Final Fantasy XIV adds tax to purchases while players wait for payment corrections
Millions of Final Fantasy XIV players around the world have a lot to be excited about as the upcoming Dawntrail expansion draws ever closer. While various in-game events – including the return of Fall Guys co-op – keep people busy all over Eorzea, a surprise announcement on The Lodestone this morning revealed that sales tax charges will soon begin to apply to all FFXIV Online Shop and Station Mog purchases
To be more specific, this change is being applied to all current US FFXIV subscribers who have not had sales tax listed on their purchases until now. Players in countries across Europe, as well as Canada, have been paying applicable tax charges for years on FFXIV-related transactions, with the US being the odd one out (probably due to its ever-confusing tax laws) – until now, that is.
This change to US FFXIV purchases will go into effect starting June 25th—three days before Dawntrail’s Early Access period begins. If you are a US resident, depending on which state you are in, all applicable state and local taxes will be applied to transactions made through the FFXIV Online Store and Mog Station. First and foremost, this includes your recurring game subscription (either by credit card or Crysta) and all in-game purchases.
FFXIV is still dealing with Mog Station payment issues
Interestingly, there is a note near the end of the Lodestone announcement which asks players to “make sure the address registered to your Square Enix account is correct”, to “avoid incorrect charges”. Of course, that makes sense, but right now there’s a technical wrinkle that prevents players from actually being able to do that.
For the past month or so, FFXIV subscribers have been struggling with a payment-related issue that effectively prevents some players from completing important transactions like reactivating their game subscription or even pre-ordering the new Dawntrail expansion. This issue primarily affects those who attempted to change their payment information during the month of April, and in turn those who use VISA debit cards to make purchases.
Not only that, players who may have moved from one country to another recently were also unable to change their country of residence on their Square Enix account. Because payment information for FFXIV transactions must fully match a player’s residential address, this issue effectively locks some players out of the game until the issue is fixed.