Last December, the company Apple began to inform developers via email about changes in the tax and price policies that were going to take place in iTunes and the App Store Today it definitively takes action by applying the new prices that, unfortunately for the users, increase in a small proportion both in the subject of applications and games, and in any digital content purchased from Spain.
But the fault is not Apple In fact, the new European regulations that have promoted this change seek to prevent tax evasion by the company of Cupertino by obliging to pay the tax of IVA corresponding to the country from where the content, and not in paradises like Luxembourg, where until now Apple carried out its financial procedures to save a good pinch.
Thus, the new regulations make it compulsory to apply Spanish VAT if you buy from Spain, which means increasingup to 21% the tax Something that will be noticed as of today in the prices of purchases in the App Store with costs that will increase about 5%. Just a few cents on the smallest purchases, but that the end user must assume since neither Applenor the developers seem to want to compromise on their profits.In this way, an application that until now involved an outlay of 0.89 euros, will cost about 0.93 eurosAn increase that is more noticeable in games or higher value content, but in the same percentage.
The step has already been taken by Apple a few hours ago, although the systems should reflect the changes shortly, showing the new prices through the App Store before downloading an app or game.
This is a routine move for Apple as it has been forced to change the prices of applications in several past occasions in other territories. Despite the fact that the developer is offered to give up his profits to continue offering the same price, it seems that in Spain this will not be the usual case.This change applies to all of Europe, where the regulations have entered into force since last January 1st. But it is not the only territory. Canada, Iceland and Russia have also undergone changes. Of course, in the case of Iceland it has been to reduce the price of content by your low tax requirement.
Despite everything, the data released by Apple speak of new records at the time of billing. So much so that during the past 2014 its billing increased by 50 percent Allowing all developers to accumulate earnings of 10 billion dollars throughout the year In addition, they have managed to surpass their sales record on New Year's Day, and also make the first week of January 2015 the most profitable in the App Store to date.Issues that show the good state of life of this platform, that it will no longer be so easy to evade taxes, even if it is the users themselves who end up paying the price.
