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Steam gearing up to add more taxes; here’s how and why

Steam

Steam is reportedly planning to collect local sales taxes on marketplace transactions, something that will likely shake up the skin-trading scene in a big way.

Video game fans may want to brush up on tax basics, as Steam is set to charge an additional fee on each purchase. Previously, Steam had a fee called the “Steam Transaction Fee,” which was implemented to guard against minor fraud incidents and to cover the development costs of current and future Steam economy features. Now, the storefront is preparing to tax gamers for real.

This comes hot on the heels of recent changes that confirmed Steam users don’t actually own their games; instead, they are simply paying for a license. The wording fazed some players, and now SteamDB, a database tracker, has revealed that a taxing system is in the works.

Path of Exile art with Steam logo overlayed

What new taxes is Steam adding?

Steam is set to add taxes on community marketplace transactions. This could carry big implications for some higher-end skin trading in games like Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2.

Steam is preparing to charge tax on video games, individual items, skins, and basically everything else, according to SteamDB. However, it’ll initially be limited to some US states and will be assessed on market fees only.

The tracker site showed the regular Steam checkout page but with an extra cost titled “local sales tax.” This would be different for each player, based on the location of a player and state laws. The screenshot showed the buyer paying tax for a case in Counter-Strike 2, which means tax will not be limited to just game copies but also skin items.

One silver lining is that it’s a market fee tax rather than an individual item tax. This means players won’t have to pay tax on each expensive skin they buy. Instead, a flat fee or percentage of total sales will be applied to the overall amount of transactions within the marketplace.

Most US states impose a sales tax of 5-7% on digital goods. For an item as inexpensive as a CS2 case, as shown in the screenshot, the tax shouldn’t be significant. However, the amount can vary depending on the state.

But, Steam users are still not pleased with the report, complaining that they no longer own the item, according to Steam, which means they shouldn’t pay the tax. It’s worth noting that the definition of digital goods varies in each state and country. Buyers may also be required to pay tax on licensed goods, as they qualify as items that can be exchanged for money.

This nitty-gritty will be clarified when Steam officially implements sales tax and outlines the specific details regarding how it will be calculated and applied to purchases.

Written by Fariha Bhatti X Twitter Logo

Fariha is a content writer who grew up playing such games as Metal Slug and King of Fighters. She briefly ended up in the corporate world before finding her way back to gaming. With bylines at WIN, PCGN, and One Esports, Fariha can talk all day about FPS games, especially Valorant. She has a degree in criminology and a problematic spending habit when it comes to CS2 skins. She can be followed on Twitter / X at @Frizbyx.

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