Hey, there! Log in / Register
Steam heated
By adamg on Tue, 08/20/2019 - 4:10pm
As you may recall, this past weekend was officially a tax-free weekend in Massachusetts. So Kilonum was surprised when he paid for and downloaded a game on the Steam game platform and got charged Massachusetts sales tax - surprised enough that he wrote the company. And the company wrote back with a list of products for which products still had to have tax levied on them.
Including, um, Steam.
As Capt. Picard might say:
The state replies:
Hi @Kilonum - we're following along with this via Twitter, but would like to find out more details from you. Send us an email at [email protected] and we can chat.
— Massachusetts Dept. of Revenue (@MassRevenue) August 20, 2019
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
As a steam user, this is
As a steam user, this is really hilarious to me. It's very funny to see something like this on Uhub
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Amazing!
The other way
I was thinking of buying a new steam radiator, a product in which one of the largest manufactures of new steam radiators is based in Ward Hill, MA. But they are closed on the weekend so no tax free sales where made.
what type of stanley parable
what type of stanley parable logic is this.
--mousemurder
oh dear lord
okay I saw the headline earlier on twitter but didnt read the link yet.
OMG LOLOLOL
They actually thought they were exempt because it says "Steam"
Wow.. should we guess that their legal department or customer service staff or finance department are under the age of 30?
I mean I think people forget that "steam" is actually a utility like Gas and Electric. And used to be provided as such all around Boston. I think MGH still gets steam from the Trigen plant on Cambridge Parkway.
You know Seymour, this
You know Seymour, this taxable steam is a lot like the tax-free steam they have in New Hampshire.
This is the most magnificent
thing I have ever read. It has everything. Ridiculous blue laws. A software company that can't handle edge cases on sales tax. An earnest-but-totally-out-of-their-depth customer service rep. Word play. The involvement of the IRS on Twitter. Financial implications of <$1. If it doesn't dominate the internet tomorrow, we've all done something terribly wrong.
Utterly glorious
To all the fine comments already present, I have only to add: Here, here!
A software company that can't
So, like every software company? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get sales tax right across the entire US (and world), even when you don't have to deal with random tax holidays?
It's Mass Department of Revenue, not the IRS.
But you're not buying Steam.
But you're not buying Steam.
Steam just happens to be the platform on which you buy other stuff. The exclusions, IIRC, apply to items, not specific stores or platforms.
So even that logic doesn't hold up.