Getting charged sales tax with an Armed Forces billing address

I recently got an Xbox One (have had a 360 for a long time but haven't used it in the past few years). The Xbox site and my Xbox One both correctly show my billing address as APO, AE 09012. However for some reason I am getting charged a sales tax even
though I am not in a state (tax is collected at state level). Of course, stores such as Amazon and Expedia, and services such as Netflix, Playstation Network, and Nintendo do not charge a sales tax for me for the same reason.

Tried chatting with Microsoft, no help whatsoever. Someone please either explain to me how to fix this or where my "sales tax" is going to. I am not opposed to tax, but am opposed to getting ripped off.

Thanks in advance.

Below is the transcript:

not sure what is going on with this chat, I keep getting disconnected

11:00 am


Mejust trying to figure out why I am getting charged sales tax when my billing address is reflected properly as Armed Forces Europe (AE)

11:01 am


Stella SOh! I'm sorry to hear that.


11:02 am

Meam I not in a state, so not sure where the sales tax is going

11:02 am


Meor why I am getting charged it

11:02 am


Stella SIt looks like you’re needing help with transaction price after Tax, am I right?

11:03 am


Meyes

11:03 am


Meyes please

11:03 am


Stella SI’m happy to help you with that. To get started with, May I have the following:

• Xbox (sign in email)

• Gamertag

11:06 am


Me [censored], Susurration

11:06 am


Stella S

Thanks, by the way for future references, you can also manage your Xbox account at http://account.microsoft.com and for troubleshooting steps, feel free to visit http://support.xbox.com.
To stay connected, I’ll be sending the rejoin link in your email. May I also have your best contact email?

11:07 am


Me [censored] works

11:07 am


Stella SThanks for that information, let me go ahead and review those transaction that happened to your account for me to check those tax, Kindly give me 2-3 minutes.

11:10 am


Stella SMay I also know which particular transaction your referring to for the taxes?

11:10 am


Me [order number], Civilization Revolution made Apr 9, 2017. [order number] Rock Band 3 Export Pack made Apr 1, 2017

11:11 am


Methese were both done via Xbox One. Civ Revolution from the store, and Rock Band 3 Export from inside Rock Band 4

11:13 am


Stella SOkay thank you for that, nothing to worry about I will go ahead and further investigate the reason why you got these prices for those items, by the way may I ask what is the region of the device, is that on US region?

11:14 am


Meyes

11:14 am


Meset to the US store. Bought at an AAFES BX on Ramstein AB.

11:15 am


Stella SFor clarification, your Xbox is now set at US region therefore whenever you try to purchase on the Xbox store the items is based on US price and availability. Its the reason why you got the purchase tax applied on your transaction.

11:19 am


Me[b]OK so what state does the sales tax go to?

11:20 am[/b]

[b]
Stella S[b]I was able to check here the items for , Rock Band™ 3 Export Pack. if you can click that link the region for that is UDS.[url][URL]https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/rock-band-3-export-pack/bv9gkpvvw5qw/0001[/URL][/url]

11:20 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]sales tax is based on state/county/city, AE is none of those and doesn't fall under them. Same reason I don't get charged sales tax when shopping online using my AE address or when using competitor's game services and am never charged tax

11:20 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]there is no federal sales tax, so where is this going to?

11:21 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]similar to how Oregon doesn't have sales tax so customers there shouldn't be getting taxed either

11:22 am[/b]

[b]
Stella S[b]I understand how taxes goes and will depends on the state or government that you got, the best recommendation here just like most of my customer do is first to change the region of the console, therefore the availability of the items and price
will be base on the new region.

11:24 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]this doesn't solve the issue, though. I'm accessing the US store with a US billing address

11:25 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]like I do with everything else

11:26 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]my account is a US account made soon after the release of the Xbox 360 when I was in Alaska

11:29 am[/b]

[b]
Stella S[b]Joshua, The only way for you to not have these purchase tax on your transaction is to make sure that the Xbox store that you got now is base on the region where there is no taxes to be applied.

11:29 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]ok, can you please explain to me where these taxes are going then?

11:29 am[/b]

[b]
Stella S[b]Joshua, with regards to the taxes that you are asking right now it is already mandated an regulated by the state/region you are living with or with regards to the account that has been setup

11:31 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]right but my state is AE

11:31 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]which does not have a sales tax

11:32 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]which is telling me either Microsoft is charging me the tax and it is going to a state I'm not in, or Microsoft is pocketing it.

11:33 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]right, I guess I'll just have to resort to game codes and cards from my BX and Amazon which I get tax free and look for help elsewhere.

11:33 am[/b]

[b]
Me[b]or just not buy anything

11:33 am[/b]

[/b]
[b][b]Stella S[b]I totally understand with regards to this concern that you are having problem with right now. I know every penny counts.

11:34 am

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:)

 

My location not on drop down menu

you can use the armed forces billing address you gotta use the armed forces address though if you want more info on how to use military address contact xbox support in your region

 

Sales Tax

Hello, i currently live in the state of Massachusetts with a billing address also in the state of Massachusetts. I recently purchased a copy of the Fallout 4 season pass with a price of $49.99, or at least this was what i thought. Massachusetts has a sales
tax of 6.25% bringing the price up to $53.12 but there is no sales tax on digital goods within the state of Massachusetts as digital goods are defined as intangible and therefore nontaxable, also other services i used such as iTunes and Steam both do not charge
me sales tax. I am curious as to why this tax was charged, and if it was perhaps an error.