Steam and taxes (Canada)

NazGhuL

NazTaiL
Hi again! Straight to the point: You make money, you pay taxes. Each year I add my marketplace revenue to my
tax report and pay what is needed. Next step is to sell games on steam. It looks more complex than I thought and I will evantually meet up with my accountant but why not talking with game makers first. Steam takes 30% cut. That's fine. It's based in the US. Is there any taxes to be paid to US when selling via Steam? I.E, you made 1000$, they keep 300$ and pay you 700$, then you take care with your own taxes? Any experienced user here? Perhaps from Canada? (or any other country)
 

YellowAfterlife

ᴏɴʟɪɴᴇ ᴍᴜʟᴛɪᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ
Forum Staff
Moderator
You complete an IRS tax interview form - if you specify the equivalent of your country's taxpayer ID, withholding rate is per IRS agreement for your country (I think 10% for most countries? Might be less for some). If you don't, withholding rate is 30% on top of Steam's 30%.

This is a pretty standard procedure - itch.io now requires this as well if you choose payments to be accumulated on their end.
 
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½ a cup

Guest
Hi again! Straight to the point: You make money, you pay taxes. Each year I add my marketplace revenue to my
tax report and pay what is needed. Next step is to sell games on steam. It looks more complex than I thought and I will evantually meet up with my accountant but why not talking with game makers first. Steam takes 30% cut. That's fine. It's based in the US. Is there any taxes to be paid to US when selling via Steam? I.E, you made 1000$, they keep 300$ and pay you 700$, then you take care with your own taxes? Any experienced user here? Perhaps from Canada? (or any other country)
With MarketPlace assets YYG takes 30%, Steam takes 30%, and the tax man takes his cut on what is left.

So if you make $1000 in sales. You may end up seeing $200 of that if you are lucky.
 

YellowAfterlife

ᴏɴʟɪɴᴇ ᴍᴜʟᴛɪᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ
Forum Staff
Moderator
With MarketPlace assets YYG takes 30%, Steam takes 30%, and the tax man takes his cut on what is left.

So if you make $1000 in sales. You may end up seeing $200 of that if you are lucky.
Firstly, the question is about publishing on Steam, not about Marketplace.

Secondly, the statement not entirely correct unless you are willing to exaggerate noticeably.
For the most part (for my assets, on average 1 of every 40 purchases is made from Steam), marketplace purchases are made via YYG's site, therefore Valve does not take a 30% cut. Thus you are left with 55%..70% pre-tax, depending on VAT for customer's country.
The absolute worst case scenario (high VAT, Steam cut, YYG cut) is 40% pre-tax, which still won't result in you loosing more than half of that "if you are not lucky" unless you live in a country with high taxes and "happen" to be in the highest-tax bracket (which usually means that you've reported an impressive amount of revenue in preceding fiscal year, and this will not be of as much sorrow).
 
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½ a cup

Guest
Secondly, the statement not entirely correct unless you are willing to exaggerate noticeably.
It is absolutely correct for assets sold on Steam. Although I did forget about VAT. So you $1000 would end up more like $100-$150.
 

NazGhuL

NazTaiL
For me, 100$ is 70$ for me and 30$ for Yoyo.
Then on my Tax report, I add 100$ of revenue but substract 30$(Expense)
For the 70$ left, I pay around 40% to my government
Then I keep 42$ USD.
Selling a game on steam will be similliar. I believe the IRS cut is an equivalence of my gov's cut. (Not sure how do you call that in each of your country)
But...phew...that's a little bit discouraging but, publishing a game is one of my life achievement so, there is no turning back!
:D
 
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