Remitting sales tax for Google Play paid apps and in-app purchases

[richard_walters]

Hi everyone,

I've just released Calculator² for Android, so joined the forums here having only been on Windows Central previously. I'm trying to post 10 times so that I can create a spotlight post with a link to my app. In the meantime, I have a question for Android developers who have paid apps or apps with in-app purchases on Google Play. Unlike Microsoft and Apple, Google do not collect and remit sales tax on behalf of the developer. Purchases in the Google Play Store are effectively developer to consumer, instead of app store to consumer as on Windows and Apple platforms. The result is that, with the exception of the EU, Albania, Morocco, Norway and South Korea, the developer is responsible for charging, collecting and remitting sales tax to each tax authority across the globe. As an independent developer with a relatively small income from apps, this would take a tremendous amount of time and effort. For the time-being, I've only published my app to the the EU, Albania, Morocco, Norway, South Korea and also the US, where I'm not required to charge sales tax as I have no presence in the US. What do other developers do? I've seen a blog post on the internet where the developer states he only publishes free, ad-supported apps on Google Play for this reason. Does the issue exist in the Amazon App Store also (I've not investigated publishing an app there yet)?

Thanks,
Richard Walters.

 

[mdxyz]

For Japan, you only need to do this, if you reach a certain amount per year, which is 10 Million Yen which is currently about 88000 US$.

For other countries the ones listed, my naive understanding was, that no tax would apply. Will have to check with my accountant to make sure, this is correct.

The Amazon App Store takes care of all taxes as far as I know as it seems that Amazon is the official seller and not the developer.