Why Your App Store Payout Shrinks Between the Sale and Your Bank Account

Understanding where each cut happens is the only way to reconcile what the store reports against what actually arrives.

The Deduction Chain: From Shelf Price to Proceeds

Apple defines proceeds as the customer price minus applicable taxes and Apple's commission, according to Schedule 2 of the Paid Apps Agreement. The order matters. Commission rates apply to the price payable by the user minus any transaction taxes charged by the app. For iOS and iPadOS, Apple takes 17% on paid apps and in-app purchases of digital goods. For macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS, the rate rises to 27%. These commissions and fees do not include taxes, which may apply separately depending on the country or region—VAT, sales and use tax, SST, GST, and consumption tax are all listed as possibilities.

Google operates similarly but with different documentation. Under section 3.6 of the Google Play Developer Distribution Agreement, Google deducts withholding taxes from the amount remitted to the developer where it or a payment processor must withhold under local law or tax authority rules. These withholding taxes can include obligations on cross-border payments or taxes imposed as telecommunications taxes. The deduction happens before the money reaches you.

Why Identical Prices Yield Different Revenue

Country and currency rules reshape the final amount even when the customer sees the same number. Apple's Small Business Program uses a publicly available exchange rate corresponding to the end of each fiscal month in Apple's fiscal calendar to calculate total USD proceeds. This means the rate that determines your earnings is fixed to Apple's calendar, not the day of sale.

Google's Brazil rules illustrate how local law can dominate. Brazilian withholding taxes apply to developers paid in any currency other than BRL for purchases made by Brazilian customers. These taxes consist of IRRF and CIDE, with rates determined by the developer's location. Merchants paid in non-BRL currency who sell to customers in Brazil face a 25% tax on those purchases. A $9.99 sale in Brazil can therefore yield dramatically less than the same sale elsewhere, not because of Apple's commission or Google's fee structure, but because Brazilian tax law intervenes before the money crosses the border.

Withholding and Local Tax: The Paperwork Gap

Taxes and withholding operate as separate mechanical reductions. Apple notes that taxes may apply in certain countries and regions, and it lists the types without specifying which markets charge which rates. In Nepal, Apple documents a specific case: payments to Nepal-based bank accounts are subject to a 5% advance income tax deducted by the local correspondent bank and settled with the local tax authority. This is not Apple's commission. It is not a Google withholding. It is a local bank deduction required by Nepalese tax law, applied after Apple has calculated proceeds but before the deposit clears.

Google's framework is broader. Where local law requires withholding,