South Korea Now Taxes MMOs
South Korea, with one of the biggest MMO crowds in the world, is now taxing virtual goods and assets. Starting today, a value added tax (VAT) is added to virtual items sold and bought online. The summary of the law reads:
Sellers who do between 6 and 12 million won/half year in business will have VAT auto applied by transaction’s middle-man.
Sellers who do more than 12 million won/half year in business will need a business license and will pay the tax by themselves
But in the majority of games, the virtual goods still belong to the developer/publisher, as covered by the terms and rules. And in that case, as Kotaku points out, who is responsible for paying the tax? Overall it seems as a pretty rushed move by South Korea to cash in on the MMOs.
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