Be forewarned Swedes and those the trade/sell with Swedish residents – the taxman commeth. The eagle-eyed folks at GameCulture caught the Stockholm News report detailing efforts by the Swedish government to come to terms with the growing global virtual economy.
According to the Stockholm News, “The Swedish Tax Agency [Skatteverket] hold that you have to pay tax for selling an avatar from a computer game. The agency has investigated the trading in avatars during a 14 month period and found the advertised sum of avatars for sale by Swedes to be 662 million SEK [$85 million]. But no one has ever declared any income for trading in avatars to the Tax Agency.”
In other words, if you sell your account either in Sweden or to a Swedish national, the government wants a piece. As much as I can moan and groan about this, I almost kinda/sorta see their justification. However, this is where all logic and reasoning end, as the Swedish government may legally push things a bit further, and have the option to enact taxation on purely in-game/virtual world sales. Courtesy of the Virtual Economy Research Network, an interpreted snippet of Swedish Tax Law states:
“Transactions between participants in a virtual world, where the deal is about the sale of a “product” or a “service” against reimbursement in an internal currency, should be considered, according to the Swedish Tax Agency’s ruling, [actual] sales of electronic services, if the internal currency can be exchanged to a valid legal means of payment.”
In other words, if you need the services of another in game character, let’s take blacksmithing for example, if the crafter charges you 10 gold to make your new mace, if s/he’s Swedish, technically, s/he should be charging you 13 or so gold for this, as they will then have to pay a real world tax on this virtual transaction. With that said, obviously, this argument hinges on proof that this in-game currency can be “exchanged to a valid legal means of payment.”
And while most major MMO publishers, and even the Chinese government have put actions in place that should prevent real world trading of virtual currencies, a quick perusal of eBay shows no shortage of characters, virtual goods, and virtual currencies all for sale, i.e. “valid legal[?] means of payment.” Obviously, this is highly suspect, as eBay trading isn’t an officially recognized trading platform, with no organized currency exchange, rates, or even oversight. However, this does constitute a form of virtual to real currency exchange, and therefore, would fall under the “we want a piece” Swedish taxation law.
Moreover, what does this mean for the free to play market? MMO’s with secondary markets could be a prime target for Swedish tax officials. What’s even more disturbing (as noted above) is that even residing outside of Swedish borders could have far reaching consequences. Regardless of your nationality or place of residence, if you sell/buy/trade with a Swedish national, the Skatteverket might want a slice of your purchase. According to the Economics of Virtual World’s:
[Note that] a sale has taken place in Sweden if the seller is a Swedish trader who sells [to]… a private person in Sweden or another EC [European Community] country. A sale from a foreign trader to a Swedish trader has also [legally] taken place in Sweden. The same applies if a trader from outside the EC sells services to Swedish private persons.
Thus, even U.S. citizens are subject to Swedish taxes in virtual worlds, as long as one of the participants is Swedish. The implication is that if similar tax rules are adopted around the globe, U.S. citizens could end up owing taxes to Sweden, Japan, South Korea, and other nations (depending on which and how many worlds they are part of) – all because they played some games…
Obviously, this is something that could effect gaming on a global level, and something we’re watching with great interest. On a lighter note, is it just me, or did every Swedish MMO player just get a seriously bad name, and can get used to grinding as no one’s going to buy/sell/trade a single thing with them?
“LF Enchanter”
“I can Enchant”
“Nationality?”
“Swedish”
“K. TNX. BAI.”