Releasing Paid App on Google Play Store

[clamum]

I'm close to completing a simple app I've been working on and releasing it to the public. I plan on charging $0.99 for it. I think I've got all the required things and have a simple website just about ready too because I saw to create a Merchant account it requires a website.

Are there any tax issues I need to be aware of? I've done some reading and if I'm not mistaken, I need to be responsible for charging tax (I'm in Michigan, USA btw) and assigning a tax rate (Google Tax docs). Also, I can just use my first and last name for the required "Business Name" for the Merchant account, right?

Had anyone else here released a paid app on the Google Store? I'd be interested in hearing others' experiences. Thanks!

 

[clamum]

No one here has?

I think purbeast has but he may not have seen the thread, and his app might be free anyway.

 

[clamum]

Alright, it's gonna take me a few hours to sift through all these replies but hopefully I'll be able to make some sense of things.

...

LOL. Anyway I looked at the "Create Merchant" form as well as part of the Google Develper's Console and I didn't see anything where I had to specify tax. I must be getting confused with something else I read.

 

[purbeast0]

i don't really remember setting up my account, it was like 5 or 6 years ago. but now when i release an app i just go through the app creation process in the developer portal. i definitely did not have a website when i first created my account so it sounds like stuff has changed. i actually had my merchant account before i made the apps for ad reasons.

i don't do anything with taxes, google automatically takes it in the pricing i think.

unless the process has changed dramatically, it sounds like you're completely overthinking this lol. just follow the steps in the portal and you will be fine.

 

[Merad]

The thing is, if you collect sales tax on purchases you're responsible for submitting that tax money to the .gov. I think in many (most?) states you can't even do that unless you have a business license.

Bear in mind that many states have use tax laws, so if you don't charge sales tax the burden is still on the buyer to report the purchase and pay taxes on it (even though basically everyone ignores it). It seems unlikely that anyone is going to pay attention a hundred bucks of lost tax revenue from a few grand worth of app sales. I'd say it's something you don't need to worry about until you start making significant money or get to the point of setting up a business.

Naturally if you want to be sure and/or CYA, you should consult a tax lawyer.

 

[clamum]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Haha, and yeah purbeast, it's definitely possible I'm overthinking things. I tend to do that. I like to know what I'm getting into before jumping in the water... the problem is, I wanna know how deep it is, the temperature of the water, the salinity, and probably the history of the lake too.

Anyway, I think I'll just go ahead and create the account (using my full name as business name cause I'm too dumb to come up with a cool name) and upload my .apk and whatnot, and see how things go. I think I'll be lucky if a few tens of people (few hundred at MAX) use the app anyway.

 

[purbeast0]

good luck! it's always fun to hear feedback on apps. my latest app (that is free with ads, and in-app purchase) has around 24k downloads on Android, not sure about iOS though.

 

[paperwastage]

you have to provide an physical address for paid apps, visible to everyone

(technically, your website WHOIS requires an address too, but many providers provide privacy WHOIS and mask your address/email/phone/...)

I prefer not to worry about this, so my apps are free, ad-free and not advertised (it's mostly a technical exercise for me to publish to google play...)

 

[clamum]

you have to provide an physical address for paid apps, visible to everyone

(technically, your website WHOIS requires an address too, but many providers provide privacy WHOIS and mask your address/email/phone/...)

I prefer not to worry about this, so my apps are free, ad-free and not advertised (it's mostly a technical exercise for me to publish to google play...)

A physical address, really? I checked out one app that I bought, Fuel Log pro version, and the guy just has "Berne, Switzerland" for his address. I can live with that, but having my apartment address is a little much IMO.

 

[paperwastage]

A physical address, really? I checked out one app that I bought, Fuel Log pro version, and the guy just has "Berne, Switzerland" for his address. I can live with that, but having my apartment address is a little much IMO.

well, until someone complains I guess?

anyways

http://www.greenbot.com/article/268...-now-list-physical-address-in-play-store.html

Currently, a developer's address is visible in Google Wallet when one buys an app, but that is less noticeable than the Play Store.

you can get a PO box and use that instead.... i just decide to avoid all this mess and set it to free

haven't published to iOS iTunes store yet... that's a $99/year annual commitment (google play store is one-time $25 fee)

 

[purbeast0]

I just have an a city for my address in the google play store and have only had a city there since they made that stupid requirement.