Comments on: The virtual world taxman arriveth… in Oz http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/ Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:07:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Last of the Odds and Ends http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127122 Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:00:33 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127122 [...] Virtual Worlds:  GigaOm is reporting that the Australian government is going to tax earnings from Second Life. I wouldn’t be [...]

]]> By: Aussie taxman after Second Life income — Shooting at Bubbles http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127121 Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:47:15 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127121 [...] While in the US the IRS hasn’t declared that any income you earn in the game Second Life is taxable, the Australian counterpart says it is. Online world entrepeneurs and gold farmers dodged the tax bullet only a couple weeks ago, when an American policymaker announced there’d be no taxing of income earned by activity in virtual worlds and MMOs. (At least any time soon.) Turns out their sighs of relief were premature, because the Australian Tax Office just laid down the law to its own country’s citizens : “If you are getting a monetary benefit then it’s not treated any differently– normal rules apply.” The ATO spokesperson even went so far to single out Second Life’s official currency by name. “The real world value of a transaction may form part of your taxable income, even if it is in Linden dollars.” [Full Article]  [...]

]]> By: Al http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127120 Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:17:01 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127120 Jesse, as Shaun stated, problem is that real world value doesn’t materialize until the virtual money is converted back into real-world currency…

]]> By: Jesse Kopelman http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127119 Fri, 03 Nov 2006 22:44:50 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127119 Shaun, if someone says they are going to tax the real world value of your virtual assets, then clearly they have an interest in how those assets are valued. The stretch here is actually very short.

]]> By: Shaun Osborne http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127118 Fri, 03 Nov 2006 16:27:30 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127118 umm.. let’s not get carried away here Hamlet :)

the original statement:
from:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/biztech/virtual-world-tax-man-cometh/2006/10/30/1162056925483.html

“The real world value of a transaction may form part of your taxable income, even if it is in Linden dollars,”

doesn’t in my view naturally (or even comfortably) lead to your statement:
(Stop a moment and take in the full strangeness of that statement: a government official from a leading G20 nation just declared they have a taxation policy on a currency that only exists in a virtual world inhabited by subscribers from around the globe.)

Quite the opposite.. the spokeswoman is making it perfectly clear that the ATO are interested when the ‘real world value’ shows up.

The passing reference to L$ is almost irrelevant and it’s certainly a ‘very long stretch’ to suggest that the Australian Government has some how made a statement that they have a policy (or any interest for that matter) in any ‘in-world’ virtual currency..

]]> By: The Internet is People http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127117 Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:27:00 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127117 Australia to Second Life users: we will tax you…

You know a technology has hit mainstream when it’s mentioned by members of government, traditionally the very last people to ever get on a new technology bandwagon. For Australian Massively Multiplayer Role-Players, this is a mixed blessing, not …

]]> By: Jesse Kopelman http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127116 Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:31:40 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127116 I think the big issue here is that the Australian government as actually specifying that virtual assets are no different than real world assets. This seems to set a precedent for issues like division of property at divorce. It is also seems to increase the liability of the companies run the game as if they were to shut down their servers they would some how have to compensate the players for the loss of assets.

]]> By: Mathew http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127115 Thu, 02 Nov 2006 21:03:44 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127115 In any country (like Australia, where I live), that has an income tax, earnings derived from 2nd Life or any other online enterprise should be taxed the same as anything else; Thats just common sense.

Because we have an income tax here, I have often wondered why there is even a debate about taxing online ventures. Income is income, after all.

Is the US Tax model so different? Sounds like it is.

]]> By: The Linkielist http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127114 Thu, 02 Nov 2006 15:50:44 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127114 On line gaming taxed…

The US was looking into it, but Australia has decided – tax stuff done on-line. If there is a monetary benefit. I guess a whole load of tax boards are going to be looking at Australia to see if it can actually be done…

]]> By: Bill http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127113 Thu, 02 Nov 2006 11:02:26 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127113 Taxing virtual activities doesn’t seem so strange to me – if you can convert Linden$ to real money, then it’s real income. The fact that the transaction is conducted via a computer program doesn’t make a difference, any more than if you sold something on e-Bay.

That doesn’t mean I think it’s a good idea that our governments can find new ways to take a share of our money!

I think the only reason the US govt is not planning to do it is that they think the amount is currently small, so it is more trouble than it is worth to attempt to collect it.

]]> By: broadstuff http://gigaom.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127112 Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:55:24 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2006/11/02/the-virtual-world-taxman-arriveth-in-oz/#comment-127112 Second Life, First World Economics and the Third Degree…

Dastardly Dealings in 2nd Life – our man Dark Harlequin reports:.

Back in May real life contract law started to impact 2nd Life (see Wired article for example) as sharp practitioners and sharp practices (allegedly) moved in.

However, seems like …

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