IRS form 1040WoW

[Nuts]

http://news.com.com/Are+virtual+assets+taxable/2100-1043_3-6027212.html?tag=cd.lede

Should online game players' assets--the weapons, characters, clothing and such--they've accumulated but not yet sold for real-world cash be taxable by the IRS?


As if anyone would actually report it. Har

[Xenon]

Wow. If they ever start taxing that stuff, the video-game lobbies will (hopefully) quash that real quick.

[Nuts]

Wow. If they ever start taxing that stuff, the video-game lobbies will (hopefully) quash that real quick.

Did you intend the double-entendre? :)

But yes, I would hope that somebody with some common sense and a deep pocket would make certain this didn't see the light of day. It's merely speculation at this point, but I am not convinced that the IRS isn't considering it.

[pixels]

can they even do that?

seems quite gay.

why dont they tax this thing i made here out of nothing that i could sell!

[Xenon]

can they even do that?

seems quite gay.

why dont they tax this thing i made here out of nothing that i could sell!
They already do.

[BlackHawk]

Well, hopefully if they do tax this stuff then they'd just tax you when you sell it. If they actually wanted the Companies to keep track of every single transaction it would cost so much for the Company. We'd be stuck with the same large companies because to start a new one would be impossible.

[Toucan]

This guy is a fruit cake, people do not get taxed on potential income, only actual income.
If you sell the virtual goods for real money then that money alone should be taxed.
Being taxed on income you make from sale of ANYTHING is fair enough, income is income.

[Geno]

So you're telling me that they'd somehow tax a 14 year old gold farmer that has nothing better to do with his life after school? Hmmm...

~Larry "Geno" Meyers

[Nuts]

Toucan, the theory here is that these possessions are considered winnings. Winnings are taxable by the IRS based on assessed value.

[GenocideAlive]

can they even do that?

seems quite gay.

why dont they tax this thing i made here out of nothing that i could sell!
If they can tax a stripper, they can tax anything.

[LinkTheGameFreak]

Toucan, the theory here is that these possessions are considered winnings. Winnings are taxable by the IRS based on assessed value.

Assets only encompass real-world objects that have a set kind of monetary value

Casino winnings (MONEY) can be taxed, prizes won on a game show (MONEY or ITEMS) can also be taxed because they have retail value... Don't forget that earnings and wages can also be taxed because.... IT'S FUCKING MONEY...

The items "won" in an mmorpg (or some shit like that) cannot be because the people who sell them are fucking losers (but more importantly, they have no real market value and the people selling them can make their own prices - there is not set price for any item because they are not intended to be sold in THE REAL WORLD - only thru the virtual game itself)

Has virtual reality become so bad that now people who play Sims are going to be taxed in real life too for going to a store and buying shit? It's improbable and impossible. The premise is what I like to call the eBay effect - people sell REAL goods on eBay YET never report it BECAUSE it's PRIVATE trading.

This fucker just (quite cleverly, I might add) made a deal out of NOTHING because his real job delivers so little real satisfaction that his virtual life yields more profit...

Now.... If the man ran a BUSINESS (and had no REAL job) and the only thing he did was work in the game to obtain items so he could sell them so he could support his meager habit of crack (cuz that's what this DEADHEADED SON OF A BITCH MUST BE ON!) then the income should eb taxed because it is no longer private trading but a legit business that supplies his primary form of income...

[bluemicrobyte]

O_o

So now they want to tax us for playing games....... that's just wrong....... it's bad enough that the tax us for buying games. But possesing something within a game should never be taxable.

[loads_of_fun]

O_o

So now they want to tax us for playing games....... that's just wrong....... it's bad enough that the tax us for buying games. But possesing something within a game should never be taxable.i agree 200%, man whats this world comming to...

[Xenon]

Assets only encompass real-world objects that have a set kind of monetary value

Casino winnings (MONEY) can be taxed, prizes won on a game show (MONEY or ITEMS) can also be taxed because they have retail value... Don't forget that earnings and wages can also be taxed because.... IT'S FUCKING MONEY...

