Sale of game items in online games have imposed VAT
I want to talk about a new and rather interesting judicial precedent that can change a lot for game developers. I will not overload the text with legal vocabulary, I will try to state the essence as clearly as possible.
The matter will be about the case 40-91072 / 14-90-176 ( Mail.ru.Guymesz LLC versus IFTS No. 14), the final decision on which was made on November 24, 2014 by the Arbitration Court of the city of Moscow
At the beginning of 2014, the Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service No. 14 (hereinafter referred to as the Inspection of the Federal Tax Service No. 14) conducted a cameral tax audit at Mail.ru, Gaming LLC. According to the results of the inspection, the tax inspectorate No. 14 found that for the 2 nd quarter of 2013, Mail.ru. Geymes LLC’s revenue from “implementing additional game functionality” amounted to 1,622,671,985 rubles. In other words, Mail.ru Geymes LLC for the first quarter of 2013 received from the players 1.6 billion rubles in payment for the purchase of premium accounts, artifacts, etc.
Here, the tax inspectorate â„–14 thought, but would it be possible to charge 18% VAT on 1.6 billion rubles?
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And accrued, thus obliging Mail.Ru Geyms LLC to pay 292,080,957 rubles (in such cases, taxes are still fined. Perhaps, a fine of 58,416,191 rubles was charged, but the court decision is silent about this).
All this happened despite the fact that the income received from the “implementation of additional game functionality” was related to the computer program in the form of an online game, the granting of rights to use which, in turn, is exempt from VAT on the basis of paragraphs. 26 paragraph 2 of Art. 149 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
In other words, IFTS No. 14 considered that the sale of virtual game items in online games should be subject to VAT (though not at all game, but real).
But this is still half the trouble.
Mail.Ru Geyms LLC appealed to the Moscow Arbitration Court with the claim to the Tax Inspectorate No. 14 and the requirement to invalidate the decision of the Tax Inspectorate No. 14, with which it charged VAT for the sale of game items.
11/24/2014 The Moscow Arbitration Court refused Mail.Ru Geyms LLC, thereby taking the position of the Federal Tax Service Agency â„–14.
This is, in my opinion, a very alarming bell for the entire game development industry.
I sincerely hope that Mail.ru Geymes LLC will appeal this totally wild court decision on appeal.
In the meantime, based on the rationale of the court cited in his decision, I recommend that all developers and distributors of online games think about making changes to their license agreements with users. There is reason to believe that in the near future, after the tax inspectorate No. 14, the rest of the tax inspections will also begin to behave this way.
The matter will be about the case 40-91072 / 14-90-176 ( Mail.ru.Guymesz LLC versus IFTS No. 14), the final decision on which was made on November 24, 2014 by the Arbitration Court of the city of Moscow
The essence of the matter
At the beginning of 2014, the Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service No. 14 (hereinafter referred to as the Inspection of the Federal Tax Service No. 14) conducted a cameral tax audit at Mail.ru, Gaming LLC. According to the results of the inspection, the tax inspectorate No. 14 found that for the 2 nd quarter of 2013, Mail.ru. Geymes LLC’s revenue from “implementing additional game functionality” amounted to 1,622,671,985 rubles. In other words, Mail.ru Geymes LLC for the first quarter of 2013 received from the players 1.6 billion rubles in payment for the purchase of premium accounts, artifacts, etc.
Here, the tax inspectorate â„–14 thought, but would it be possible to charge 18% VAT on 1.6 billion rubles?
')
And accrued, thus obliging Mail.Ru Geyms LLC to pay 292,080,957 rubles (in such cases, taxes are still fined. Perhaps, a fine of 58,416,191 rubles was charged, but the court decision is silent about this).
All this happened despite the fact that the income received from the “implementation of additional game functionality” was related to the computer program in the form of an online game, the granting of rights to use which, in turn, is exempt from VAT on the basis of paragraphs. 26 paragraph 2 of Art. 149 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
In other words, IFTS No. 14 considered that the sale of virtual game items in online games should be subject to VAT (though not at all game, but real).
But this is still half the trouble.
Mail.Ru Geyms LLC appealed to the Moscow Arbitration Court with the claim to the Tax Inspectorate No. 14 and the requirement to invalidate the decision of the Tax Inspectorate No. 14, with which it charged VAT for the sale of game items.
11/24/2014 The Moscow Arbitration Court refused Mail.Ru Geyms LLC, thereby taking the position of the Federal Tax Service Agency â„–14.
This is, in my opinion, a very alarming bell for the entire game development industry.
I sincerely hope that Mail.ru Geymes LLC will appeal this totally wild court decision on appeal.
In the meantime, based on the rationale of the court cited in his decision, I recommend that all developers and distributors of online games think about making changes to their license agreements with users. There is reason to believe that in the near future, after the tax inspectorate No. 14, the rest of the tax inspections will also begin to behave this way.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/244441/
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