that tax. It just isn't included at the time of purchase.

Sure, you could probably get away with not reporting that purchase as taxable, and it's highly unlikely that anyone wil come breaking down your door for that $1.08 in taxes, but you still are responsible for it.

Thank you for agreeing with me even though you worded it weirdly. You don’t pay sales tax when you buy gift cards or fake currency for other games. Items you buy with gift cards can be taxed, but the gift card itself isn’t. Nor should it be.

If that's what you got out of what I said, you have some very selective understanding.

When you buy a gift card, it is not the end result. When you use the gift card to buy something, that is the time of purchase and that is when the taxes are determined.

When you buy "fake currency for other games" it's totally different from a gift card. You are actually spending the money to get access to something owned by the company you are paying. That is the time of purchase. That is when the taxes are determined.

Even if that company does not charge those taxes at the time of purchase, you are still responsible for paying those taxes.

In short, I was NOT agreeing with you... I was trying to explain to you how you were wrong and why, even thoough you aren't charged taxes directly at time of purchase sometimes, you are still responsible for paying those taxes.

[Taddy Mason]

Originally posted by Miro Laaksonen:

Originally posted by Taddy Mason:

I’m not trying to buy anything from Steam. I’m trying to buy platinum directly from DE’s website-no Steam needed. I don’t want steam to get so much as a dime of what I’m trying to give to DE.

Yes, but you yourself said "I don't have to pay sales tax on anything else i buy on steam "

Which is true-I never have and never do.