Will They Take A Virtual Check?

Do you spend hours in an online virtual world such as Second Life? Have you been accumulating virtual assets and and virtual wealth? Have you been busy engaging in virtual trade?

Well it's all about to get very real because the tax man cometh.

game publishers may well in the not too distant future have to send the [1099] forms--which individuals receive when earning nonemployee income from companies or institutions--to virtual world players engaging in transactions for valuable items like Ultima Online castles, EverQuest weapons or Second Life currency, even when those players don't convert the assets into cash.

That's right the IRS is coming after your virtual income. Assuming, of course that you didn't register with completely false information, and that your listed email contact isn't anonymous.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 04:43 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment