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You live somewhere not in England.

Apple has a bank account SWIFT Code and International Wire Address (thingy?) for you with:

1) Your personal account number

2) Your Fake Business Name

in their database.

The account is with an English Bank.

They will not send a wire to any account but your personal account, and they will not send the wire to any name but your business name for the money already accrued to this account.

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If all this is true, this is not Apple's fault. The only people who can help you are your bankers, at least in the near term.

You should change your account now so that at least new payments can go to the proper place. (Did I understand that part of your story correctly?)

Again, if I understand your story correctly, I think your only solution is to sit down with at least a medium-level banker from the bank in question, explain the situation, and get them to add the Fake Business Name to your account for the purposes of this wire.

You might reasonably be expected to register such a business name in England first, and prove that you are in control of the company. You might also need to sign affidavits or pay some sort of withholding tax.

If you're not in England, this is going to be an expensive process, as you will likely have to travel. I know this from reading your e-mail and evaluating your English skills: what you need done is so close to fraud and so sketchy sounding that only if you present well in person and can find someone helpful are you going to get this done.

The other, longer, solution is to send Apple a signed affidavit explaining the situation and demanding that they release the money to another account. You'll probably have to take them to court to get someone to ignore the internal controls rules they have in place.

In the great scheme of business costs, this would usually be considered a write-off, meaning you're likely going to spend many months and many thousands of dollars to get your $11k back. You'll need to decide if it's worth pursuing; in the interim, make sure you get some cash in the bank and don't let the rest of your financial world fall apart!

It just means it's a name you are using, but it's not your name.

All non-corporation company names are legally fake names.

Anyway, what I mean is that the OP messed up with registering his business.

There's no point in setting up a DBA with a limited liability entity. Why? You're basically saying, "I don't want the limited liability".

I don't know the specifics of this transaction, and it really, really looks sketchy. The only reason I even think it has credibility is because it was posted in detail on HN. In most other forums, I would chalk this up to a Nigerian scam. Seriously.

I still think there may be a way to pull out the money if the English Ltd has actually been established and the OP has control over it. Having the English Ltd establish a bank account, pull the money from that. If Apple balks over that, than that really is Apple's fault. As the situation stands though, if the OP went public over this, I think I'd have the same reaction as the lady who sued McDonald's over spilling her own coffee on her lap, or those patent trolls out in Texas.

Now I'm really curious. I'm going to forward this link to a friend of mine out in Manchester. He's set up his own limited company so he may know what you're talking about.

Apple owes you that money, but it could be a long time before you get it.

Also, and this is of course something you already realize but it needs to be said: The money isn't in the bank until it is in the bank, never ever make a decision based on money that you haven't got yet.

The only thing that breaks down Apple's bureaucratic walls is bad press. Create some now -- and hopefully get access to a real human to resolve your issues. Once you've put this out there, then consider going back to work to tide yourself over.

Sit down -- today -- and write a blog post. Be clear, be concise, and make sure the chronology is clear. Focus on the excitement of making your money, and your difficulties in dealing with Apple's faceless bureaucracy. Whatever you do, don't rage at Apple, use profanity, or write anything that would be construed as blatantly unprofessional.

Once you've written it, ask some (native English speaking) friends to review it. Once you get their sign-off, submit (or ask them to submit) to reddit, ycombinator, etc. If you have any friends in the Apple-related press, mention it to them too.

See what happens, then think about employment. If he goes back to his previous employment (or a new employer), is he simply going to quit again in 30 days when the issue is resolved?

Immediate needs need an immediate solution, not one that may or may not happen.

The OP sketches a situation that - if I were Apple - I would approach with some caution.

Technically it sounds like he is trying to evade income tax or something like that (because of all the shenanigans with a foreign company when he could have simply be paid at home).

So they will take this one step at the time. Also, going 'public' on a company for a mess of your own making isn't very nice.

I'm not sure I see the problem in starting with the step that costs very little (a few hours of time) and could potentially immediately resolve the situation?

There's nothing to stop you from looking into job alternatives, borrowing money from family, etc, in the meantime.

So they will take this one step at the time. Also, going 'public' on a company for a mess of your own making isn't very nice.

Apple isn't very nice. Sometimes you have to play hardball to get the necessary things done.

Hey Google, please change the account associated with this adsense publisher ID please, make it point to my bank account in this here other country and please pay me pronto or I'll go public on you.

Would you make that call ?

And what would you do if two weeks later the CFO of company X is on the line asking where their payment is ?

It took the original poster 3 months to even get a response from Apple. The issue remains unresolved, and if they remain unresponsive to his plight, it will likely remain so for some time.

Your hypothetical situation is not even remotely equivalent.

The only thing he can do is to get apple to change his account from business to private, and get them to move the old funds over, and paid into his bank account.

This can take a while, Apple don't want to move quickly on this for obvious reasons.

He is no longer in the position he was in when he quit his job (savings in the bank, alternative income stream).

He needs a source of income, and he needs it yesterday.

Will you tide him over if Apple does not pay in time ?

