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Legal violations by A3L: Arma 3 life

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What if they have a different name now?

And if they are allowed to monetize now?

Would change anything?

Long answer. No.

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They do have new name though.life studios I think.

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hoho here is a sorry-ass tale of woe.

different cash-cow, same idea.

however this one has gone the full journey from GREAT IDEA to COMMUNITY PORTAL to SECRET PERSONAL INCOME  OF £30 GRAND to TAX DEBT OF £50 GRAND

 

enjoy...

 

http://www.dayzrp.com/t-DayZRP-Community-Bailout

 

synopsis

 

 

Hi everyone,

Today there won't be any happy news.


As many of you know DayZRP has accepted donations since 2012, up until now we have received around 70,000€ after deducting PayPal fees and taking currency conversion rates into account. These donations were considered gifts from the community members, the money was used to help with the upkeep of the servers, buy new hardware, give back to staff who maintains it, provide expansion and secure future for the community as well as cover for my living costs when I was a poor student and I didn't have a full time job and only worked on DayZRP. In return you were able to pick skins to use in game during the DayZRP Mod and since DayZ Standalone was introduced you receive diverse website perks.

The funds were spent in the following way over the course of 3 years, these are very rough approximations:
~ 7,000€ - rented game server and external hosting costs
~ 10,000€ - hardware and software licenses bought
~ 10,000€ - staff payouts either in PayPal transfers or Steam games, contest prizes
~ 20,000€ - my living costs, payments and rent between 2013-2014
~ 8000€ - my current car (7 year old Volvo V50)

~ 10,000€ - current available DayZRP funds in bank account

Because gifts (donations) are not a taxable income according to Swedish law, no taxable income was declared by me for DayZRP donations in my tax statements, as I perceived the donations received as gifts.

In September 2015 the Swedish tax office has initiated a revision of my own and DayZRPs finances and have since given statement that because the donors on DayZRP receive special ranks and perks due to their donations and received skins in game in the past, the donations cannot be considered gifts, but instead payments for a service that DayZRP provides and therefore should be considered a taxable income - that's how it is defined by the Swedish law.

Preliminary calculations show that DayZRP may have to pay back up to 50,000€ in taxes and penalties for unpaid taxes for the donations received between 2012 and 2015 (yes, we have high taxes in Sweden). DayZRP currently only holds a fund reserve of around 10,000€.

So now I face running in debt and bank loans because of my misinformation and ignorance regarding taxes and I wish to request your help to pay for it. I know a lot of you members already have donated a lot to DayZRP, more than I ever imagined and I am really thankful for it, you have already provided for the continued support of DayZRP for the last 3 years. I would like to point out that this campaign is entirely optional. This situation has caught me by surprise and currently I only have the 10,000€ of donations saved that can be used to pay the tax. I wish for DayZRP to continue running and be the best place for role players to share their stories and adventures in the awesome land of Chernarus. However, if I am to continue running DayZRP the way it is today this debt must be paid, it helped me a lot in the past, by paying rent when I was a student, but I will have 2 kids soon, a full time job and other commitments and I cannot afford to run in debt due to this hobby project.

I know with this I've let a lot of you down, but I promise you all on everything I care about that I've never used the DayZRP money to buy myself luxurious or stuff or wasted the money on drugs, partying or other stupid things. Sure, I've bought a quite a few Steam games for myself and staff members, but otherwise if I ever used DayZRP funds for any personal expenses it was always rent, invoices, living costs or car that I needed for my job. I know that isn't much of help now, but I just want to come clean with everyone.

I have come up with a few scenarios of what can happen from now on:
1. We will fund raise the whole amount needed to pay the tax. If such thing is possible.
2. We will not fund raise the whole amount, but a significant part of it. In this case I will take a bank loan to cover for the missing part and will use website donation income to cover the monthly payment.
3. If the fundraiser is unsuccessful or has a very slow start and we don't raise any substantial funds by the end of November, I will lower all donation rank requirements on our website down by half and give special icons to those who donate to the cause, in order to give incentive to donate towards our goal. Although a tax will have to be paid for these donations, it is still an income that may help pay off the debt and may be the last option.

The 10,000€ is a start up goal, a preliminary sum that is the minimum that would be needed if I were to cover a part of the expenses myself through a bank loan. It may change as more facts and a final decision is made by the Swedish tax office, I am still negotiating with them, supplying them with transaction information and arguing my point about donations being donations.

Why are we crowd funding? Because it is a foolproof concept that most people are accustomed to and no taxes will have to be paid for money received this way (hopefully). Unfortunately, I can offer you no rewards or perks on DayZRP website for the donations done through the crows funding campaign. We would like to accept donations through our own website, however I am afraid the tax office will see and confuse this fundraiser which is tax-free with the normal donations on DayZRP website where you receive perks for your donation.

