Question on PSN $20/$50 cards and taxes

Serpentor

Serpentor

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I don't see a thread regarding taxes and PSN prepaid cards, so here goes....

Question #1:
When you buy a PSN card, did you pay sale taxes on it? If yes, what state?

Question #2:
When you use the PSN card's credit on PSN, did you get taxed? If yes, what state?


You should not be taxed twice, which is totally wrong... The reason i asked because i'm not sure PSN cards suppose to be taxed, but i read from the Deal thread that some people did pay sale taxes on them. If the PSN cards are not taxed, then buying them using the GS store credits is disadvantageous (at least in NYC). Reason? If you use GS store credit to buy something, the sale tax is deferred (b/c the traded in stuffs are taxed when GS issue you the credits). So, you get more juice if you buy a $20 game than a $20 PSN card using the GS store credit. Do you follow? It never ocurred to me to check on this until i was filing my taxes last weekend... Hey, every dollar counts right?
 
When buying a PSN Card, SOME stores charge tax. Most don't though (I know Meijer does not).

As for as on PSN, if you live in a state that charges tax on online purchases, you will get taxed. Basically, if someone gets taxed in retail and PSN, they get taxed twice (some it happened to).
 
Being taxed on PSN cards at retail has NOTHING to do with what store you bought it from, but the tax laws of the city and state you purchase the card in.
 
Okay, a little digging here and there, here's the verdict on sale taxes:

The PSN cards are taxed per state. In NY and NJ, PSN cards are not taxed.
When you use the PSN card's credits on PSN, the tax also depends on the state. In NY and NJ, you pay taxes on PSN.

Best case is that you live in a state that don't collect taxes in both scenarios. However, such states usually have high taxes on other stuffs, so things almost always even out...

I don't think you ever get double taxed. If you do, something is not right!
 
So if you want to save few bucks here and there, buy the PSN cards from the states don't charge taxes and change your PSN address to a state which don't charge you taxes. Both are easy to do... Remember, the PSN cards are just codes, so if you have a buddy in NY/NJ, you can just tell him to get it for you and e-mail the code... Of course, you pay him later, lol.
 
My state charges me tax on PSN items but I switched my personal state to 33030, Miami so it stopped adding tax. BestBuy.com sells PSN cards without tax and free shipping for some odd reason so I recommend using that.
 
[quote name='manthing']Being taxed on PSN cards at retail has NOTHING to do with what store you bought it from, but the tax laws of the city and state you purchase the card in.[/QUOTE]It does actually. The reason is if people buy PSN Cards from Meijer, Best Buy, etc., they do not tax. Most who have purchased from Blockbuster got taxed. I know at Meijer for instance, they use to tax PSN cards, but then stopped.

The PS Store itself is where you pay tax, depending upon what state you live in (OH is one state that does tax on the PS Store).

I know quite a bit about PSN Cards since my story about buying one of the first ones is all over the net when entering my name into Google:
http://playstation.joystiq.com/2008/06/13/north-american-psn-cards-available-now-at-meijer/
 
Target charges tax on PSN cards in CA. Best Buy does not. When Target had a sale on the PSN cards for $19.00 I picked up 5 of them thinking finally a deal on these things. Then I look at the receipt and found out I was taxed on them and the total was greater than $100. So needless to say it does matter where you buy your cards from.
 
Interesting guys... i should have done this homework earlier, it really saves you money!

After i changed to FL, no more taxes from PSN, nice :)

Too bad that i blow a lot of credits before the change, so my remaining fund is 80 cents short for a 9.99 game :( If i had done the state and zip code change earlier, man, i coulda buy a 9.99 game plus a premium theme or something...

p.s. there's no validation to city when you enter zip and state, which is all cool :) and do this on your address, not the billing address... the other advantage of using PSN cards is that, you don't need to attach a credit card to your PSN account, which is good for game sharing and stuffs.
 
[quote name='Loonknight']Target charges tax on PSN cards in CA. Best Buy does not. When Target had a sale on the PSN cards for $19.00 I picked up 5 of them thinking finally a deal on these things. Then I look at the receipt and found out I was taxed on them and the total was greater than $100. So needless to say it does matter where you buy your cards from.[/quote]

Adding to that, I also purchased the cards from Target when they were on sale for $19 and was charged tax. However, when theyre original price, theres no tax. I asked my manager and he had no idea what i was talking about. :)
 
When you buy a PSN card online, ex. at bestbuy.com. Does the card come registered so that you can use it right away in the PS store?
 
My local Blockbuster used to charge tax on PSN cards which irked me. Suddenly, they stopped doing that within the past month.

So perhaps it depends on the store? :whistle2:k
 
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