The items "won" in an mmorpg (or some shit like that) cannot be because the people who sell them are fucking losers (but more importantly, they have no real market value and the people selling them can make their own prices - there is not set price for any item because they are not intended to be sold in THE REAL WORLD - only thru the virtual game itself)

Has virtual reality become so bad that now people who play Sims are going to be taxed in real life too for going to a store and buying shit? It's improbable and impossible. The premise is what I like to call the eBay effect - people sell REAL goods on eBay YET never report it BECAUSE it's PRIVATE trading.

This fucker just (quite cleverly, I might add) made a deal out of NOTHING because his real job delivers so little real satisfaction that his virtual life yields more profit...

Now.... If the man ran a BUSINESS (and had no REAL job) and the only thing he did was work in the game to obtain items so he could sell them so he could support his meager habit of crack (cuz that's what this DEADHEADED SON OF A BITCH MUST BE ON!) then the income should eb taxed because it is no longer private trading but a legit business that supplies his primary form of income...
You sound pretty emotionally charged there LTGF...

Just in case you didn't know, there are people who operate gold farms as a commercial business. Most of these companies operate in S. Korea and China where they hire people to play the games all day getting drops in games like WoW, Ultima Online, Everquest, EVE etc. These things are sold on ebay and traded in the games for cash money. There is a set price for many of the items, and the "market" can be manipulated by purposely oversaturating and/or depleting the market of a certain item.

FYI: The price of 1000 WoW gold for any server has been set on ebay with a buy-now price of $49.99 US...

[Fred1000000]

Quick, everybody, buy Freedom Force!! Nobody even knows that EXISTS! Let alone the IRS!

[LinkTheGameFreak]

You sound pretty emotionally charged there LTGF...

Just in case you didn't know, there are people who operate gold farms as a commercial business. Most of these companies operate in S. Korea and China where they hire people to play the games all day getting drops in games like WoW, Ultima Online, Everquest, EVE etc. These things are sold on ebay and traded in the games for cash money. There is a set price for many of the items, and the "market" can be manipulated by purposely oversaturating and/or depleting the market of a certain item.

FYI: The price of 1000 WoW gold for any server has been set on ebay with a buy-now price of $49.99 US...

I know about the people who do this for a living, and that is fine (because it is a primary means of income) if they are taxed on what they bring in (all profit baby!) but as for taxing individual players on having a virtual asset that they don't plan on selling is bullshit to me.

hehehe eBay, those crazy crackers :P

now, if people are using eBay to let people know they want to trade in-game for virtual money, then that's fine too, but the IRS does not have the right to tax on something that doesn't exist - so that fucker suggesting it is just trying to cause more problems for his own people... ATTACK him, you guys! :D

[GenocideAlive]

You sound pretty emotionally charged there LTGF...

FYI: The price of 1000 WoW gold for any server has been set on ebay with a buy-now price of $49.99 US...
I was wondering if I was the only one that noticed Link going apeshit over there. Anyway, $50 is $20 cheaper than it was 3-4 mos. ago.

[LinkTheGameFreak]

I was wondering if I was the only one that noticed Link going apeshit over there.

yeah, don't ask... at the time i wrote it I hadn't slept in 24 hours so.... :bonk:

[Fred1000000]

I thought LTGF was always apeshit.....O.o

[GrassDragon]

How would they differentiate between the guy that does it for a living and the one that just sells his extra gold for spending money? Volume of "goods" traded? Would they install little spyware programs in MMOs to track all of the goods?

I just don't see this as a very practical tax.

[Neo]

Now if only they can setup that law that states you HAVE to pay taxes.

Or whatever, wasn't it Nuts who posted that awhile back?

Someone posted a thread about some business owner who refused to take taxes out of his employees salaries or something, and hasn't for years, and since there is no actually law that hes broken...

Meh I don't remember.

I don't think there is a law that states you have to pay taxes -- is there?

Taxing this kind of stuff would be moronic, since most of the people who ebay game stuff are out of the country anyways.

-Neo