Apple temporarily closes the Search Ads service for Russian developers because of the "tax on Google"

From December 12 of this year, application developers from Russia are losing the opportunity to use the Search Ads service, which serves to advertise their application in the App Store search. About this corporation notified its partners by letter. Already running campaigns will be suspended until special notice.

Unfortunately, it is not yet clear when the service can be used again - it is closed indefinitely. The corporation explains its actions by changes in the tax legislation of Russia, which will become relevant from January 1, 2019.

On January 1, those foreign companies that cooperate with Russian partners must register with the Federal Tax Service, independently calculating and paying VAT on sales in Russia. At the moment it is the responsibility of customers.

Closing the Search Ads service will affect the income and expenses of domestic iOS developers. Apple’s tool was an effective and inexpensive way to advertise your application. Now you have to pay more, for example, because of the need to contact the agencies that provide the relevant services.


Perhaps the restrictions can be circumvented using accounts with agent access. To obtain such access you need to contact the support of the corporation. Unfortunately, the company provides agent access is not always. In some cases, one of the two similar accounts in terms of the parameters is transferred to the agent, the second is not.

It makes no sense to register foreign accounts, since “fresh” accounts are not allowed to advertise third-party applications, you can get a ban for this. So the only way to stay with the service is to convince the company that the agency needs an entry to advertise partners' applications.