European VAT tax goes into effect

[janny]

Changes to European Union tax laws are now in effect that will add a 17.5 percent sales tax to downloadable games and online gaming services.

A news item on Sony Online's official sites for EverQuest, PlanetSide, and Star Wars Galaxies has a reminder that a value-added tax has gone into effect that will be added on top of its subscription fees ($12.95 to $14.99 per month, depending on the game) for those who live in European Union countries. Recent changes in EU tax laws require that taxes be applied for downloadable games and online services at the point of consumption, that is, in the country where subscribers reside. The 17.5 percent tax will be applied to residents of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

 

[old.LandShark]

Hmmmm...... so is this already in effect?

 

[nightcrawl]

okey, that's it..... I wont pay anymore for this game I tell ya :/

 

[Whoodoo_RD]

Originally posted by nightcrawl
okey, that's it..... I wont pay anymore for this game I tell ya :/

Famous last words, you'll be back, they always come back mwahhhaaaaaa

 

[Apathy]

So you just put your country down as Afghanistan.

a.
*

 

[Merl]

wtf this is bs, why the hell r they taxing online games ffs, grrr i hate politicians and governments they tax everything, what possible reason can they have to do this grrrrr.

please excuse my anger but things like this just make me mad.


oh and lol apathy good idea

 

[FoXeH]

great, just when i decide to buy another account for a buffbot

 

[Whoodoo_RD]

Originally posted by FoXeH
great, just when i decide to buy another account for a buffbot

Boofbot was just killed by VAT

 

[zico]

Does this new 17.5% sales tax mean that our subscription fee will go down? iirc we pay 19.6% (or something like that) french tax on every months subscription.

 

[ning]

it's a UE VAT tax to protect European frims (and to hurt US internet firms). It's a tax only for foreigh (=out of UE) firms.
Just a step in the economic war between UE and US.
Good tax for us european !
(GOA is an european firm so this tax does NOT apply for us)

"EU Internet sales tax law comes into force

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A new law forcing non-EU firms to collect value-added tax (VAT) on goods sold over the Internet to customers in the 15-nation bloc has come into force, officials said.

The law has sparked complaints from some companies outside the European Union, although those inside the bloc which have been charging VAT up to now have complained that competitors abroad had an advantage.

European Commission officials said the change on Tuesday was likely to affect U.S. Internet firms such as service provider AOL and online auctioneer e-Bay.

One official said rival British firms such as service provider Freeserve had complained that they were suffering because U.S. firms were not obliged to collect VAT. "

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030701/80/e3lot.html

 

[Driwen]

the thing is european firms already paid VAT american firms did not. So it was an unfair advantage for american firms. Nothing will happen to daoc fees (unless its lowered but doubt that ). Internet messes up taxing systems and goverments are now correcting it slowly .

 

[soullessminion]

Good luck buying another account, I live in bristol england, can't find it in any shops. I tryed goa site and they sent me to amazon, amazons page simply said this is out of stock or unavalible from the makers

Should have known it would be hard to get, as GoA forgot to even publish it! only got my first copy coz shop had no everquest in stock and DaoC had just been delivered...

Now I think i'll just try buy a US copy, or wait for next expansion when GoA remember to sell a few copys again.

 

[Tualatin]

but you NEVER have to pay taxes twice? When paying ur monthly fee, it includes (for me, cuz i got english sub. VAT) .. means i dont have to pay tax to my home country aswell. (i dont live in England). So, what's changing then for DAoC?

 

[Thorarin]

Nothing, the post was referring to SOE games, not DAoC Europe.
Players on American servers will be affected though.

 

[old.TeaSpoon]

Originally posted by soullessminion
I live in bristol england, can't find it in any shops.

You poor poor bugger

So the three/four EB's, the Game, the Virgin and the funny Pink Planet shop are out? Bloody hell!

 

[Subbiz]

some1 mezz EU!

 

[WardyWonderland]

Originally posted by soullessminion
Good luck buying another account, I live in bristol england, can't find it in any shops. I tryed goa site and they sent me to amazon, amazons page simply said this is out of stock or unavalible from the makers

Try going in to game and saying

"Hi i would like to buy a copy of Dark Age of Camelot, the one with Shrouded Isles included in it." Then when they say "sorry we do not have that in stock but can order you a copy." you say

"Please"

Worked for me.