To ensure compliance with government regulations, we are making a few changes to how sales tax is applied to purchases made within EVE Online. These changes will be taking place in April.
What is Changing?
We are automating sales tax determination across all applicable jurisdictions in the USA and Canada. This means that sales tax will be automatically calculated and included in the final purchase price for all digital items (such as PLEX, packs, and other items from the EVE store) and subscriptions in EVE Online. This will only affect those in the USA & Canada.
Why is This Change Being Implemented?
Many state and provincial governments require companies to collect and remit sales tax on digital purchases. These regulations are in place to ensure that customers are informed about applicable taxes and are charged the correct amount based on their location. As part of industry best practices, CCP is implementing this change to maintain compliance and avoid any regulatory issues.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who Will Be Affected?
This change only affects players in the United States and Canada.
If you reside outside of the USA or Canada, this update will not impact you.
If you are an existing subscriber, your current subscription will remain unaffected. However, if your subscription auto-renews on or after April 2025, the appropriate sales tax will be applied at the time of renewal.
How much tax will be applied to my purchase?
Sales tax rates vary by state and province. If you are located in the USA or Canada, you may see an additional charge at checkout reflecting the applicable tax for your region. For exact tax rates, we recommend referring to your local governmentās tax authority.
I believe Iām being charged an incorrect sales tax. What should I do?
If you believe your sales tax calculation is incorrect, please verify the accuracy of your billing information in your EVE Online account. If you believe there is an error, you can contact our billing GMs through the in-game support tool or at support@ccpgames.com
If I request a refund, will I also receive a refund for the sales tax?
Yes, if a refund is issued for a purchase that included sales tax, the sales tax amount will be refunded as well.
Where can I find more information about my state or provincial tax laws?
For US customers: Your stateās Department of Revenue provides the most up-to-date tax information. You can also refer to this resource for state and local sales tax rates: Tax Foundation.
F-ck this sh-t.
You just made it an easy decision to extract and then biomass 2 accounts. When the third one expires Iām history.
I hope the perceived ācomplianceā is worth the revenue loss. I seriously doubt the cloud-based service CCP provides is even applicable (since the only ādownloadā is the free client), but Iām not going to waste my time fighting with GMs who know less about Canadian tax laws than I do.
Whatās next? Does CCP plan to report playerās in-game net worth to the relevant tax authorities so they can be assessed on potential taxable gains?
I understand that companies will charge taxes they need to pay over customer purchases to their customers, but what changed that you are adding these taxes to US and Canadian purchases now?
Were there no taxes before? What changed?
As Iām no Canadian or US player Iām not aware of any recently added state and provincial taxes there, but Iām curious.
Unfortunately, new regulations were established several years ago in Canada requiring various āforeign digital service providersā to collect and remit GST/HST. Many businesses simply ignored them as there has been no concerted effort on the governments part to identify and collect from them all. However if they arenāt registered and collected/remitting sales tax (or can prove theyāre exempt), theyāre technically in a position where they could end up on the wrong side of the govāt tax department.
For some more information on the changes:
Iād guess this wasnāt a priority to get on top of for just about anyone, until the puffed-up gasbag decided to start throwing tariffs and trade wars in all directions. Regardless of timing, it is the law and has been for several years now.
Damn good thing I resubbed for a year before this went into effect. Iāll have to see if this policy lasts the whole year. I know that my home state is one that requires sales tax be paid on online purchases, but my understanding was that it was only for physical goods. From the OK state webpage concerning sales and use tax: āUnder Oklahoma law, use tax must be paid on tangible personal property purchased and brought into this state for storage, use or consumption.ā
Likely because various US states and Canadian provinces are starting to enforce their laws (likely due to tariffs) and they are doing this before being sued.
The US has the bizarre situation in which the āpriceā displayed in a shop does not include sales tax, or both the base price and the price after tax are shown. In the UK, nearly all shop prices include tax. Even VAT is increasingly included in the āPriceā shown. So much simpler.
