Egypt, Tanzania, and Nigeria are the three African nations where Apple has said it will adjust the prices for apps and in-app purchases starting on July 25, 2023.
Apple claims that this is because of tax laws, changes in foreign exchange rates, and the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT).
Both app developers and users in these markets are expected to be impacted by the price increases.
According to Apple, it is updating prices in the impacted nations to account for recent changes to tax regulations and currency exchange rates. Egypt had enacted a 14% VAT, whereas Tanzania had implemented an 18% VAT plus a 2% digital tax.
Apple said in a statement that “when tax regulations or foreign exchange rates change, we sometimes need to update prices on the App Store in certain regions and/or adjust your proceeds. These updates are done using publicly available exchange rate information from financial data providers to help ensure prices for apps and in‑app purchases stay equalized across all storefronts.”
However, as stated in the 2021 Finance Act, the federal government of Nigeria would levy a six percent tax on revenue for overseas enterprises offering digital services to domestic customers in Nigeria.
The Apple statement further said, “If you’ve selected Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania, or Türkiye as the base storefront for your app or in‑app purchase (excluding auto‑renewable subscriptions), the price won’t change on that storefront. Prices on other storefronts will be updated to maintain equalization with your chosen base price. If the base storefront for your app or in‑app purchase (excluding auto‑renewable subscriptions) isn’t Egypt, Nigeria, or Tanzania, prices will increase on Egypt, Nigeria, and Tanzania storefronts.”
Apple may or may not be directly responsible for collecting and remitting taxes in Nigeria; the statement only identified Egypt and Tanzania as markets where this will occur.
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