[ENG] RMT Taxation starts in Korea from 1 July 2007
by BettyBlue on 6.26, 2007, under 분류되지 않음
26 June 2007, Korea National Tax Service(NTS), equivalent to IRS in US, announced they would impose VAT (value added tax) on RMT (real money trading) from 1 July.
Source:http://www.etnews.co.kr/news/detail.html?id=200706260121
Sellers who do between 6 and 12 million won/half year in business will have VAT auto applied by transaction’s middle-man
Sellers who do more than 12 million won/half year in business will need a business license and will pay the tax by themselves
An official from NTS, Mr Choi said, “NTS would be able to track all transactions for taxation of virtual items – RMT.” Also, he added, “This is not about defining RMT legal/illegal; we don’t see any contradictory facts to Amendment for Game Industry Promoting Law -we are not about to judge if RMT is legal or not”
Interesting thing is game publishers are yet to announce anything of this issue. According to the TOS (Terms of Services) of game publishers, the items and currency which are traded for real money do not belongs to the gamer but to them. So what would happen if the game publisher levy on the items or currency which are involved in RMT?
Who actually have ownership of the virtual items and who are to be taxed?
Anyway, this announcement is based on the compromise of major RMT mediators who have promised to share their clients’ transaction details to authorities. Also, this is somewhat a notable result of negotiations and lobby which mediator companies have done; mediator companies get legal, big sellers get troubles. Mediator companies know that no matter what RMT will exist and they would rather sacrifice big sellers rather to close their services as it still makes big money.
Big sellers who are mostly exceeding the limit can’t stop selling and are not happy to pay tax and for them. Actually, for them, being tracked is a problem.
So what? They are waiting for alternative which system may occur soon.
Dumb and dumber brothers; NTS and MCT. (Ministry of Culture ＆ Tourism)
ⓒ BettyBlue
9 Comments for this entry
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암흑의마법에서정의의칼로
3월 5th, 2008 on 10:23 오전G:게임 MMO: 다중플레이어접속사회 1. 리니지와 와우는 다르다. 고래와 물고기는 다르듯이. 2. 리니지는 대문자 G를 메인으로 담은 소문자 mmo이고, 와우는 소문자 mmo를 덧댄 대문자 G이다. 3. 세컨..
6월 26th, 2007 on 5:03 오후
덤앤더머 적절하군요.ㅋㅋ
6월 28th, 2007 on 4:20 오전
Korea’s government is really quick to realize the impact of RMT business. At least they know not to decide whether it is illegal or not.
6월 28th, 2007 on 10:14 오전
답답할 뿐입니다. 너무 쉽게 생각하는건지.. 무대뽀인지..
6월 28th, 2007 on 10:21 오전
RMT isn’t illegal at all in Korea.
What Korean government emphasizing is generating certain amount of revenue by participating in RMT but not paying tax is somewhat illegal. MCT (Ministry of Culture ＆ Tourism) is working closely with game publishers to illegalize people who are using exploits, bots or people who are related with farming activities. I have posted a few articles of these issues in Korean and soon I would post it in English also. Comments are welcomed. Thanks for visiting my blog
6월 29th, 2007 on 5:34 오후
이 기사 나도 봤다.
불법이랬다가 세금 걷느니랬다가 별 지랄을 다 하는구나.
6월 30th, 2007 on 3:24 오후
현금거래 자체는 불법이 아니예요. 그냥 현금거래에 세금을 부과하려는 것 뿐. 정책입안자들이 무대뽀인것 같아요.
7월 4th, 2007 on 11:23 오전
Looking forward to your next articles in English. What a shame that I don’t read Korean.
7월 4th, 2007 on 6:41 오후
Not a shame at all. My blog is mainly about RMT and MMOG so if you feel interested in some other Korean posts, I suggest Google translation services; it’s quite nice
I do have some suggestions for your website but please excuse me as I’m quite busy doing my own job nowadays and I’ll definately get back to you.
7월 5th, 2007 on 2:43 오전
Thanks, if you’d like to share your insight on RMT in Asian perspective please let me know. It would be interesting to see the diffirences between US-oriented and Korean perception of RMT businesses.