It seems it's not just academics who are visiting Linden Labs' Second Life. The FBI have reportedly visited casinos in the virtual world to assess their legality, given recent changes in online gambling laws in the States.
Someone on a gaming forum I frequent asked in disgust whether they'd be taxing people for moeny made in virtual worlds next... but I'd assume that if you are converting income in Linden Dollars into Real Life money then you should probably declare it in your accounts, but if you don't convert it then what?
Anyway - guess this is an example of people playing at gambling, but who may actually be gambling... if you get my drift ;)
Thursday 5 April 2007
FBI visit Second life!
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1 comment:
"I'd assume that if you are converting income in Linden Dollars into Real Life money then you should probably declare it in your accounts, but if you don't convert it then what?"
I think the common attitude is that you should only be taxed when you convert to actual currency. For most players this would be a very small sum, but for businesses, especially in SL, it could be more complex.
Leandra Lederman, the "William W. Oliver Professor of Tax Law and Director of the Tax Program" at Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington has a paper called Stranger than Fiction': Taxing Virtual Worlds which was released on the 19th of March 2007 and might prove interesting reading.
Reference:
Lederman, Leandra, "'Stranger than Fiction': Taxing Virtual Worlds" . Indiana Legal Studies Research Paper No. 76 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=969984
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