Netflix tax? Ain’t nobody got time for that.
UPDATE: The folks at Taxamo have kindly informed us that the equivalent EU Tax came into force on January 1 of this year. For more information, click here.
Netflix users in Australia will soon have to cough up extra after the Australian government confirmed that the country’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be applied to digital products such as streaming services and downloadable books and video games. Boo.
According to IT News, Australia’s treasurer Joe Hockey confirmed the introduction of the tax at a press conference, which will see an extra 10 per cent added to the cost incurred by using any of the digital products referenced above.
“What we’re doing is going to digital providers overseas and saying ‘can you apply the GST to the products you provide into Australia?’,” Hockey said.
“They are agreeable to it. It’s not their profits [being taxed]. It’s a tax collected and they remit it back to the country where that occurs.
“There are some providers of goods that are based overseas that are prepared to charge the appropriate taxes in that jurisdiction. There are other companies that won’t, so we are trying to get a global approach.”
The tax is set to be introduced Down Under as soon as July and Hockey is of the belief that it could raise as much as 350 million dollarydoos in four years.
Here’s hoping the folks in Downing Street don’t go getting any ideas.
Hat-tip to Silicon Republic
