Huh, that's weird. I'll pay attention next time I'll be buying anything.

This is kinda basic business stuff. Companies either suck up the costs themselves, or charge whatever VAT/Tax of your origin country to you, as they as a business have to legally file those to tax offices. I'm surprised they didn't do this already??

I doubt they would have been sucking it up themselves, they are in Poland and have no obligation to the Ontario, Canada government.

Isn’t GOG registered in Cyprus? Maybe the tax situation has changed somehow recently. I remember after Greece had their little financial crisis some years back one of the conditions for bailing them out was Cyprus had to become less of a tax haven than it had used to be.

You do business in Ontario, you comply with Ontario laws.

I don't get why this is open for discussion. We're talking about a reputable internet shop here, not some shady (half-)criminal organisation.

Last edited by emphy on 14 Nov 2023 at 1:44 pm UTC

Quoting: emphyYou do business in Ontario, you comply with Ontario laws.

I don't get why this is open for discussion. We're talking about a reputable internet shop here, not some shady (half-)criminal organisation.

If they are doing business IN Ontario, yes. But are they? If I buy something outside of the EU, I don't pay VAT either. If it's a physical product, customs might bill me. If it's digital, I'm supposed to declare it myself (fat chance). Not collecting VAT has nothing to do with being reputable, but having a legal presence in the country of the customer.

Buddy, you would hate the UK. Every single transaction for regular consumers includes Value Added Tax (VAT). :grin:

The only way to avoid VAT is to run a business and purchase without it that way. But you still have to report your purchases and pay the VAT at the end of the year. Along with a whole bunch of other taxes. :neutral:

Yeah, and VAT is around 20%, not below 10% like it is in America. You spoiled brats don’t know how good it is you are having.

Quoting: emphyYou do business in Ontario, you comply with Ontario laws.

I don't get why this is open for discussion. We're talking about a reputable internet shop here, not some shady (half-)criminal organisation.

Oooh, "authority". You're not going to brow beat me. It's open for discussion because I opened it for discussion. Do you like paying pointless tax? I'll bet that others don't either. That's the problem, it's pointless taxation. I pay income tax (resist claiming things so I can pay some tax to stay off radar, contribute etc.) and I don't mind sales tax on most goods

They don't have a presence over here, not in Canada, not in North Ameerica even, and it's absolutely unenforceable. Provinces and states are trying to grant themselves that right. This is the first time GoG has ever tried to charge me sales tax.

It's now commerce that's just not going to happen and nobody is getting the money. This stopped an impulse buy right in its tracks, and it also put my back up and made me rethink this. I don't have to pay for software and nobody "needs" to buy games. I'm no longer tolerating that intrusion. I'll not pay tax on downloaded bits... they aren't entitled to money from ether.

I'm just sitting here realizing how foolish I've been. Thousands of dollars in "digital property", most of which I don't even use. Any or all of it can go poof any day.

I don't know why you think international transactions should be easy and tax-free, when it is generally the opposite, but this tax was neither created by nor benefits GOG in any way. They have less control and less to gain from it than you do.

Anyway, I don't think that paying local taxes is something to be outraged about. Yes, growing up you find you have to pay all kinds of taxes, it sucks, it is a fact of life.

Quoting: EhvisIf they are doing business IN Ontario, yes. But are they? If I buy something outside of the EU, I don't pay VAT either. If it's a physical product, customs might bill me. If it's digital, I'm supposed to declare it myself (fat chance). Not collecting VAT has nothing to do with being reputable, but having a legal presence in the country of the customer.

If you can pay in CAD, they either operate in Canada or their partners for processing payments do.

Last edited by eldaking on 14 Nov 2023 at 5:57 pm UTC

Quoting: eldakingIf you can pay in CAD, they either operate in Canada or their partners for processing payments do.

This exactly. As I said in my previous comment: this is basic business stuff.

GOG would only have done it if they had to, as said by elda it does not benefit them at all.

Quoting: GuestYeah

Quoting: damarrinYeah, and VAT is around 20%, not below 10% like it is in America. You spoiled brats don’t know how good it is you are having.

Hot damn, that's low.

It's just one of many taxes :wink:

We have, among many others:
- Income Tax
- Sales Tax (VAT)
- Road Tax
- Council Tax (Tax you pay just to live somewhere)
- Stamp Duty (A tax you pay during the purchase of a new property)
- Inheritance Tax (Inherited a ton of money, or house? Nice! Now time to pay up your tax on it!)
- TV Tax (in the form of a TV "License")

And tons of other taxes too. :grin: These are just the first which come to mind.

Ahh well, enjoy defending having your pockets picked. I'll not submit to that again.

I'm no longer interested in buying games. Furthermore, some of the condescending twats in here just canceled any further participation or contribution from me.

Quoting: GroganAhh well, enjoy defending having your pockets picked. I'll not submit to that again.

I'm no longer interested in buying games. Furthermore, some of the condescending twats in here just canceled any further participation or contribution from me.

My apologises if my post came across as condescending. I was merely pointing out some of the (many) taxes within the UK. I neither like taxes, nor enjoy them :neutral:

Sadly, taxes are a part of life than none of us can (legally) avoid.

