You will pay more for online games, says tax expert

Would this not result in consumers just buying their game time cards/ebooks/and games using an overseas account or from an overseas store where they will pay less.
 
Pooky said:
Would this not result in consumers just buying their game time cards/ebooks/and games using an overseas account or from an overseas store where they will pay less.
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Maybe but that will be tax evasion and SARS can prosecute you. This is a law that's already in place but since consumers aren't paying the VAT applicable they are trying to get retailers to help out.

http://www.saica.co.za/integritax/2006/1471_Imported_services.htm
 
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Lets hope it doesn't affect the growth of online gaming in South Africa, most people have been slowly appreciating online gaming so hopefully this won't kill the zeal, ;)
 
Won't this kill steam sales in SA? Steam is already a bit more expensive and the exchange rate just makes it worse. And with all the new online games going with dlc and micro transactions are we going to pay tax on every micro transaction?
 
I'm hoping that sellers absorb some of the costs to remain competitive. I'm also thinking DLCs might slide under SARS' view
 
Vendatta said:
Won't this kill steam sales in SA? Steam is already a bit more expensive and the exchange rate just makes it worse. And with all the new online games going with dlc and micro transactions are we going to pay tax on every micro transaction?
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Steam is more expensive? This is not my experience of steam so far. Admittedly I pretty much only buy games on sale.
 
Vendatta said:
Won't this kill steam sales in SA? Steam is already a bit more expensive and the exchange rate just makes it worse. And with all the new online games going with dlc and micro transactions are we going to pay tax on every micro transaction?
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We buy directly from the US Steam store, because we don't have store for our own country, so this shouldn't affect Steam unless SARS starts prosecuting people for buying from Steam or forces Steam to open a ZA storefront.
 
Graal said:
We buy directly from the US Steam store, because we don't have store for our own country, so this shouldn't affect Steam unless SARS starts prosecuting people for buying from Steam or forces Steam to open a ZA storefront.
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We'll they are already forcing Steam to use FPB ratings on some of their pages.
 
Graal said:
We buy directly from the US Steam store, because we don't have store for our own country, so this shouldn't affect Steam unless SARS starts prosecuting people for buying from Steam or forces Steam to open a ZA storefront.
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They can't prosecute you for using Steam, they can prosecute you for importing a service and not paying the input VAT under section 7 (1)(c) within 30 days.
 
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