Is this EA or just local State taxes added on?

My state charges Tax on all such products and transactions.

I also has laws against a company that protects against other 'taxes' that do commerce in the state and nationally.

And as EA has offices in my state ...

I get our 13% HST added on my sub as well.

video games and game time (subs) are considered a luxury item and not exempt from taxes. If they were not charging before it was most likely an oversight more then anything else.

Although tax law and trying to sort it out is muddy at best and confusing most of the time.

It's likely that one of two things changed since tax is a function of your government and not BioWare:

1) The place you live requires that it be collected. This may be a recent change or BioWare may be just now getting around to implementing it.

2) BioWare has decided to stop trying to figure out who does and does not require them to collect tax and just start charging it for everyone. Even in most places where they are not required to collect it, you as the consumer are still required to pay it to the government yourself.

Looking back at my entire payment history, it's always been the same for me. There may have been some changes tax laws for your state at some point.

All CC packs have all been the same for me as well.

I'm in California, btw.

The rule of the interwebz goes, you do not have to pay taxes unless the company you are purchasing from's business address is in your state.

Not exactly, they have to have a physical presence in your state.. so like Amazon, who has a warehouse in damn near every state, you probably have to pay taxes.

However, the laws recently changed. The US Government wants their money, so from now on ALL online purchases will charge tax. Amazon, Ebay, Google, and a few other big businesses that are already charging tax to everyone actually put out a statement that they do not agree with the law and tried to get it changed, but it seems they failed. Their argument was the law means nothing to them since they already as it stands with the "physical presence" charge tax, but it does mean something to online businesses because the software that you need to be able to figure the tax differences for 50 different states is very expensive, so it's going to severely damage many small online businesses.

The rule of the interwebz goes, you do not have to pay taxes unless the company you are purchasing from's business address is in your state.

Not true. It's more subtle then this.

Check your states tax laws. The business is NOT REQUIRED to collect sales tax from you, but the ARE ALLOWED to on behalf of your state.

IF they DO NOT, then YOU are legally required to pay the sales tax directly to your state/locality as a "use tax" in most states. Now, states know you won't do it, which is why states are putting more and more pressure on internet merchants to collect taxes. Most large internet merchants don't want to have to deal with punitive tax legislation against them, so they voluntarily collect tax from you.

In addition..enough states have passed new laws requiring internet merchants to collect taxes (regardless of where the business is located) now..such that instead of trying to modify merchant transaction software, more and more companies are just collecting the taxes from everyone (based on a tax table for your states tax rate) and remitting the collected taxes to the states quarterly or monthly (depending on state law).

As a Prime customer with Amazon, I have been following this tax saga between states and merchants for some time now. One by one, states are tightening the noose around sales tax law on internet merchants.

The US Government wants their money, so from now on ALL online purchases will charge tax.

The US government has no sale tax (yet), which is why the Federal government could care less about federal legislation on merchant sales taxes. There is proposed legislation (Marketplace Fairness Act), but it's not law, and is actually supported by large brick and mortar merchants who want all internet transactions taxed.

States however do, as do some local counties/cities, have sales taxes in most cases and they want their revenues.

Marketplace Fairness Act status: http://news.investors.com/technology/052813-657900-amazon-supports-ebay-opposes-ecommerce-tax-law.htm?p=full

The US government has no sale tax (yet), which is why the Federal government could care less about federal legislation on merchant sales taxes. There is proposed legislation (Marketplace Fairness Act), but it's not law, and is actually supported by large brick and mortar merchants who want all internet transactions taxed.

 

States however do, as do some local counties/cities, have sales taxes in most cases and they want their revenues.

 

Marketplace Fairness Act status: http://news.investors.com/technology/052813-657900-amazon-supports-ebay-opposes-ecommerce-tax-law.htm?p=full

Ah, ok yeah it hasn't been approved yet, but I've seen lots of merchants are starting to just go ahead and start charging because it probably will be.

I just looked at my payment history.. No changes for me.. Been the same since the very beginning..

I am in Washington State..

Ah, ok yeah it hasn't been approved yet, but I've seen lots of merchants are starting to just go ahead and start charging because it probably will be.

Well.. Becareful here.. A business can NOT just charge a tax because it feels a law is about to come into effect.. If that is the case then the company can be sued for collecting illegal taxes.. There is no law that allows the arbitrary taxation of the people.. It would also be considered fraud to tax when no law allowing such tax exists..

