Individual Developer vs Company - Which is best for a new App Developer?

Question

Hi, I have nearly finished my first SharePoint App and have started thinking about whether or not it would be better to register a new company to sell it under on the Office store or submit it as an individual developer, but am unable to decide.

After a bit of general searching, it seems that there are many advantages and disadvantages for each… but most say it’s better to register a new company and sell under that name. Note most advice out there is geared towards Apple and android phone apps :S

My questions are:

For Fellow App developers:

• Are you an individual developer or Company? Do you recommend one over the other?
• Did you find registering a company easy? Expensive? How much time a year is spend filling taxes etc?
• Any other general advice?

For Microsoft:

• Does Microsoft have any recommendations on selling as company vs Individual?
• Is there any documentation or agreements that describes the requirements and legal parts to selling in the Office store, how payments are made etc?
• Is it easy to change an account or App from an individual to a company in the future?

Answer 1

It deepends on what kind of disadvantages you want to avoid. I'd guess that the tax and company laws in your country or state play a distinctive role if you are looking at it from a pure financial perspective.  But normally I'd say will be better off if you register as a company, at least if your business is going well and you plan to increase your activities.

Microsoft support both individual and company accounts but there are some restrictions on individual accounts, like you can only develop Windows Store Apps, not Windows Desktop apps etc.   This page outlines the differences in more detail:  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/jj657972.aspx

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Kind Regards

Bjoern
http://spviking.com
Twitter: Follow @bjoern_rapp