Australian GST with revenue < AUD$75k

Hey mate, did you figure this out? I'm keen to understand as am also a sole trader who earns alot less than 75k. I've messaged Apple a couple times asking whether there are exemptions to the requirement for GST registration in Aus but haven't heard back and don't like my chances.

I've just enrolled in the developer program and ios seems like a much bigger pain in the bum than android.

Did you end up registering for GST?

I've asked my accountant (last week) the question and he's said to avoid registering for GST if possible if you earn less than that 75k threshold.

He said this is because once you register for GST, you must pay GST regardless of whether you earn more or less than the threshold and you don't get it back. I hope he's wrong as on top of the 30% apple get, i don't want to be giving away another 10% in GST then another 40% in tax because its my second income. 20% left for a $1.50 app makes me question the value of doing all this work.

I've asked the question on the IOS developer facebook group but no ones responded.

let me know 🙂

nic

This is the same in most countries. There are two issues here. While small amounts of revenue are not required to register for taxes, you can voluntarily register in some cases. This is one of those cases.

First of all, the party making these sales is Apple. Apple is the one paying collecting and remitting the tax. Your company isn’t involved at all in that. Apple definitely has the revenue to be required to collect taxes. Since Apple is the one collecting these taxes on your behalf, depending on the law, they may be required by the government to formally establish that relationship and that may require you to be registered for taxes as well. Even though this is a huge business, most government business regulations weren’t designed for in. In almost all cases, the exact rules that govern the App Store are the most obscure.

Also, there is another transaction that Apple has to deal with. That is the commission they take from you. Technically, you are paying that to Apple and tax has to be paid on that. I don’t know how it works in your country, but in Canada, it works out that I actually pay less than 30%. It might be the same for you. That is another potential reason for the registration.

It's a little more complicated than that. Apple doesn't collect income tax, only what is effectively a sales tax. In Australia, small businesses don't need to collect or pay a sales tax. The small business should keep that 10% tax on the sale. Apple seem to want to force the small business owner into having that tax collected and paid to the Australian Government?

I am beginning to thing that it's not a good idea to deal with Apple as a sole trader at all. The better option might be to throw away some money into registering a company.

I would love to hear how other Australians deal with this situation. The other thing is not clear to me, is if Apple is forcing GST on small businesses, do the small business owners get that tax back at tax time if they are in the low income category.

I found this on the ATO forum.. hope it's useful.

https://community.ato.gov.au/s/question/a0J9s0000001FvT/p00037521