Taxation in Virtual Worlds: Analysis Under United States of America and Turkish Tax Regulations

Abstract

In today's day and age, there is a new world comprised of novel terms like virtual reality, virtual environment or virtual worlds. Virtual worlds allow participants to buy and sell virtual goods and services using virtual currency. Therefore, virtual world transactions bring large amounts of income. In countries that have adopted the recommendations of OECD and G20 countries, tax regulations have begun to be made on the subject. The study aims to discuss the taxation problems arising due to the incredible number of users spending time in virtual game worlds. In the study, Turkish and US tax regulations were examined. The study shows that virtual worlds are getting closer to the real world, there is a transition towards the meta-universe, people earn income in these environments, and there are differences between countries in the taxation of these incomes.