For those who are not aware, the new Canadian law for sales tax on e-commerce was introduced in 2021. The claimed purpose behind it was to remove an unfair advantage that foreign e-commerce had over domestic e-commerce, which was already required to collect sales tax. All provinces with HST (federal & provincial sales tax combined) were automatically included in this change. Most of the provinces with PST have since introduced similar measures.

The official bureaucratic line of thinking has always been that if an e-commerce does business with a citizen of a Canadian province/territory, then the appropriate sales tax is expected to be collected and submitted. BC even goes so far as to expect that it's citizens voluntarily declare when they've purchased from places that do not collect the PST and remit the appropriate sales tax themselves. Naturally, this doesn't happen, so they instead force outside businesses to collect and remit instead. It is interprovincial as well as international.

Frankly, I'm surprised that it took this long for the Canadian bureaucrats to force GOG to comply. I don't like sales tax anymore than the next guy but I'm glad GOG did comply, though, as Canadians may have lost legal access to the online retailer if GOG had chosen not to cooperate.

Last edited by Caldathras on 14 Nov 2023 at 10:22 pm UTC

Quoting: GroganAhh well, enjoy defending having your pockets picked. I'll not submit to that again.

I'm no longer interested in buying games. Furthermore, some of the condescending twats in here just canceled any further participation or contribution from me.

It has nothing to do with defending anything.

Taxes work in this way in many areas of our lives. You can disagree with it, but you pay taxes every time, even if you go shopping only in the grocery store.

VAT in Poland is 23%, and you probably heard it:

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_taxes_(idiom)

On the other hand, customs and shipping costs of games are often much higher than VAT.

Quoting: GroganI'm just sitting here realizing how foolish I've been. Thousands of dollars in "digital property", most of which I don't even use. Any or all of it can go poof any day.

I agree that the Steam collection of games for Linux could disappear if Valve is closed. However, GOG doesn't have this issue because they keep our games without limitations: 30 days to download. You can run all games without email codes or keys and back up every game.

Last edited by gbudny on 15 Nov 2023 at 2:05 am UTC

Quoting: GroganAhh well, enjoy defending having your pockets picked. I'll not submit to that again.

I'm no longer interested in buying games. Furthermore, some of the condescending twats in here just canceled any further participation or contribution from me.

Sucks to hear that mate......

Your always welcome to swing by the Weekend Players Club anytime and tell bad dad jokes.......

Late to the party: But I don't see the big deal with this either, and I'm an anti-capitalist and say that. It's part of dealing with capital and any transaction with it. I was surprised they didn't do it when I first noticed it a couple years ago. I originally thought it was an oversight on their part. I'm used to it elsewhere, so it's not like it changes much to me.

Quoting: Grogan

Quoting: emphyYou do business in Ontario, you comply with Ontario laws.

I don't get why this is open for discussion. We're talking about a reputable internet shop here, not some shady (half-)criminal organisation.

Oooh, "authority". You're not going to brow beat me. It's open for discussion because I opened it for discussion. Do you like paying pointless tax? I'll bet that others don't either. That's the problem, it's pointless taxation. I pay income tax (resist claiming things so I can pay some tax to stay off radar, contribute etc.) and I don't mind sales tax on most goods

They don't have a presence over here, not in Canada, not in North Ameerica even, and it's absolutely unenforceable. Provinces and states are trying to grant themselves that right. This is the first time GoG has ever tried to charge me sales tax.

It's now commerce that's just not going to happen and nobody is getting the money. This stopped an impulse buy right in its tracks, and it also put my back up and made me rethink this. I don't have to pay for software and nobody "needs" to buy games. I'm no longer tolerating that intrusion. I'll not pay tax on downloaded bits... they aren't entitled to money from ether.

I'm just sitting here realizing how foolish I've been. Thousands of dollars in "digital property", most of which I don't even use. Any or all of it can go poof any day.

If you don't like your taxes I suggest you take that up with your local government.

In case you hadn't noticed, international trade agreements have been catching up with this thing called the "borderless internet". One of the consequences of this is that, in most countries, the customer's location is recognised as the place which has the right to charge vat as much as they deem fit.

I am not sure what the consequences for gog would be if they ignored this, but I am fairly certain that it would not be conductive to their business' continuity. There is a fairly rigorous infrastructure in place to cut people and organisations off from their bank accounts on mere suspicion of financial shenanigans, so I imagine they will also not be kidding around in the case of convicted tax avoidance.

Last edited by emphy on 15 Nov 2023 at 7:34 am UTC

VAT is a consumer tax and so paid to the country where the good is consumed. Ontario Canada in your case. That was unusual for Canada not to collect VAT tax on purchase made on the internet, they seems to be one decade or two late to that. In the EU, you need to paid or VAT or else you are committing fraud. There were some loopholes permitting not to paid VAT but they are vanishing and increasingly criminalized.
But tolerance for VAT is greater in the EU. As price are most often show tax included, VAT is just part of the price, like the profit margin that go to the stockholder.