Also, it might not be a bad idea to raise enough money to both feed yourself and another person or two, and go from being just another small-time hobbyist (who will eventually get run over at some point or another - app developer lifecycles are shorter than ever) to running a business that can scale.

You've got the attention of many people, including those with capital -- use it. There's always a silver lining...

You might have earned that 2500 that made you quit your job but it wasnt in your pocket ;)

Also it will be worth getting it back; because Im guessing that instead of writing new apps and improving your current ones you've been sorting this out. And so the next risk is you get this sorted and then the money starts to tail off..

Are you messaging ITSPayments@apple.com? I found them really helpful and responsive. I went through the contact form in iTunes Connect from Financial Reports. Key phrase is Missing Developer Payment in the subject line, along with your company name.

"This guy in country A sets up a company in country B but wants the payment sent to his personal account and his own bank aren't happy about it", they'll be thinking, "and now he wants payment sent somewhere else again..."

The company I work for does a lot of cross-border financial activity and it's all anonymized - you don't know who your counterparty is and they don't know who you are, we're the middlemen and we take care of everything. Something like this would definitely set our alarm bells ringing.

At which point, you would presumably enter into a dialog to resolve said alarm bells?

Sadly, this may all be in the up-and-up, and I'm just biased from years of being exposed to the Intertubes...

There's no appeal for you to do anything shady or stupid.

Wise up. By posting your rumination, you're casting an unwarranted shadow on the whole situation.

Ask any AppStore developer that's been in the game for a while, going public is what it's _all_ about.

With that said, yeah - there's a good chance this is on the up-and-up, and I'm not suggesting that people not provide advice, or help zoomboy out - just consider your possible downsides prior to sending cash.

To get the money that's collected so far, sounds like the poster needs to do one of the following:

(1) Get Apple to change the 'company name' to match his legitimate bank accountholder name. I can see why Apple wouldn't want to do this, especially if they've already associated tax IDs and so forth with the sketchy LTD.

(2) Get the bank to change the accountholder name to match the intended target of Apple's payment. I can see why a bank couldn't do that, changing a personal account to a corporate or DBA accout, due to policy and regulation.

(3) Create a new entity, with a proper bank account, and then convince Apple it is the legitimate successor/acquirer-of-interest in the old company. This might offer the greatest odds of getting the original monies back, but only after sending lots of documents back-and-forth to prove everything's on the up-and-up.

In the meantime, I would say the top priority is to redirect the current stream of interest in your apps and money to some new targets where things are done right from the get-go. Ignore sunk costs and stop collecting more money where it may not be retrievable. Set up a new developer account and bank account the right way from scratch ASAP; rerelease your apps there and do something with the old apps that directs people to the new home.

One final thought: maybe Apple can mail a check to the LTD at its official address? But that again assumes it's a real LTD, that can transact legal business, with the poster as an officer. It seems like that may not be the case -- the poster has bought a broken, useless fiction over the internet, and then told Apple to pay that fiction.

The only sound approach is to have your corporation, which owns the money (not you), open a bank account that belongs to the corporation. It will have to be in the UK.

Is that a problem because you don't live in the UK? Maybe you should have thought about it before you chose to create a company in the UK. Why create a company if you can't create a bank account at the same time? How did you expect to have the company make money?

If you thought you could just use a bogus company front and cash the checks on your personal account with no records, well, you don't deserve much help.

They aren't checks. They're wire transfers. The mistake is understandable, and really -- it's not that big of a mistake. Apple hasn't paid anything out yet, the documentation can almost certainly be changed -- Apple simply needs to respond to his queries.

Why work so hard to blame the person who makes a simple mistake and gets stuck in an endless bureaucracy? The process is intimidating, poorly documented, and incredibly confusing. Apple provides very little assistance when things go wrong, and quite often, mistakes made in the web UI can not be rectified without going through human support -- who will, more often than not (from experience), simply ignore you.

Why create a company at all? Why create a fake company, one that does not have a bank account associated with it? Why do so in a country you don't live in?

This all sounds very strange.

As for liability, for an Iphone application I think that since the transaction is between the customer and Apple that you are more or less out of the windy zone anyway, the only one I can think of that would apply would be gross negligence, but since Apple reviews the Applications they might even have to take the heat for that one.

Presumably the only party that could sue you with some chance of success would be Apple.

We can also talk about subcontracting work if you're interested.

"Email me and I can spot you some cash (if your story is legit)."

Don't take it the wrong way, just one HNer helping another.

Count me in as well if you go through with this.

Fred is an employee of your company that builds an iPhone app. Fred is responsible for registering it but decides to use his personal account details. If Apple paid the money into Fred's account you would be reasonably aggrieved

So there is nothing wrong here - well after your rather odd decision to register as one legal entity (a UK Limited Company) but provide the bank account details of another legal entity (yourself).

I suspect that the money is effectively lost to you. and that you should withdraw the app (if you can) and re-register honestly and clearly as yourself.

Are you seriously claiming that -- if they were so inclined -- Apple couldn't safely resolve this issue within an hour or two?

Corporation Makes Application

Programmer has control of communication with Apple Store

Programmer leaves Corporation aggrieved

Programmer asks Apple to personally wire him the Corporation's Money

Corporation is f-ed.

