Apple announced on Monday that prices of App Store products in India will increase to reflect a 2% equalisation levy, in addition to the 18% GST already being imposed. This will apply to prices of apps and in-app purchases, excluding auto-renewable subscriptions. India’s 2% digital tax on foreign e-commerce operators kicked in from April 2020. Prices will also change in other countries in response due to fluctuations in exchange rates of local currencies. Prices in Brazil, Colombia, Russia, and South Africa will be increased in the next few days due to changing forex rates. In Indonesia, a new 10% VAT will be charged to foreign developers. Prices will also change in Iceland and Albania to align with pricing used in other markets selling in US dollars with VAT. In the past months, Big Tech companies said that they will pass on the additional tax burdens in Europe onto their customers. Apple began charging developers with increased levies on their revenues in different countries in Europe: 2% in UK, 3% in Italy and France. In Turkey, prices of apps and in-app purchases will increase due to a digital tax of 7.5%. Google will also begin charging new levies on advertising in UK, Austria, and Turkey. Even Amazon said it will no longer absorb the digital services tax since discussions with the UK government have ended and the tax has come into effect. OECD warns of unilateral taxes without agreement on digital tax Earlier this month, the OECD warned that disagreement over…
