Quote:
Originally Posted by Lavawalker
At the end of the day, MA has very little to worry about.
If the Swedish Tax Office gets heavy handed with them on the issue,
MindArk, simply splits itself into an umbrella Group corporation.
MindArk Group - Registered in a country where the taxation laws are such that it suits the international arena and does not impede upon their own operations with any great level of inconvience. |
yes, it really is that simple. so why are HSBC, BHP Billiton, Microsoft, BP and all the other big companies in the world are based in countries where they pay tax? It doesnt work like that, you can only shuffle so much off shore. they would have to move their whole main office and workforce.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake Rogue
Unfortunately, I don’t speak Swedish but I'm with Jan Welter Timkrans and the US Congress on this one. Skatteverket may be trying to suggest this, although that doesn't mean that their statement from this review is well thought out, logical or even legally accurate. I got the impression from Mjukis' translation that they themselves were still trying to figure out this whole issue and that nothing is definitive yet.
Nonetheless, VAT (or whatever the Swedish equivalent is) should only be due where real life funds are actually made, and that requires the withdrawal of intangible virtual world "currency" (an internal mechanism of the given online world) into real life funds. It is then, at that point of real world tangible profit, that any tax mechanisms should be applied. "Economic activity" only exists where a real world profit/loss has been made, not a virtual profit within the "system" of an ongoing virtual world.
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heres a link to a
translation of the summary i ran though a web based app. once again i will highlight that what is at issue here is not what you or i think is right and wrong or "should" be taxed, when and where, it is what the Swedish authority has decided
is eligiable for tax. The representitive of the Skatteverket may have acknowledged there is a problem with actual enforcement, but that doesnt mean they cant or wont.
As for tokens, tangible or intangible makes not difference. A share in a company is intangible, a futures contract on the price of soy beans is intangible yet this is how the world goes round. does your money suddely cease to exist once its in your bank account, stored as a bunch or intangible data on their systems? 10PED=$1 which makes it just as real as anything else. As for legal tender, that is a concept of what you
obliged to accept, you may accept payment in any form. If Disney paid French/Floridian workers in Disney Dollars you can be sure they would still be taxed on them (other wise the workers
would be paid in Disney Dollars to avoid any tax, qed.)