The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt teaches an important lesson that everyone must pay their taxes.
In the Hearts of Stone expansion pack, Geralt will be approached by a tax collector named Walthemor Mitty to ask him about his income. You have to then decide whether to pay your taxes or not.
The following guide will tell you the right course of action to complete The Taxman Cometh quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
How to start the quest
There are a few things to note here. Firstly, you need the Hearts of Stone expansion pack for this quest to trigger. Secondly, the tax collector will only find you in the Oxenfurt marketplace of Novigrad.
Finally, the taxman will only stop you if you have 35,000 crowns or more in your inventory.
There will come a point in the game when you have farmed a lot of gold. If you manage to spend it all, you will be safe from Walthemor. If you are hoarding gold and that too in Oxenfurt, you will be stopped.
The Taxman Cometh walkthrough
The quest is a simple one where Walthemor only asks you some questions to clear suspicions over your sudden income discrepancy.
Witchers are known to live a simple life, so either the monster-hunting business is booming or you have been doing something extra on the side.
If you answer his questions right, you will be able to play Gwent with Walthemor at the Vivaldi Bank in Novigrad. If not, you will have to pay your taxes.
Take note that all of the questions below will give you two choices to choose from: Yes and No. You can lie here because the game will not account for your previous actions.
Question 1
You will be first asked if you have ever been involved in the “wholesale trade of rawhide” in White Orchard.
This question has to do with a popular method to farm gold in The Witcher 3. It involves killing all of the cows and selling their hides and milk for large sums of money.
It does not matter if you actually killed cows or not when answering this question.
Question 2
The second question will ask if you have ever been involved in “selling pearls” in the game.
In this question, Walthemor Mitty is asking Geralt about collecting sea shells for the sole purpose of selling the pearls inside. Pearls are a rare and expensive crafting material that can be sold for a hefty sum.
Once again, you can answer truthfully or not. It is your choice.
Question 3
The third and final quest will ask if you have ever entered someone’s home illegally and “taken something without their permission” in the game.
Here, Walthemor only wants to know if you have ever stolen something. Answer as you see fit.
If you answered No to two or more questions
If Geralt has answered two or more questions with “No”, this means that he is not engaged in any extra unaccounted ways of earning money and will not have to pay taxes.
Walthemor Mitty will therefore reward this act of Geralt by giving him a diploma with the title “Taxpayer in Good Standing”. If you like, you can hang the diploma in Geralt’s House, the Corvo Bianco Vineyard added in the Blood and Wine DLC, where other honorary things are.
If you answered Yes to two or more questions
If you replied to two or more questions with the option “Yes”, then Mitty will determine that Geralt will indeed have to pay taxes.
He will give a summon to Geralt asking him to pay 1000 Crowns in taxes by going to the Vivaldi Bank in Novigrad.
What happens if Geralt does not pay his taxes?
Because Geralt is now a tax defaulter, Vimme Vivaldi – a banker at the Vivaldi Bank will refuse to deal with him. Taxman Cometh quest will end either way if you have paid the taxes or not with a reward of 50XP. But if you pay the tax, you will be rewarded 100 XP more.
