Final Fantasy XIV adds tax to purchases as players wait for payment fixes

Millions of Final Fantasy XIV players around the world have plenty to be excited about as the upcoming Dawntrail expansion draws ever closer. While various in-game events — including the return of the Fall Guys collaboration — are keeping folks busy all over Eorzea, a surprise announcement on The Lodestone this morning disclosed that sales tax charges would soon start being applied to all FFXIV Online Store and Mog Station purchases.

To be more specific, this change is being applied to all current US-based FFXIV subscribers, who up to now have not had a sales tax listed on their purchases. Players in countries across Europe, as well as Canada, have been paying applicable sales tax charges for years on FFXIV-related transactions, with the US being the odd one out (likely due to its ever-confusing tax laws)—until now that is.

This change to US-based FFXIV purchases is set to take effect starting June 25—three days before the Early Access period of Dawntrail begins. If you are a US resident, depending on which state you're in, all relevant 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 (whether by credit card or Crysta) and all in-game item purchases.

FFXIV still dealing with Mog Station payment issues

Interestingly, there is a note near the end of the Lodestone announcement that asks players to "ensure the address registered to your Square Enix account is correct", to "avoid incorrect charges". Of course, that makes sense, but right now there is a technical wrinkle that's preventing players from actually being able to do that.

For the past month or so, FFXIV subscribers have been contending with a payment-related issue that's effectively preventing some players from completing important transactions such as reactivating their game subscription or even pre-ordering the new Dawntrail expansion. This issue is primarily affecting those those who attempted to change their payment information during the month of April, and in turn, those using VISA debit cards to make purchases.

Not only that, players who have perchance moved from one country to another recently also have not been able to change their country of residence on their Square Enix account. Since payment information for FFXIV transactions has to fully match a player's residential address, this issue is effectively locking some players out of the game until the problem is fixed.

However, until the FFXIV team follows up with those sorely needed solutions, some players have thankfully figured out some workarounds for people to use in the meantime. As initially posted by Reddit user 'Hakul', if you're experiencing some or all of these problems, there are potential fixes such as inputting your address a certain way or purchasing time cards for your subscription via Amazon or Newegg. Alternatively, you can also use your debit card to buy Crysta with AmazonPay or PayPal.

Until Mog Station gets the technical fixes it desperately needs, expect to see a few extra gil on those purchases.

Be sure to check out all of our latest guides and news for Final Fantasy XIV at Pro Game Guides, such as FFXIV Mountain Dew collab event rewards - how to get the Mountain Zu mount.