Apple and Google Play developer accounts for your company

Apple and Google open organisation accounts only for a company with a D-U-N-S number. We form your US company, obtain its tax number and D-U-N-S, open the accounts and move your apps, and we legally cut the tax on app revenue, often to zero.

In detail

Every app in the App Store and on Google Play shows who sells it. On a personal developer account that is your own name, and once the app earns money the stores also publish your contact details: the App Store shows EU buyers your address, phone number and email, and Google Play shows your full address. On an organisation account the seller is your company, and the store shows its name and address.

Apple and Google open organisation accounts only for a legal entity with a D-U-N-S number. We handle the whole route for you: we form your US company, obtain its EIN tax number and its D-U-N-S number, open the developer accounts and move your apps to them. The second half of the work is tax: a US company with a foreign owner, set up correctly, pays no federal income tax, and the final tax on app revenue is often legally zero.

What a company developer account gives you

• Your company instead of your name. The App Store and Google Play list your company as the seller.
• Your home address stays off the store. Under the EU Digital Services Act the App Store shows EU buyers the seller's address, phone number and email. Google Play publishes the full address of a personal account holder whose app is paid or offers in-app purchases. An organisation account shows the company's address instead.
• A faster start on Google Play. New personal accounts must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days in a row before their production release. An organisation account skips this step.
• Money paid to the company. Store payouts go to the company's bank account, not to your personal one.
• A business you can sell. The apps belong to the company, which makes it easier to sell them with the business or to bring in an investor.

The D-U-N-S number: what it is and why a developer needs it

D-U-N-S is a nine-digit company number in the global Dun & Bradstreet database. Apple and Google use it to confirm that a company exists and that its name and address match its documents. For Apple developers the number is free.

D-U-N-S and EIN are different numbers. The EIN comes from the IRS and is used for tax filings, the bank account and the tax forms in the app stores. D-U-N-S is a business number the stores use to verify the company. A US developer company needs both.

Through Apple the number is issued within 5 business days, and the data then takes up to 2 more business days to reach Apple. Expedited issuance does not shorten this. What most often stalls an application is a one-letter difference in the name or address between the Dun & Bradstreet database and the company's documents. We prepare the company's data so that verification passes the first time.

An Apple developer account for your company

The Apple Developer Program costs $99 a year, the same for a company as for an individual. The seller name in the App Store is the company's legal name, not a trade name or a branch.

Besides D-U-N-S, Apple checks the applicant's signing authority, a public company website on its own domain and a work email on the same domain, and requests certified copies of company documents when needed. Apple names no review deadline, so everything has to match on the first submission. We prepare the company, the website and the email to Apple's requirements and take the application through to confirmed membership.

A Google Play developer account for your company

Registering a Google Play developer account costs a one-off $25. For an organisation account Google also asks for a D-U-N-S number and checks the company's data against it, and the app page shows the company's legal name, address, email and phone number.

Personal accounts created after 13 November 2023 must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days in a row before their production release. The rule covers personal accounts only: an organisation account publishes without the closed test.

Moving apps from a personal account to your company

There is no need to release your apps again. Apple offers two routes: the personal account is converted into an organisation account and the apps stay in it, or the apps are transferred to a new company account with their reviews and ratings, while users keep receiving updates and the app stays on sale. On Google Play, apps also move to the company's account with their ratings, reviews and subscriptions.

A transfer comes with many technical conditions: subscriptions and in-app purchases, test builds, payment identifiers. We plan the move so that updates and payouts never stop.

Can you buy a ready-made developer account?

A developer account is tied to its owner: Apple verifies identity and signing authority, Google verifies the organisation's data through D-U-N-S. An account bought from someone else stays in their name, and a review can take it away together with the apps and the payouts.

The safer route is an account in your own company's name: every right, every app and all the money stay with you. We open it for you, from forming the company to the first release.

A US company for your developer account

Developer accounts are most often opened in the name of an LLC formed in Wyoming or Delaware. Everything is done remotely: you do not travel to the US, and there is no minimum capital.

Wyoming is chosen for its low running cost: the state annual report fee starts at $60, and there is no state income tax. Delaware is the state investors know best, where an LLC pays $400 in tax a year.

With the company you get a registered agent and an address in the state, an EIN and a D-U-N-S number, and we choose a bank for store payouts that fits your country of residence. The same company works for selling on Amazon and other marketplaces that ask for an EIN.

We cover how to choose the state and the type of company in detail in our guide to forming a US company as a non-resident. Formation terms are on the US company formation page.

Tax: legal and often zero

An LLC with a single foreign owner and no US office, staff or business pays no federal income tax. Its income is taxed where the owner is tax resident.

So the final rate depends on your country of tax residence. The tax on app revenue is legally zero when that country does not tax foreign income: it has no income tax, or it taxes only local income. Our tax experts build the structure around your situation, and if needed we also arrange the tax residency itself.

The mandatory part is the company's annual reporting to the IRS. It carries no tax, but missing Form 5472 costs a penalty of at least $25,000 for each year. We handle the reporting every year, so that penalty never touches you.

How we work

1. We review your situation for free: your stores, where you live and the revenue you expect.
2. We choose the state and the tax structure.
3. We form your US company.
4. We obtain the EIN.
5. We obtain a D-U-N-S number with data that matches the documents.
6. We open Apple and Google Play developer accounts for the company.
7. We move your apps and set up payouts to the company's account.
8. Every year we handle the company's reporting and tax.

You can of course try to do all of this yourself, but it is safer with professional support. We guarantee professional work and a transparent process, and in most cases a result on the first application.

FAQ