PlayStation Store Purchases Will No Longer be Tax Free in Canada Starting Next Year

[KingGuy420]

I will never buy another brand new game in my life. 80$ was already too much for my budget. 92-104$ just ain't happening lol.

 

I've been trying to cut back on buying games anyways. This is just the kick in the ass I need.

[DaivRules]

2 hours ago, NERVergoproxy said:

Digital sales better drop more to compensate for this!!

HA ha, yeah right. Just like when digital distribution was first pitched as a way to reduce costs like printing, materials, and logistics would definitely result in lower prices for digital equivalents. Never happened. Never going to happen. 

[Xenoblast91]

The same laws were applied here in Mexico, and honestly sucks af. The country isn't really expensive (depends on where you live and what's your lifestyle), but in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown, adding more prices to the only medium to sustain your sanity the government just decided to rob us more money for their own corruption and impunity. Sucks a lot, and people who voted for the current president cannot feel more than simply scammed. 

[Manowjoe]

On 12/4/2020 at 3:39 PM, talespagni said:

Post removed

 

 

"a gentleman and a scholar" - user description checks out

Edited January 20, 2023 by Beyondthegrave07

[DaivRules]

On 12/4/2020 at 3:39 PM, talespagni said:

Post removed

The only thing I said they have in common is crazy high inflation. I didn’t make any other references that you’re replying about. 
 

On 12/4/2020 at 3:39 PM, talespagni said:

Post removed

I wouldn’t be looking to solve the “problem” (of crazy high inflation, the only thing I referenced). I didn’t make a suggestion about what anyone else should do. I only said what I would do. 
 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Beyondthegrave07

[Greg]

0 reason to buy digital now unless its on sale

[Fr_0zt]

Well that's just fucking fantastic!.... 

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by Fr_0zt

[AJ_Radio]

I had to start paying taxes around 2017 - 2018, making digital purchases a bit more expensive. 
 

You guys in Canada will be joining us. It sucks, but it is what it is.

[Honor_Hand]

Well, but at least Canada works, doesn't it? Works as in, you know, public services exist and the country being nothing like the hellhole I live in, right? I mean, that's usually the impression I get.

 

Since everyone else here is mentioning their VAT rates, I'm going to do the same. 

 

I have a VAT rate of 16% AND live in Venezuela. Beat that, Internet. =P

 

All joking aside. Good luck to my fellow Canadian gamers over there. Having to pay more for your games is never a cool thing. Maybe you can try getting games in physical form or pre-owned instead to avoid taxes? What about importing them from other countries? Maybe you could try creating another PSN account with a fake address in the US and then buying games from there? I have zero ideas about how things work there, so I'm just throwing some ideas for your consideration.

 

Right on that. Nice comment 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Beyondthegrave07
Removed tagged name, per request

[ladynadiad]

Not a Canadian, but not surprised that loophole was closed since the US had a similar one that also was closed.  It's not surprising this would happen in a time like this with so many governments struggling since they are receiving less revenue from taxes due to high unemployment rates and business closures.  I am curious though because multiple people commented on how they could buy physical, are physical items taxed at a lesser rate in Canada then?  I ask because in the US our taxes are the same rate whether the purchase is online or in a physical store.  It's the type of goods or service being bought that determines if there is tax and what rate it is taxed at. 

Edited December 5, 2020 by ladynadiad

[StraightVege]

Was bound to happen. $80 to $90, eh? Well, I certainly wouldn't be buying games at release if I lived in Canada, although I already don't now.

 

Digital products are currently tax exempt in California, but I wouldn't care if this changed—I'm a fan of taxation, and happy to pay a little into state programs.

[Rias Gremory]

Here in New Zealand, PS Store NZ doesn't do tax. Still remains uneffected.

[effdeegee]

There's still no tax on buying a used game from a private sale (and you can resell it to recoup some of your money spent).  

