How to get a Google Play developer account in 14 days in 2026

The route, Google's checks, the service fee, the tax form and payouts.

A developer outside the United States gets a Google Play developer account for a company by forming a US limited liability company (LLC), obtaining its D-U-N-S number and opening an organisation account. The company, not the developer, then appears on Google Play as the app's publisher.

The route, day by day

The company part of the route is the same as for Apple and is described step by step in our guide to Apple Developer Program membership: the LLC is registered by day 7, Dun & Bradstreet assigns the D-U-N-S number on day 12, and its record reaches Google within two more days. On day 14 Google matches the organisation with its D-U-N-S record, and the account opens the same day.

Why the D-U-N-S number decides the outcome

Google has required a D-U-N-S number for every new organisation account since 31 August 2023. Well-known government bodies are exempt, and organisations in regions Dun & Bradstreet does not cover pass an alternative check. It verifies the organisation with three items, the D-U-N-S number, an official identity document of the representative and an official company document, and all of them must match the payments profile exactly. Google takes the company's legal name and address from that profile and compares them with the Dun & Bradstreet record, so an abbreviated name or a mailbox in place of the legal address is enough to fail. A company that fails verification can lose its apps.

Google warns that getting the number can take up to 30 days. We request it through Apple's free lookup tool, and Google accepts the same number.

What Google checks when the account is opened

• The organisation's phone number and website, a contact person, a contact email and phone, and a developer email and phone. The contact and developer email addresses and phone numbers are confirmed by one-time codes, and every item must keep working throughout the life of the account.
• A contact email on the domain of the organisation's website.
• The website itself, verified through Google Search Console since February 2024. Social media pages are refused, and approval is automatic when the Google account opening the developer account already owns the site in Search Console, so we open the developer account on that same Google account.
• Trader status for the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom.
• The payment method, whose verification takes Google up to 5 days.

The person opening the developer account must be at least 18.

No testers needed before the first release

New personal accounts, those opened after 13 November 2023, may release an app to production only after a closed test that keeps at least 12 testers opted in for 14 consecutive days. Organisation accounts are exempt, so a company can submit its first release as soon as the account is ready.

Android itself is adding a check. From 30 September 2026 an app installed from Google Play or six other participating stores on a certified device in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore or Thailand must come from a registered developer, and the requirement extends worldwide in 2027. Google Play registered almost all of its apps automatically, so the extra step mostly concerns apps a company also offers in other stores.

Payments profile, tax form and payouts

Paid apps and in-app purchases need a payments profile: the company accepts the Google Payments terms, submits a US tax form and adds a bank account in its name. Google verifies the bank account with a test deposit of less than $1, and the company confirms the exact amount it received.

Google starts payouts on the 15th of each month for the previous month's orders, moving to the next working day when that date falls on a weekend or holiday. Payouts in local currency start from a balance of $1.

Google Play's service fee in 2026

For buyers in the United States, the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, Google split its fee on 30 June 2026 into a service fee and a separate 5% charge for Google Play Billing. On the first $1 million of a developer's annual revenue the total is 15%: 10% for the service and 5% for billing. Above that figure subscriptions keep the same rate, while other purchases cost 20% plus 5% from users who first installed the app on or after that date and 25% plus 5% from earlier users. Australia and Japan moved to the scheme on 30 September 2026. In other countries a developer enrolled in the 15% tier pays 15% on the first $1 million a year and 30% above it, and auto-renewing subscriptions cost 15% at any revenue.

Since 29 October 2025 apps may also offer US users other payment methods and links to download outside Google Play, a result of Epic v. Google. From 1 October 2026 Google charges its service fee on purchases made through those programmes as well.

What the company owes in tax

For the IRS, a single-member LLC is a disregarded entity, so its Google Play profit counts as the owner's income. An owner who is neither a US citizen nor a US resident and manages the company from another country, with no office and nobody working for it in the United States, owes no US federal income tax on its profit from app sales and in-app purchases, whether or not their country has a tax treaty with the United States, and the rules of the home country decide what is due there. One US filing remains: the annual information return on Form 5472, and missing it carries a $25,000 penalty.

The tax form in the payments profile needs the same precision. Google asks US merchants for Form W-9 and everyone else for Form W-8BEN, and an LLC owned by a non-resident belongs with the second group: the IRS requires the foreign owner of a disregarded entity to give a W-8 even when the company has an EIN. With a valid W-8BEN, and with the developer confirming under Google's agreement that its services are not performed in the United States, app sales and in-app purchases carry no US withholding. Only Play Pass revenue from US users, which Google treats as royalties, is withheld at 30% unless a tax treaty with the owner's country lowers the rate, while a payee without a valid form faces 24% or 30% withholding, so the form has to be right before the first payout.

What the company keeps: an example

An app that earns $100,000 a year from buyers in the United States and Europe through Google Play Billing pays Google $15,000, and the company receives $85,000. With the conditions above met and a valid W-8BEN on file, nothing from that profit goes to the IRS. A manager calculates the yearly upkeep of the company for your case.

Selling in Europe

Google Play shows a trader's address, email and phone number to its users, and for a US company that is the legal address from the D-U-N-S record rather than anyone's home. Google collects and pays VAT on Play purchases in the EU and the UK, so the company does not register for VAT there, unless it uses alternative billing or links users to pay on its own website, which leaves the tax to the developer. Outside Europe, Google pays the tax only where its tax rules make it responsible, and elsewhere, as in Colombia and Peru, the developer handles it. A company outside the EU that offers an app to people in the EU and processes their personal data also needs a GDPR representative there: who can serve and what Google's 2027 trader rules change is set out in our article on EU representatives for Android apps.

What Murblz handles

A Google Play account is only as stable as the records behind it, so we keep the company, its documents and the account in line.

1. We form the US company and obtain its EIN and D-U-N-S number, with the same legal name and address in every record.
2. We set up the domain email and the Search Console property before the account is opened.
3. We prepare the website Google reviews, with terms of use, a privacy policy that covers children's apps, and pages on refunds and account deletion.
4. We guide the registration and identity checks and answer Google's document requests.
5. We set up the payments profile, the tax form and the bank account and see the verification through.
6. We declare the company's trader status and appoint its GDPR representative in the EU.
7. We keep the reporting calendar and the US phone line that receives Google's codes.

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