In order for a tax to be collected, it has to be backed by existing law.. Not laws that don't exist yet.. I will sue any company that attempts to collect taxes illegally.. How do I as a customer know they are actually giving the taxes to the government and not just pocketing it for their bottom line??

Ah, ok yeah it hasn't been approved yet, but I've seen lots of merchants are starting to just go ahead and start charging because it probably will be.

But this is a nation-wide tax law for the US when it comes into effect. Eric was referring to individual state laws that apparently are rather dynamic. That's not the same thing. The state laws already exist and that's what this is about.

Well.. Becareful here.. A business can NOT just charge a tax because it feels a law is about to come into effect.. If that is the case then the company can be sued for collecting illegal taxes.. There is no law that allows the arbitrary taxation of the people.. It would also be considered fraud to tax when no law allowing such tax exists..

 

In order for a tax to be collected, it has to be backed by existing law.. Not laws that don't exist yet.. I will sue any company that attempts to collect taxes illegally.. How do I as a customer know they are actually giving the taxes to the government and not just pocketing it for their bottom line??

The law actually does exist. In fact you are supposed to be paying the tax on it but what has been stated no one actually pays it. If they internet company isnt collecting then its the responsibility of the consumer to pay it. No one does it though and the states, at least mine, doesnt bother to enforce it.

Well.. Becareful here.. A business can NOT just charge a tax because it feels a law is about to come into effect.. If that is the case then the company can be sued for collecting illegal taxes.. There is no law that allows the arbitrary taxation of the people.. It would also be considered fraud to tax when no law allowing such tax exists..

 

In order for a tax to be collected, it has to be backed by existing law.. Not laws that don't exist yet.. I will sue any company that attempts to collect taxes illegally.. How do I as a customer know they are actually giving the taxes to the government and not just pocketing it for their bottom line??

As others have said, if you don't pay tax on an internet purchase, you are SUPPOSED to include that purchase when you do your taxes each April, so that you then pay the taxes. 99% of use don't do that.

So, again as others have said, this law will make it so that the 99% of us that don't bother to or don't know that we are actually still supposed to pay taxes on online purchases will be forced to do so.

But this is a nation-wide tax law for the US when it comes into effect. Eric was referring to individual state laws that apparently are rather dynamic. That's not the same thing. The state laws already exist and that's what this is about.

Well, right but it's easier to go ahead and start complying with the law now, than to be "Wait what? Oh crap we need to get our software updated... " and not be charging RIGHT AWAY when the law goes into effect.

Also, the Federal law will simply make every online business with 1 million or more in sales have to figure tax for every state, which is why Ebay is against it, because it's going to severely hit many of the small businesses that use them.

You've always owed the tax. It was just impractical for states to collect it. Now states are getting much more aggressive about it and technology will help them. They are "losing" (quotes are on purpose because, frankly, it's not their money) billions on the Internet economy and they want their pounds of flesh.

This is not really Bioware's or EA's fault. Any company of any size will be forced into it within the next few years.

Well.. Becareful here.. A business can NOT just charge a tax because it feels a law is about to come into effect.. If that is the case then the company can be sued for collecting illegal taxes.. There is no law that allows the arbitrary taxation of the people.. It would also be considered fraud to tax when no law allowing such tax exists..

 

In order for a tax to be collected, it has to be backed by existing law.. Not laws that don't exist yet.. I will sue any company that attempts to collect taxes illegally.. How do I as a customer know they are actually giving the taxes to the government and not just pocketing it for their bottom line??

You are clouding the issue with misinformation.

Internet merchants ARE ALLOWED to collect taxes for your state if your state has a state sales tax. They are NOT REQUIRED to in all states, but they ARE ALLOWED to. IF they do, they are required to tax at the states legal sales tax rate and to remit the collections to your state.

AND... if they do not collect sales tax, YOU are legally obligated to pay it directly to your state in the form of a reported "use tax". Of course nobody does, which is why states love it when a merchant collects it for them.

Yep, EA is charging sales tax on game time. Even though the MFA hasn't even made it to the House yet and if it passes(which it prob will), it probably won't even take effect until at least next year, EA is already charging.

Funny, I don't have any sales tax on my WoW sub. Just another reason it's a better game. Blizzard only charges it on the states that CURRENTLY require it.

The rule of the interwebz goes, you do not have to pay taxes unless the company you are purchasing from's business address is in your state.

Sort of.

In Illinois, you are required to pay state tax on any internet purchase. However, unless the business has a physical address in Illinois, it won't be automatically deducted.

Also, it's the honor system. If it isn't taken out by the business and you don't report the purchase come tax time, the state has no way of knowing.