The decision table
| Deciding about | Use this number | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Product: pricing, paywalls, whether a release worked | Revenue (what customers paid, minus refunds) | RevenueCat Revenue chart |
| Cash planning during the month | Estimated proceeds | RevenueCat's Proceeds measure, or App Store Connect Sales and Trends |
| Cash planning after the month closes | Proceeds per fiscal month | App Store Connect financial reports |
| Accounting: what arrived | The bank transfer | Your bank statement and App Store Connect Payments |
Use the wrong row and you get familiar failures. Pricing decisions made on proceeds count Apple's cut twice, and cash forecasts made on revenue disappoint by the commission plus tax every month.
RevenueCat now shows two of these numbers itself. Its Revenue chart docs define Revenue as revenue "minus refunds and downward subscription payment adjustments", and Proceeds as that revenue minus RevenueCat's estimate of what the stores deduct for taxes and commission, converted to USD at the purchase day's rate. That estimate is useful during the month. It's still an estimate: Apple's financial report is what you get paid on.
A worked example with round numbers (illustrative, not from any real app): a €9.99 monthly subscription sold in Germany contains €1.60 of 19% VAT, so Apple's commission math starts from €8.39. At the 15% Small Business Program rate your proceeds are about €7.13, which is 71% of the price. At 30% they'd be about €5.87, or 59%. The four gaps below walk through each step from the price a customer sees to the transfer in your bank.
Gap 1: the commission is 15% or 30%, and 15% isn't automatic
Apple's standard commission is 30%. You get 15% in two separate ways, and people mix them up (Schedule 2):
- The Small Business Program. You qualify if you and any associated developer accounts earned no more than $1 million in proceeds in the prior calendar year. You have to enroll; nobody flips the switch for you. If you never enrolled, you're paying 30% now.
- The rate after one year. Auto-renewable subscribers with more than one year of paid service drop to 15%, per subscriber, automatically. The daily sales report marks these rows "Rate After One Year".
EU storefronts have their own table from October 1, 2026. Apple's EU terms page lists 26% for sales through In-App Purchase, and 15% for Small Business Program members and for subscriptions after their first year. If you're in the program, your EU rate stays at 15%.
Gap 2: VAT is already inside your price
In most of the world, including the EU, the UK, Japan and Australia, the App Store price includes VAT or an equivalent tax. Apple remits that tax before calculating your share, which is why the German example above starts from €8.39 and not €9.99.
US developers selling mostly to US customers barely see this gap, because US sales tax is generally added on top of the price rather than included in it. A customer base weighted towards Europe can push total deductions well past the commission alone.
Gap 3: Apple's fiscal calendar is not your calendar
Apple's fiscal months are made of whole weeks (four or five of them), so they drift against calendar months. Apple's fiscal February doesn't start on February 1, and a purchase on the last day of a calendar month can land in the next fiscal period.
Apple pays "within 45 days of the last day of the fiscal month in which the transaction was completed", provided your earnings clear the minimum payment threshold for your bank's country and currency (Apple, receiving payments). So a transfer in early July mostly contains May's sales. Reconcile calendar months against bank transfers and they will never line up; that's expected.
Gap 4: currency and withholding
Apple owes you money per currency and converts it at its own rates when it pays. An estimate made with the ECB's daily rates lands close to the real number, never exactly on it. Currency also explains a lot of confusion on its own. In one Apple Developer Forums thread, a developer asked why $12.45 of proceeds paid out as €7.69; the explanation offered in the thread was that the amount was in Canadian dollars, not US dollars (thread). Check the currency column before assuming money went missing.
Withholding depends on your tax forms and the storefront. Apple's tax information help gives Brazil as one example: without a tax residency certificate, sales there "may be subject to the applicable withholding tax at the standard rate". Withholding shows up on the payment side, so it widens the gap between proceeds and the transfer.
The two App Store Connect reports that matter
| Report | Cadence | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| Sales and Trends (daily summary sales report) | Daily | Units and developer proceeds per unit, per transaction type, including auto-renewable subscriptions (new or renewal, with the period). Good for tracking; it's reported by transaction date, not fiscal month. |
| Financial reports | Monthly, by the first Friday of the next fiscal month | Earnings per storefront and currency for the fiscal month; the basis of your payment (Apple). |
App Store Connect's Analytics section also shows proceeds, which its own metric definitions call "the estimated amount of proceeds you will receive". More on what that section can and can't tell a small app in App Store Connect analytics in 2026.
If you pull reports through the App Store Connect API, check the key's role first. On our own apps, an App Manager key could not download financial reports and returned a 403 with no useful message; a key with the Finance role could.
A reconciliation routine
- During the month: watch revenue in RevenueCat and estimate proceeds with its Proceeds measure, or with revenue times your own net factor. Derive that factor once from a real financial report for your storefront mix, then stop guessing.
- After the fiscal month closes: once the financial report is out (by the first Friday of the next fiscal month), replace the estimate with Apple's proceeds.
- When the payment lands: within 45 days of the fiscal month's end. Expect it to differ from your currency estimate by a little; book the transfer as the final figure and move on.
FAQ
Why is my Apple payout smaller than RevenueCat revenue?
RevenueCat's Revenue shows what customers paid, minus refunds. Apple deducts its commission and, in most countries, the VAT already in the price, then pays per fiscal month in each currency. Smaller and later is the designed behavior, not an error.
When does Apple pay developers?
Within 45 days of the end of the fiscal month in which the sale happened, if your balance clears the minimum payment threshold for your bank country and currency.
Do I need to enroll in the Small Business Program to get 15%?
Yes. Under $1 million in proceeds in the prior calendar year you qualify, but enrollment is a manual step. Subscribers past one year of paid service drop to 15% either way.
Did Apple's commission change in the EU in 2026?
Apple's updated EU terms take effect on October 1, 2026, with 26% for In-App Purchase sales on EU storefronts and 15% for Small Business Program members and for subscriptions after their first year.
What share of the price reaches me as proceeds?
With the Small Business Program, about 85% where tax is added on top and around 70% in a country with 19 to 25% VAT inside the price. Your blend depends on where your customers are.