Just a matter of time: IRS and IGE

[shiznitz]

http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2006/feature_dibbell_janfeb06.msp

Key graph at the end:

Considering what the IRS had done with barter clubs, it seemed prudent not to be the game player who officially invited the agency to visit the world of MMOs and gave the feds the opening to tax virtual income. That decision might force game companies, as John Knight had put it, "to start sending out 1099s every time somebody gets a gold coin or a bag of grapes or a shiny emerald" in a game's virtual world.

[Venkman]

They were talking about this on NPR ths morning too. I love that RMT has gone mass media 

[Alkiera]

'realistically', I'd guess what would happen is game companies would collect taxes on gold earned, etc.  All market transactions would have a tax applied on the transaction, etc.  Maybe you'd get some kinda virtual 1099.

But I have a hard time seeing them requiring people to pay real-money taxes on virtual-world acquisitions.  The real-money transactions, sure, but not pure-virtual ones.

Alkiera

[Sky]

There are various ways to convince your playmates to surrender their weapons, magic spells, and mineral ores.

Playmates, har har.

[Strazos]

Damn cockgobblers are going to ruin MMOs for those of us who are not fucking retarded and don't need to pay money for in-game items.

[heck]

I thought that a glance at past IRS practices would assure me that the feds would never dream of taxing assets that had not been turned into money. I thought wrong.

Well crap, all the IRS has to do is create characters on all these games and they can collect taxes in the form of game currency.  While they're at it, why not allow government and city workers receive paychecks in the game currency of their choice?

Why not regulate all games by creating IRS guilds, police guilds, army/navy/air force/marines/coast guard guilds, welfare guilds...all run by the actual RL societal entities?  Sure, it "sounds" crazy, but how else are we going to make sure that all the 10 year olds are paying taxes, are safe from terrorists, and don't starve just because they live in the ghetto...while playing a computer game?

[Venkman]

Thank God companies are more openly supporting RMTing. Rather than designing games to get away from compulsory RMTing, rather than fixing the farmability of them, rather than innovating into new levels of gaming, they'd rather take the easy way out and get their own cut. Now these companies are making more money, but that also means they're paying more taxes, in an activity so prevalent now the IRS has begun to take notice (it was just a matter of time, prompted by a person or not).

What is the result? You know it: the more money companies have to pay the more money players have to pay, even those avoiding RMTing. Tail waggin the dog stuff.

Here I lay the blame squarely on short-term wallet thinking.

[Numtini]

This is nonsense. Its not going to happen. It might very well happen that game companies supporting RMT start issuing 1099s, but you aren't going to be taxed unless you translate your things into cash.

The barter club metaphor is so stretched it's not even funny--unless you're paying dentist in gold pieces. But that in itself is a form of translating your gold pieces into real world value.

[Issele]

I thought that a glance at past IRS practices would assure me that the feds would never dream of taxing assets that had not been turned into money. I thought wrong.

Well crap, all the IRS has to do is create characters on all these games and they can collect taxes in the form of game currency.  While they're at it, why not allow government and city workers receive paychecks in the game currency of their choice?

Why not regulate all games by creating IRS guilds, police guilds, army/navy/air force/marines/coast guard guilds, welfare guilds...all run by the actual RL societal entities?  Sure, it "sounds" crazy, but how else are we going to make sure that all the 10 year olds are paying taxes, are safe from terrorists, and don't starve just because they live in the ghetto...while playing a computer game?

As long as I can pay my real life bills with game currency, I am all for it.

[Nebu]

As long as I can pay my real life bills with game currency, I am all for it.

You can do that now.  eBay just gets a cut acting as the middleman. 

[Merusk]

As long as I can pay my real life bills with game currency, I am all for it.

You can do that now.  eBay just gets a cut acting as the middleman. 

And Uncle Sam doesn't. Thus, we come full-circle.

[Nebu]

And Uncle Sam doesn't. Thus, we come full-circle.

You win!

[WayAbvPar]

Did Godwin have a law for Hakuna Matada?