If your Final Fantasy 14 subscription receipt looks a little bigger next time around, blame the American government. Starting just before Dawntrail, the Mog Station and Optional Item Store will start charging American sales taxes, where applicable, for any digital purchases made.
“Beginning June 25, 2024, all customer transactions on the FINAL FANTASY XIV Online Store and Mog Station, including game subscriptions, will be subject to any state or local sales tax, where applicable,” the Lodestone announcement message reads. “Any purchases made following the introduction of these changes will be adjusted to include estimated sales tax based on the address registered on the Square Enix account from which the purchase is made.”
The message further clarifies that this only applies to the immediate cash exchange made at time of purchase, and not when applying the PayPal Crysta currency to purchases. So you pay $20 + tax of real money for the Cyrsta, but only $20 of Crysta for, say, a subscription renewal.
It also applies the tax regarding your immediate location - we’re not sure exactly how strict this is, but if you want to be safe, Square recommends updating your address to be accurate.
Many online stores have already implemented digital purchase sales tax for a while now, including Steam for quite a few years now. It seems this regulation has finally caught up to Square Enix, which hasn’t implemented this tax on its digital purchases through MogStation or the like yet (though it’s shown up for the merchandise store).
Basically? If you haven’t pre-ordered Dawntrail, you might want to sooner than later. Not to mention, it gives you that leveling bonus item, plus access to the three-day Early Access period.