 

I've purchased about 650 games in the past few years and honestly can't recall the number of times I payed more than $20 for one.  
 

They charge more for digital; I buy physical.

They charge more for new games; I buy used.

They charge more for dlc; I stopped buying dlc.

They charge more for online mp; I stopped playing online mp.

 

My heart goes out to the younger generations, but they will learn, eventually. The only way to defeat corporate greed is by keeping your hard-earned money and telling them all to piss off. If they keep giving less and charging more, they get absolutely nothing from me. Fuck 'em. They can burn in Hell. I wouldn't even piss on them if they were on fire.

 

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 "super ultimate HD 4K gold digital deluxe day 1 edition" digital only, online only, mp only, literal copy/paste of the last game, for $139.99 + tax? LOOL fuck no. plz kys  

 

A physical copy of Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition with all dlc for $20, that I can play for months and then resell for $15? Watch_Dogs 2 for $5? Oh! You're selling 5 games for $20? Um... yes.  

[Infected Elite]

doesn't bother me. I buy physical 95% of the time. But yea it was inevitable. It is what it is. Just buy what you really want at launch, wait for sales for the rest i guess. For those who can't afford new games all the time.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Infected Elite

[VigilantCrow]

Shocking, the cucks in Ottawa wanted more money from people with actual jobs.

Edited December 11, 2020 by VigilantCrow

[diskdocx]

On 12/4/2020 at 10:01 PM, Honor_Hand said:

Well, but at least Canada works, doesn't it? Works as in, you know, public services exist and the country being nothing like the hellhole I live in, right? I mean, that's usually the impression I get.

 

Since everyone else here is mentioning their VAT rates, I'm going to do the same. 

 

I have a VAT rate of 16% AND live in Venezuela. Beat that, Internet. =P

 

All joking aside. Good luck to my fellow Canadian gamers over there. Having to pay more for your games is never a cool thing. Maybe you can try getting games in physical form or pre-owned instead to avoid taxes? What about importing them from other countries? Maybe you could try creating another PSN account with a fake address in the US and then buying games from there? I have zero ideas about how things work there, so I'm just throwing some ideas for your consideration.

 

Right on that. Nice comment, @talespagni

 

On 12/5/2020 at 2:04 AM, ladynadiad said:

Not a Canadian, but not surprised that loophole was closed since the US had a similar one that also was closed.  It's not surprising this would happen in a time like this with so many governments struggling since they are receiving less revenue from taxes due to high unemployment rates and business closures.  I am curious though because multiple people commented on how they could buy physical, are physical items taxed at a lesser rate in Canada then?  I ask because in the US our taxes are the same rate whether the purchase is online or in a physical store.  It's the type of goods or service being bought that determines if there is tax and what rate it is taxed at. 

Physical items would be taxed at the same rate. The issue is (and really always has been), the physical item retains value, the digital does not. While I get the convenience of digital, it has honestly never really made sense to me, unless there is a significant price advantage. While I tend to hang on to my physical media, most of it retains at least some value. And as legacy systems go off line, in some cases physical media accrues value. I'm quite sure the 100 or so Vita games I have are now worth at least as much, if not more, than what I paid for them. My digital Vita games are worth zero.

 

But, back to your question, the tax rate is the same. Used games are also taxed if sold in a store, but if you buy locally (like from kijiji or the local for sale ads), as a private person to person sale, there is no tax. Still, in many cases a used, or new on sale physical game, is often cheaper than the digital version on the store. I think a lot of people were using the "no sales tax on digital" to just justify buying day one digital over a physical copy from the store. With our tax rate, that was about a $10 saving on a new AAA game. That benefit is gone - so really, it would rarely make sense to buy a new digital game.

 

Importing is a mixed bag. Theoretically you should get charged duty, but often small purchases are not taxed - $50-100 is 'typical' safe. But shipping to Canada is often very expensive.