If we succeed in paying back the tax, in order to prevent a situation like this from happening again the DayZRP will have to be registered as a company and book keeping etc will have to be done which will create additional costs. Ether that or all donation perks and ranks will have to be completely removed. The DayZRP will continue running regardless of the outcome of this fund raiser or if I pay back the debt or not, you don't have to worry that the community will suddenly shut down or disappear due to a lack of funds. Of course all donations done here on website for perks will also contribute towards this goal, but obviously in a lesser way as a tax will have to be paid in top of it.

I will of course provide the paperwork to you (even though it's in swedish) and once the fundraiser is over I will provide proof that the funds were used to pay taxes.

TL;DR: I was stupid and ignorant about taxes, have to pay a lot of it soon, I humbly request your help.


You can find the crowd funding campaign I've started here:


All of your contributions are much appreciated, I will post updates on this matter by editing this post and adding new information below.


//UPDATE 2015-11-02

Seeing the negative criticism to this movement I have decided to cancel the crowd funding campaign. It doesn't feel right to have you sponsor and pay for the mistakes I made and get nothing in return. The donation system will soon be modified and adjusted here on the website, so those who still wish to support me will have means to do so and receive the perks they are entitled to like all regular donors.

I have made a mistake and fucked up big time, I took the funds you donated in good faith to the community and partially used them for personal expenses. I am deeply sorry for this, it was never my intention to scam someone out of their money, I really have no good excuse for this. I only tried to provide you with best experience possible and give the best role playing community to all members.

I will face the consequences of my ignorance myself. Those who already donated to the fundraiser will have your funds returned. Thank you all for your kind words and support.

 

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Isn't that also proof for BI that their game was used for commercial purposes?

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yup ..

 

that is some ballsy s#@t right there, I got 70k and screwed up, so now I need another 10k... just wow

 

Life really is the kardashian of the Arma world, Drama and Hilarity ensue....

  • Like 6

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I lol'ed so hard! and people in that thread STILL wanted to give him money after he's been shown to been on the fiddle with the funds. Its pretty obvious that if you get something in return for a payment its clearly a sale....

 

Maybe its time for a memorandum on Life?

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What the hell !!

8000 for a 7 year old car ??

Someone tricked the guy.

Not sure if you know the prices in the Nordic countries. That's a normal price for a 2007 Volvo V50 in here.

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Karma is a bitch, ey?

Donations my ass, he's amassing a fortune there, did he really think his country will let this go through as "donations"? Dumb.

Clearly this is breaking of the EULA, he's milking ppl to get features in MP?

  • Like 3

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The (alleged) fact that the Swedish tax authorities are chasing this prick for earnings related tax would seem, to me, the be the very definition of commercial use of the game.

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This is from that thread, 

 

"So here is the insane suggestion im thinking about:
What about writing to Bohemia or the DayZ-development team and ask for support or even covering the 10,000 and make it possible to pay it back to them in a larger amount of time."

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This guy is definitely delusional...

Or he's one of those dudes who are completely unable to even think about the (moral) consequences of their actions.

 

Either way, you can't milk the cow that long without taking a kick in return.

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Is it wrong that I think Sweden should sterilise him/her to prevent further pollution of the gene-pool and/or bring back the death penalty? That, and the morons who give him money to pay the fine need a bullet too.

  • Like 1

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Is it wrong that I think Sweden should sterilise him/her to prevent further pollution of the gene-pool and/or bring back the death penalty? That, and the morons who give him money to pay the fine need a bullet too.

Call me old fashioned, but I think while we're talking the moral and sensible high ground, comments like that are, joking or not, best left unsaid.

  • Like 2

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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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No point trying to argue with some of the people here. I'm out. Goodbye, I'll be eating popcorn with my community watching this thread.

:yay:

 

The guilt shows through.

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~ 20,000€ - my living costs, payments and rent between 2013-2014

~ 8000€ - my current car (7 year old Volvo V50)

 

 

Lol about 50% of the donations went towards himself, only to be put in debt afterwards.

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Is it wrong that I think Sweden should sterilise him/her to prevent further pollution of the gene-pool and/or bring back the death penalty? That, and the morons who give him money to pay the fine need a bullet too.

Yes.

Stiil, the fire is not a bad idea, also.

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I have ZERO sympathy for him.  Time to rot in jail for a while my friend. 

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Lets be honest, there are lots of sites, well, people in general, making money out of the Arma series. Its not new, is it. BI know this, they don't do much about it, because following along with legal action costs more than its worth. Threaten to take legal action, yes, actually do it, highly unlikely.

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I have ZERO sympathy for him.  Time to rot in jail for a while my friend. 

 

You won't rot unless you make 0 attempt to pay back what you owe. They'd rather have you in debt for 20 years than to have you in prison for 10. In prison, they'd have to take care of you with their own money, while you make at-most 30 cents a day from your prison job. Have fun paying off your debt with that.

 

In the end, before taking thousands of dollars from people who "donate" it, talk to a legal representative to make sure you're not gonna get fucked in the end, and if someone tries, atleast it shows that it wasn't intentional because it'd be on record that you atleast made an attempt to get information on the situation before it happened, so if anything, you'd hopefully get cut some kind of break(lol, jk its money were talking about here, no-one gives breaks when it comes to money.)

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