Gold farmers beware. Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate for the US Internal Revenue Service has published her annual report – this year she recommends that the US Government looks into taxing the virtual economies of games like Second Life and World of Warcraft.
“Economic activities associated with virtual worlds may present an emerging area of noncompliance, in part, because the IRS has not issued guidance about whether and how taxpayers should report such activities,” says the report, before going on to point out that the IRS already taxes such things as competition winnings.
Actually implementing the proposals could be enormously difficult, the report acknowledges, but it urges the government to at least define the issues and do something, even if that something is just officially exempting virtual income from the tax system.
via Ars Technica