 

As an example, I wanted to grab the Super Neptunia RPG limited edition from the iffy store which is in the States. It was on sale for $35 US. While US shipping was free, it was going to be $40US to ship to Canada. That would not ever be a cheaper option than paying the sales tax here. (although the game isn't available here, but still, general principle applies - importing to save taxes would rarely be financially viable when you factor in shipping from another country)

[Lordguwa]

i don't agree with the tax thing. they're trying to pull something like this in chicago in order to shore up the lost revenue from the pandemic. seems canada is doing the same thing to patch some holes

[ladynadiad]

7 hours ago, diskdocx said:

 

Physical items would be taxed at the same rate. The issue is (and really always has been), the physical item retains value, the digital does not. While I get the convenience of digital, it has honestly never really made sense to me, unless there is a significant price advantage. While I tend to hang on to my physical media, most of it retains at least some value. And as legacy systems go off line, in some cases physical media accrues value. I'm quite sure the 100 or so Vita games I have are now worth at least as much, if not more, than what I paid for them. My digital Vita games are worth zero.

 

But, back to your question, the tax rate is the same. Used games are also taxed if sold in a store, but if you buy locally (like from kijiji or the local for sale ads), as a private person to person sale, there is no tax. Still, in many cases a used, or new on sale physical game, is often cheaper than the digital version on the store. I think a lot of people were using the "no sales tax on digital" to just justify buying day one digital over a physical copy from the store. With our tax rate, that was about a $10 saving on a new AAA game. That benefit is gone - so really, it would rarely make sense to buy a new digital game.

 

Importing is a mixed bag. Theoretically you should get charged duty, but often small purchases are not taxed - $50-100 is 'typical' safe. But shipping to Canada is often very expensive.

 

As an example, I wanted to grab the Super Neptunia RPG limited edition from the iffy store which is in the States. It was on sale for $35 US. While US shipping was free, it was going to be $40US to ship to Canada. That would not ever be a cheaper option than paying the sales tax here. (although the game isn't available here, but still, general principle applies - importing to save taxes would rarely be financially viable when you factor in shipping from another country)

 

So overall sounds similar enough to the US.  We do pay taxes on physical goods bought in a store, but income from selling used games for individuals isn't taxed if they are selling at a loss.  Businesses, however, also can purchase items for business use without paying tax but have to collect tax on the purchase and pay those and they also pay taxes on their profits earned.  Importing is similar enough though usually importers in the US are only importing from either EU or JP for physical games and games are more expensive in those regions plus you have to deal with high shipping costs.  It's typically around $100 minimum for me to import even a standard edition of a new JP release, more if it's a LE.  However, in all my years of importing I've never had to pay a customs fee here.  Agree that many people in the US did use the no sales tax on purchases online to their advantage before that loophole closed and that's probably a good part of why sites like Amazon grew to be the giants they are today.

 

Overall sounds like about the only way Canadians can catch a break would be to get a US account with an address in a state that doesn't charge sales tax, which there are a few that do, and buy digital, but that has the drawback of being unable to resell.  Personally I agree that physical is better because outside of fire and thieves, your games can't be taken away and you can take measures to protect yourself from such losses (security systems, insurance, etc.)  Digital doesn't have the same assurance and no protections from potential losses of your whole account or future inability to access your purchases due to company whims, or account loss due to forgotten password/account theft.  That alone should be more than enough reason to buy physical when possible or at least to buy physical for the games you really like.  But so many also don't even bother to keep old consoles and wouldn't play those older games unless newer consoles are backwards compatible, so it's not a huge surprise.

[effdeegee]

Bloody friggin' Hell!

 

With all of this talk of digital  , I decided to take a random trip to the PS Store, just for a second, and found:

 

- Rise of the Tomb Raider + all dlc for $8.

- Batman Arkham Knight season pass for $7.

 

Temptation... too great... resist... must not... download... Son of a bitch!

