Blame the goverment, not the company.
consult your lawyer
Thatâs not how taxes work. I know in my state, if I buy a new car I pay taxes on it. If I sell that car to someone other then an immediate family member, the buyer has to pay taxes on the car again.
It depends on state law.
Still, as im not familiar with any of this id recommend double checking with blizzard in a ticket, just to be sure. It cant hurt to be safe.
Uh, maybe from the fact that a token costs $20 but can only be converted back into $15 of balance? Thatâs 20-15= a $5 service charge.
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ITT: Internet lawyering vs. tax laws. Tax laws that not a single person in this thread has read thoroughly, or has a complete understanding of.
Yes, reading. As in the entire text of the law. Everyone thinks they know all the ins and outs, but have any of you ever looked at an actual law? Like, the entire text of a law that otherwise seems simple to you? They are incredibly complicated, especially when it comes to individual state tax laws on virtual goods or a combination of virtual and tangible goods, vs. local laws, vs. interpretation of those laws by individuals.
The loopholes, wording, strange exceptions, legalese, etc. are more than anyone here knows about, unless we have a tax lawyer among us. Someone come back with the law quoted in your stateâs commerce code, explain how it applies to this situation, cite examples of precedence, and present something other than a lazy argument. Someone do that, and Iâll stand corrected.
Until then, why would you come to the forums? If you are upset at the tax laws, contact your local government. If you are upset at Blizzâ interpretation of the tax laws, send an email to Blizz legal. If you arenât getting answers from either of those sources, hire your own lawyer to figure this out.
Anything less⌠youâre not really serious about this tax thing, are you? Looking for resolution or support in GD? Thatâs the exact opposite of serious.
Token doesnât get the benefit of being of being a gift card I am sure in some states. It isnât necessarily a placeholder for currency, you are essentially buying it to obtain gold. That is what its purpose is when you buy one for 20 dollars, you are buying gold for the game, making a purchase essentially.
I am glad I live somewhere that does not have state based whatever that makes no sense.
I am guessing you live on some other planet with whole population being of pandas ?
Blizzard has no control over tax law. They are following the legal codes that your state and federal government implemented. If you have issues with the tax code, take it up with your state reps etc. They are the only ones who can do anything about this.
Some people have made it a habit to bash blizzard on everything .
wait till next election ,these people will blame blizzard for trump win .
The first initial purchase of wow token if bought with real money should be taxed but from gold to battlenet balance is not money but in game currency.I you buy something with in game currency in rift you are charged tax unless you buy the game platinium with cash first.Until they let me take that battlenet balance and return it to real cash they shouldnât be taxing.Grocery store used to have stamps and you saved those stamp for their in store catalog purchased wasnât taxed why you ask because it was in store form of currency and had nothing to do with federal currency.
To everyone defending Blizzard here ⌠You are wrong.
BattleNet balance is a digital currency (giftcard) â it should be not be taxed when being purchased, rather when being redeemed for an item/service (that is taxable).
To put this in some context:
If I go to my local Target Store and purchase a store gift card, I pay zero taxes on the giftcard. However when I go to buy an item with the giftcard, then taxes are applied.
^^ Same thing. There should almost never be douple-dipping in regards to taxes.
EDIT: Fun fact, I bought a BNet card at my Target Store for my friend/roommate for Christmas, and paid zero taxes on it. According to some of you I should have.
BattleNet Balance may be but are Tokens considered Giftcards for the purposes of taxes? I do not believe they are.
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They are not, because you are actually receiving digital goods to use.
I buy a WoW token with US dollars, I sell that token on the AH for in game currency. I have now effectively purchased in game currency. The person on the other end purchases the WoW token using in game currency. They then trade that back to Blizzard as a currency exchange. (no tax on currency exchange). They then use the local currency to purchase game time, and if applicable, must pay taxes on game time. It is legal, and if anyone has an issue, the proper channel to discuss this would be the state Department of Revenue.
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I havenât purchased wow tokens with gold so I canât say for sure but⌠If you are using in-game gold to purchase WOW Tokens, you are effectively acquiring digital currency right? You should only be taxed when you spend that balance (not upon acquiring it).
However, since someone else paid taxes on buying the wow token, and that balance is being re-distributed to another person, it seems rather odd that both the buyer/seller would pay taxes.
Definitely a unique gray area since youâre buying In-Game Currency (which would be taxable since itâs not a gift card balance), and then the buyer of the token is rewarded with basically a Gift Card Balance (which should not be taxable to purchase, but it was already purchased when it was in the form of in-game currency)
It works like a gift card.
Yeah, I see that now. Itâs still questionable since you have:
$20.00 Token taxed >> In-Game Currency (Gold) == OK
~converted from gold to BNet Balance for Token Buyer~
$15.00 Bnet Balance (gift card) , taxed once more when being used == OK (most places you are taxed on gift cards upon spending them)
Itâs just really odd that the money is being taxed twice, because normally gift cards are only taxed upon spending, since you are NOT taxed when buying them in the first place.
Iâm not arguing that it doesnât suck. ![:slight_smile:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")
Iâm not a fan of most taxes. This sort of thing is closely related to bitcoin, and not so much with a gift card. If I buy food from a wholesaler to make into meals that I sell, I charge the customer tax, but I paid no taxes on the ingredients, because the customer is paying the tax on everything that was used. However, the company I bought from, the wholesaler, did pay tax on what they bought from the manufacturer, because they make their profit on the upcharge.
Cost on character boost increased btw after January 1st.