Japan to tax ALL foreign downloads - video games, videos, music, etc. etc.

[TopWargamer]

http://kotaku.com/report-japan-to-tax-foreign-downloads-starting-next-ye-1501769033

 

 

 

Physical goods imported into Japan are taxed. And according to the Japanese media, starting in 2015, foreign downloads will be as well.

Content such as digital music, e-books, apps, and games downloaded from foreign servers will levied with a consumption tax, reports Nikkei.

 

Going on info from government sources, Asahi, one of the largest papers in the country,explains that individuals in Japan who buy digital content from Amazon.com can get their content at a discount, because it's currently not taxed. Downloads, however, sold through domestic Japanese servers are taxed.

 

Thus, this has given foreign-based retailers an advantage—something about which Japanese vendors have complained. And next year, that means taxes for digital foreign goods.

 

That doesn't really sound right to me, but this really sucks for any Japanese residents. So starting in 2015, and if you live in Japan, you should try your hardest to download from Japanese servers and not from any foreign servers, although that's going to be really hard to do, because a lot of servers, especially for popular websites, are hosted in the US. So yup, tax on digital goods in Japan. This is only the beginning.

 

EDIT: Would it be possible to bypass this by using a VPN?

[helping]

that's flat retarded, I don't even understand

 

japan what are you doing

 

 

 

 

I think I kind of see how they're approaching this, since they tax their own media, including digital media, global media is much more appealing. This is part of the reason why they have separate jp releases of common albums. Still sucks for them. 

Edited January 15, 2014 by helping

[Khraft]

My question is, how are they going to enforce this?

[TheRuke]

WAT R U DOOOOIN'

[MzCatieB]

So a VAT on Digital Downloads?

[NInety]

Good thing I'm in AMERICA!!!

[Guest]

wait... wait wait WHAT

does this mean if i live in japan i get taxed for playing games watching, videos, downloading ANYTHING that does not somehow help the japaneese

 

[mvitkun]

Good thing that steam has Japanese servers .

[s3ns3]

they promote pirating thats what they do i mean at those insane fiber speeds in japan who the F won`t do that is this turns true? 

[TopWargamer]

My question is, how are they going to enforce this?

Here's how I think it's going to work.

 

>Japanese resident downloads something from a foreign server

>Japanese government goes to tax them

>Tracks down the Japanese IP

>Traces the IP to a certain house

>Sees who that house's ISP is

>Bill the ISP

>ISP bills the consumer

[TopWargamer]

they promote pirating thats what they do i mean at those insane fiber speeds in japan who the F won`t do that is this turns true? 

You're actually very misinformed. Japan is VERY anti-piracy and are very strict with their anti-piracy laws. You're thinking of Sweden.

[mvitkun]

wait... wait wait WHAT

does this mean if i live in japan i get taxed for playing games watching, videos, downloading ANYTHING that does not somehow help the japaneese

no,I think it means more along the lines of,if you purchase and download the BF4 client from an NA server while in Japan that they will tax it.

Or if you purchase and download a movie from Amazon.com while in Japan.

Or if you purchase and download Adobe Premiere Pro from an NA server.

[tedjani]

 

 

is this a joke

[helping]

Here's how I think it's going to work.

 

>Japanese resident downloads something from a foreign server

>Japanese government goes to tax them

>Tracks down the Japanese IP

>Traces the IP to a certain house

>Sees who that house's ISP is

>Bill the ISP

>ISP bills the consumer

I think the concept of a digital tariff is pretty new, actually. 

Basically all it is, since they have no grounds to tax it other than "it's foreign."

 

VPN?

[hiyayhi]

wow...

 

I'm not even sure how to react.

 

That's just silly.

[TopWargamer]

VPN?

Ya, I even included that in my OP edit. Would it be possible to bypass digital media taxes by using a VPN?

[dizmo]

I don't see how it's a huge issue. They're already taxed on media within Japan. So they'll get taxed on digital media from abroad.

Taxes help everyone. What do you think pays for the medical system, roads, schools, etc etc.

Not only that it will help out Japanese distributors who ARE taxed.

Just because something is digital, doesn't mean it shouldn't be taxed. It shouldn't be any different than physical goods.

[Youbetternot]

Nippon-sama why you do dis!

[Kamil]

I don't really see the problem. From even just the small excerpt of the article in the OP, the situation seems to be that currently there is a tax on digital distribution within Japan which doesn't cover downloads from servers outside of Japan. The law just makes that tax cover everything.

[mvitkun]

Here's how I think it's going to work.

 

>Japanese resident downloads something from a foreign server

>Japanese government goes to tax them

>Tracks down the Japanese IP

>Traces the IP to a certain house

>Sees who that house's ISP is

>Bill the ISP

>ISP bills the consumer

That sounds more or less right,although it could also work out differently.

I was thinking something more along the lines of officially taxing,like in order for japan to allow business with X company,X company must add the consumer tax to the cost of the price of the product when billing.

[helping]

I don't see how it's a huge issue. They're already taxed on media within Japan. So they'll get taxed on digital media from abroad.

Taxes help everyone. What do you think pays for the medical system, roads, schools, etc etc.

Not only that it will help out Japanese distributors who ARE taxed.

Just because something is digital, doesn't mean it shouldn't be taxed. It shouldn't be any different than physical goods.

I could kind of oppose this with an economic and social argument, though it's rather vulnerable. But the issue isn't that black and white. 

[Valhallatier]

WELP there goes my trip to japan

[TopWargamer]

That sounds more or less right,although it could also work out differently.

I was thinking something more along the lines of officially taxing,like in order for japan to allow business with X company,X company must add the consumer tax to the cost of the price of the product when billing.

That's always possible. I guess we'll find out more the closer we get to 2015.

[mvitkun]

@TopWargamer 

Would it be possible to bypass this by using a VPN?

Doubtful think it would be similar to Linus' situation when he needed to purchase Google Glass; he had to use somebody else's Credit Card in order to actually set the order even with a VPN.

[dizmo]

I could kind of oppose this with an economic and social argument, though it's rather vulnerable. But the issue isn't that black and white. 

Economic how? People spending the money abroad doesn't help Japan as a nation at all. What does help is having that money spent internally.