Does an EU company need to have ARBN when releasing subscription-based app in Australia?

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Toledo

Member
7 June 2018
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Hi

We’re a company in the EU that will soon release an app for the Australian market. We’re a little perplexed whether we need to have an ARBN or not. All our revenue comes from digital sales through the App Store and according to this blog (Digital Taxes Down Under: Australia’s GST - Inside Quaderno) we don’t need to register for GST taxes as a foreign seller.

According to the ATO, an electronic distribution platform “includes (but is not limited to) a website, internet portal, gateway, store or marketplace.” So this could be anything from Amazon to the Apple App Store.

Any sales made through an EDP

  • Do not count toward your annual sales threshold
  • Are not your GST responsibility!

Instead the operator of the EDP is liable for these taxes, and it’s their responsibility to inform the customer, charge, collect, and pay GST.

So, as a foreign seller, if all of your sales to Australian customers are made through an EDP, then you don’t need to register for taxes. However if you also sell outside of an EDP, such as directly through your own website, then registration depends on whether you pass the threshold. If you do, you’ll still need to register for taxes to handle only the GST collected on those direct sales.

If you want to read more about this straight from the source, see ATO’s information on when merchants or EDPs are responsible for GST.

Anyone who can confirm if this is true? :)

Another question is if we need to have an Australian registered company to be able to launch our app on the App Store and Google Play. Does anyone know if this is the case?

Best regards,
T