[peffsi]

On 12/11/2020 at 5:01 PM, ladynadiad said:

Overall sounds like about the only way Canadians can catch a break would be to get a US account with an address in a state that doesn't charge sales tax, which there are a few that do, and buy digital, but that has the drawback of being unable to resell.  

An interesting idea, but personally it sounds like more work than it's worth, if I'm understanding the process correctly. I would have to buy PSN codes from 3rd party sellers. (And if those sites charge in US dollars, my credit card is gonna add another couple percent for foreign currency.) Then I'd have to use my US account to buy & download the games, then switch to my Canadian account to play (cuz obviously I'd want all my trophies on one account). Ultimately, this would probably only save me a few bucks per game, but it'd add a bunch of steps to the process.

I spent $500 on PSN in 2020. Taxes on that would have been $65.. which is less than the cost of one full-price game. Ultimately it's not a lot of money (for me). And let's ignore the fact that most of that $500 went straight into my backlog, lol.

 

On the note of digital vs physical.. I'm just done with having a bunch of plastic cases. I've always been too lazy to re-sell games I'm done with, and I almost never replay them, so they just sit there. One thing I really loved about physical was nice instruction manuals, but they don't even make those anymore.

 

On 12/11/2020 at 5:01 PM, ladynadiad said:

However, in all my years of importing I've never had to pay a customs fee here. 

Just to share my Canadian experience.. I have imported thousands of dollars of Japanese CDs & games over the years. Usually each package is $100-$200, and I find that getting customs charges depends on luck and the shipping service. When I chose the cheaper & slower "standard mail" option, delivered by Canada Post, I got charged for customs only a handful of times. But Fedex/DHL would ALWAYS charge me. It suuuucks to have the delivery person show up and say "hey you gotta give me $50 before you can have your package"

[ladynadiad]

2 hours ago, peffsi said:

On the note of digital vs physical.. I'm just done with having a bunch of plastic cases. I've always been too lazy to re-sell games I'm done with, and I almost never replay them, so they just sit there. One thing I really loved about physical was nice instruction manuals, but they don't even make those anymore.

 

I always thought that myself, but a few years back when I had trouble finding a job, having a large game collection was a huge lifesaver.  I was able to make enough selling a bunch of games off to pay rent until I found something stable.  Having physical items of value can definitely be useful if times get rough, though with how many times I've moved I do get how much of a pain it is to lug around stuff like that since my games and books are a large amount of what I have to pack up.  I do think ability to resell games does depend on the games you own though because the more obscure games like I play often retain value much better than the AAA games.

 

2 hours ago, peffsi said:

Just to share my Canadian experience.. I have imported thousands of dollars of Japanese CDs & games over the years. Usually each package is $100-$200, and I find that getting customs charges depends on luck and the shipping service. When I chose the cheaper & slower "standard mail" option, delivered by Canada Post, I got charged for customs only a handful of times. But Fedex/DHL would ALWAYS charge me. It suuuucks to have the delivery person show up and say "hey you gotta give me $50 before you can have your package"

 

And I'm betting what country an importer is in along with the country of origin makes a difference.  I know one of my european friends has commented on having to pay customs nearly every time they import games.  For me, I've used FedEx and DHL as well and also had no customs fees like when using the slower services, and it costs less and FedEx was faster.  I've only imported from Japan and Europe and never paid any customs myself

[Squall__x]

I am from Brazil... let's talk....

[starcrunch061]

Well anyway, getting back to taxes, I think all online purchases should be taxed. I won’t say what’s right for Canada, but so many state dollars are being lost because of their archaic systems of taxation.

[wackt1]

digital ps5s have gotten now a little bit more expensive 

[Dr_Mayus]

I remember this went into affect after the PSN hack and I always figured it was due to that (and they never bothered fixing it). I remember telling my boss about it (at Playstation) and she didn't even know there was no tax. I mean she barely played any games and usually embarrassed herself when talking about games to customers...but you figured she would know the business end of things.