📜 Agreements, Tax & Banking

On first login to App Store Connect you'll be prompted to accept the Apple Developer Program License Agreement. Accept it — nothing else works until you do.

The recurring trap: Apple publishes new versions of this agreement periodically (often around WWDC), and until the Account Holder re-accepts:

• You can't submit new apps or updates.
• A yellow banner appears in App Store Connect — easy to miss if a teammate logs in, impossible to see if nobody logs in.

Make it a habit: whenever a submission mysteriously won't go through, check App Store Connect → Agreements (and developer.apple.com) for a pending agreement first.

Required before you can sell anything — paid apps or in-app purchases.

1. In App Store Connect, open Business (older accounts: Agreements, Tax, and Banking).
2. Under Paid Apps, view and accept the agreement. Only the Account Holder can do this.
3. The agreement won't show Active until banking and tax (next steps) are also complete — all three are one gate.

Do this well before you create IAP products: products created while the agreement is inactive sit in Missing Metadata and cannot be submitted.

Apple needs a bank account to pay your proceeds (payouts arrive roughly monthly, ~33 days after each fiscal month closes, once you pass the minimum threshold).

1. App Store Connect → Business → Bank Accounts → Add Bank Account.
2. The account-holder name must exactly match your legal name (Individual) or legal entity name (Organization).
3. Have IBAN/SWIFT (or routing + account number for US banks) ready; double-check every digit — a typo restarts verification.
4. New accounts show 'Pending Verification' for a few hours up to ~2 business days. That's normal.

In App Store Connect → Business → Tax Forms:

• US developers: complete the W-9.
• Non-US developers: complete the W-8BEN (individuals) or W-8BEN-E (entities). Claiming a tax-treaty benefit here can reduce US withholding on US-storefront sales — have your local tax ID ready.
• Additional country-specific forms (e.g. Australia, Brazil, Japan) appear automatically based on the territories where you sell; you only must complete the ones blocking your storefronts.

The US form is mandatory for everyone. Once submitted, forms are usually processed within minutes-to-hours, but the overall agreement status may lag (see pitfall on the Paid Apps Agreement step).

If your proceeds across all your apps were under $1M USD in the prior calendar year (true for nearly every indie), the Small Business Program drops Apple's commission from 30% → 15%.

1. Apply at developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program — the Account Holder must apply.
2. It is not automatic — you must enroll, and the rate applies from acceptance forward (it is not retroactive). Apply before you start earning.
3. You'll need to list any Associated Developer Accounts (ownership stakes in other dev accounts count toward the $1M).
4. If you cross $1M during a year, the standard 30% applies to proceeds beyond that point.

This is a 10-minute form worth literally 15% of your revenue. Do not skip it.