Sales Tax on D4 is optional?

General Discussion
1

I was looking at the prices for D4 and noticed that they charge sales tax if you pay with a credit card, presumably based on the state you live in.

However, if you add money to your Battle.net balance with a credit card, there is no tax charge. Then, if you use your Battle.net balance to pay for D4, they do not charge taxes on the purchase.

I would think the laws are very strict about this sort of thing. Is this a legal loophole to not have to pay sales taxes? According to what I have read online, digital products are tax exempt in my state. Is Blizzard overcharging people?

Did thousands of people pay sales tax for no reason? The product and location are the same. Why does the payment method make a difference? Is Blizzard going to refund unhappy customers who wish to “re-do” the transaction differently to save a few dollars?

There should be a clear answer to the question about whether D4 should be taxed or not and it should not depend on if you use a proxy for payment.

2

Probably, but then I would not consider informing on tax regulations to be the responsibility of a private entity.

3

You misunderstand. I am not demanding an answer to the question. I am saying it already HAS a definite answer.

I am stating that for a particular person in a particular location, either the product should be taxed or it should not be taxed.

Blizzard is either overcharging their customers, or they are not paying the State what they owe them.

These are mutually exclusive. They are doing one or the other, and they are both bad.

4

I kinda doubt either is true tbh. Way to easy to get caught for a minuscule gain.

5

I don’t think they are committing fraud, I think the website is bugged and that someone overlooked something very important.

It could lead to them either being sued by their customers, or being sued by multiple states.

6

Perhaps, I’m not at all an authority on the American tax system, it’s overly complex for no apparent reason.

1 Like
7

Don’t they charge you tax for adding to your bnet balance now? I haven’t done this in a while so not sure.

I know when you could buy the bnet cards at say WalMart you got charged tax for it there, but that has been a long number of years since I did that.

Essentially, if they charge you tax on recharging your bnet balance, then you wouldn’t pay tax using that balance (or a portion of it) to pay for something else.

I wish I could split use my balance. I have like 1.68 left in it, but unless I add more I can’t spend it on anything. lol

It was left over from selling gold at the end of the RMAH when gold was costing insane amounts. I sold some at that time to pay for the expansion.

8

Nope. Not as of this morning.

9

So you actually processed and paid for bnet balance or only added it to cart?

And did you then order the game with it or not yet? Just because it may not show it right away, doesn’t mean they won’t hit you with tax someplace.

10

The way it should work is one of the following two (either/or, not both):

  1. Sales tax is calculated at time of funds purchase based on IP / account info
  2. Sales tax is calculated at time of product purchase based on IP / account info

So like, in my state there’s a 7% sales tax. So if I add funds it should either charge me 7% right then and there, OR it should charge me 7% when I actually use the funds to buy a product.

There are some states that do not have a sales tax though, so if you’re in one of those, you won’t get charged anything.

11

I did go to add funds and it does indeed show an amount as an even number without tax with the Pay Now button after selecting my saved payment. So… hmmmmm

May try this when I go to order the game later this month.

Well that figures. I cannot get the terms of sale to open, gives me a server 500 error. lol

12

See below. No taxes paid.

I had an existing balance of $0.33, so that is why there is a price difference.

13

Well. I can’t see that staying that way for long. LOL

I just tested it. They are still hitting me with taxes for the game. LOL

14

“lol” indeed. Methinks someone dun goofed at blizz…

15

I think you must be in a state that is exempt.

I filled my balance to be exactly the price of the game, and it still wants the tax, so I have to add more now to finish it. ROLFMA

16

Yes, it is supposed to be. However, when I had tried to use my credit card directly, they added taxes.

So they are charging taxes for credit card purchases of the game, but not battle.net balance purchases.

17

Well they are charging ME tax when using my battlenet balance. I’m doing the 99.99 one, and they want 6 more for tax. So… eh?

18

There is one possible explanation… is your credit card’s billing address technically registered to a different state that charges sales tax?

19

Or is it because the amount is less than 100 on the bnet balance? Who the hell knows.

20

My credit card info has matched the address on my Battle.net account for 10 years or more now.