Question about steam sales and taxes

[Slimurgical (Stormy)]

So... I live in canada and am wondering if taxes I pay are taken from my country/local value for sales taxes on electronics, or if Steam just has a global static value for taxes.

[HLCinSC]

Does Canada have national or provincial sales taxes on digital goods? Here in the states it varies. There is no national sales tax and states can either have no sales tax, taxes for physical goods (my state), taxes for services, and taxes for digital goods (Washington state).

If a sales tax applies to your purchase and is not collected by the seller then you are responsible for paying those usually with your income taxes or if you are a business buying out of state stuff on your monthly sales tax payment.

[TirithRR]

Valve/Steam handles all necessary taxes. Or applies them on checkout if required. There is no global static tax, it varies by region as required by the respective laws.

You should never have to worry about taxes when purchasing through Steam. (And by that, I do not mean never having to pay, just that you don't have to concern yourself with the taxes, as it is all automatically handled).

[Slimurgical (Stormy)]

I only ask because I'm trying to buy a 20 dollar game with 21 dollars on my card. I then get an email saying that Steam is charging 21.95 for UT3 and also Doom 3

[HLCinSC]

Did you have both of them in your cart or something

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by TAW StormyFacade:

I only ask because I'm trying to buy a 20 dollar game with 21 dollars on my card. I then get an email saying that Steam is charging 21.95 for UT3 and also Doom 3

Any added taxes would have been displayed in your cart on check out.

[Τhe Rolling Cheese Wheel]

Originally posted by TAW StormyFacade:

I only ask because I'm trying to buy a 20 dollar game with 21 dollars on my card. I then get an email saying that Steam is charging 21.95 for UT3 and also Doom 3

Canadian dollars =/= American dollars. It's worth about 6 cents less per dollar. I don't know the exact conversion steam is using, but 21.95 cad for 20 usd on steam sounds close enough. When it comes to conversion, lots of weird and unfavorable things happen.

[Slimurgical (Stormy)]

Nope, I had one or the other in my cart alone. No prices changes were displayed in the checkout, just a solid value of 20 dollars, unchanged from the store page.

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by Τhe Rolling Cheese Wheel:

Originally posted by TAW StormyFacade:

I only ask because I'm trying to buy a 20 dollar game with 21 dollars on my card. I then get an email saying that Steam is charging 21.95 for UT3 and also Doom 3

Canadian dollars =/= American dollars. It's worth about 6 cents less per dollar.

That could be... 20 USD is currently about 21.35 Canadian. Some banks also add fees for currency exchange.

Edit:
Back before they changed, Bundle Stars would charge in Euro, and my card was American. I would routinely pay just a little bit more than the Euro equivalent when buying bundles. (It has since changed and Bundle Stars offers purchasing directly in USD).

[rwhoever200062]

Steam doesn't charge Canadian buyers HST or any other tax. The additional charge on OP's card is the result of FX fees. Although, Canadians would probably have to pay tax on games after steam introduces C$ as one of store currecies later this year.

[Slimurgical (Stormy)]

Right, well I am being charged 21.95 for a 20 dollar game, so i jsut had to ask tbh. Between my bank's website annoying me and some of my friends ignoring me... Not really having a nice day atm, since that's all that's happened actually.

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by TAW StormyFacade:

Right, well I am being charged 21.95 for a 20 dollar game, so i jsut had to ask tbh. Between my bank's website annoying me and some of my friends ignoring me... Not really having a nice day atm, since that's all that's happened actually.

Well, more accurately, you appear to be getting charged 21.95 CAD for a 20 USD game.

[Slimurgical (Stormy)]

Well yeah, pretty much, tohugh now it seems as i worked up enough ot get UT3... the steam checkout isn't working.

That's very convenient, wonder how long it'll take to fix this time :D

But thanks guys for the help and stuff. I no longer need anymore ^_^