That is the fundamental problem he has getting this issue solved, and I'm guessing that from his story that his communication skills aren't helping people at Apple get in a place to help him.

From Apples point of view it would be very hard to see the difference between the two.

It's one thing to, in good faith, work through an outstanding issue with someone over the course of months, another to simply ignore any/all requests until they go through extraordinary measures to capture your attention.

I get the impression that you're arguing (and users are downvoting) from the vantage point that Apple is a reasonable organization. They are most certainly not.

The only organization I know of that beats Apple and the AppStore when it comes to Kafkaesque bureaucracy is US Immigration Services.

It's a bad situation for both parties. It sounds like he's doing the right thing trying to make it public and get advice. If the media does some of the vetting of his story Apple will take him much more seriously and perhaps not view him as a fraudster.

Here Apple is dealing with someone who basically invented a fictitious company in a different country (! ! !) and is now trying to collect on payables. What do you expect to have happen? I actually believe vessenes --- he may just never get paid. I wish him the best.

I'm curious -- what reporting to the government/legal paperwork do you see Apple as doing that makes the payout legally more difficult due to the use of a fictitious name?

In the U.S., using a fictitious name is incredibly simple -- is it really that much more complicated in the U.K.? Why is this suddenly an "oh my god" situation?

What is possibly preventing Apple from changing their records to use his personal name?

The reason it didn't work is because the bank did not want to accept the payment because they would be in violation of the law on money laundering if they did.

With the wrong name (ie, not the name he entered on the bank account form). Which was the original problem.

Is Apple reporting the payment to the tax service? What's to prevent Apple from switching the account to a personal one, or transferring it to an additional legal entity? Why are they taking many months to find any resolution?

As long as you stick to the form and procedure in place things will run smoothly and you'll be fine.

If you start making exceptions people higher up will have to get involved to authorize the exception, that will take a lot of time because they really won't want to do that without making sure they're not setting themselves up for a problem.

OP was doing something not 100% on the up-and-up imho and that is the prime cause of all this trouble.

The 'for no apparent reason' sort of proves that already. So if you had would you blame apple ?

If Apple put up their usual bureaucratic wall, ignored our requests, or required multi-week/month turnaround times to resolve the issue -- then yes, I would blame Apple.

By the way, how much do iPhone developers normally make if they are working full-time? Does anyone know of any stats somewhere?

Most programmers of his seniority in central London are in about the same range. An good architect/team lead with about 10 years experience would be lucky to make $100k.

Most mid-level developers I know of in London are in the £30-£40k bracket, with managers/team leads coming in at £40k+.

Unless, of course, you used $ signs where you meant £/GBP :-)

I would immediately follow up with those person(s) again thanking them for their help, but explaining that you need them to clear this transfer with person x.

If I owe someone money, but they give me their banking details wrong, that doesn't mean I don't owe them any more.

Also, a letter from an attorney to the right people might be effective. Not sure where to get someone who will write this for "free" though...

You've clearly never dealt with Apple or the AppStore ;)

I should apply for that job--might leave me with time to work on my startup.

Get your app on your new account with your new company. By the way, the whole point of limited liability companies is so that a different legal entity is handling the transaction -- at least in America, using your personal account with a corp or an LLC is a very bad idea. The corp/LLC needs to be operating from its own checking account.

If you have control over that English LTD, get a bank account from there. Since you don't live there, one method is asking someone who is there enter in as a partner or someone who would be able to open up the account there. You'd probably have to provide enough evidence of credibility so you don't come across like a Nigerian scammer. Give that person a fee to setup the account, a percentage of how much Apple actually gives to you. Don't be greedy, cut your losses, the amount you pay for someone to pull the money out is a great lesson to learn (you probably won't make that same mistake again). Once it is done, shutdown the old account and the company and keep your records. In the meantime, make sure new revenue isn't going into the old account. You'll also want to make your intellectual property and ownership of the copyrights are very clear so there is no question down the road on who owns what.

I definitely think you need to come to England in person and sit down with the bank manager of your personal branch, at least.

Did you ask them to change your account from a company to a individual account? They allow you to change from an individual account to company. Perhaps the reverse is possible.

For the record, I waited 3 months for my paid/free apps contract to be done. That means I had 3 months where I couldn't put up anything on the app store. (and yes I know, I screwed up first, to let this have a chance of happening).

When you put in account details, make damn sure everything is exactly as it should be.

Account Holder:

Account Number:

Routing Code:

I filled out the form correctly. But Apple does not use whatever you specify as "account holder". They use the company name.

It's so easy to screw up Apple's registration process, it actually pisses me off to see people that have never had business dealings with Apple trying to push the blame off to you, referencing some imagined "oh my god tax evasion" scenario that doesn't exist.

People: Apple is an unmitigated pain in the ass. They will not respond to your e-mails. They will brick-wall your support calls. Unless you are a large company, they will absolutely ignore your situation unless they are faced with legal, financial, and/or PR ramifications. If you are a large company, you might get someone on the phone, but you'll still find them to be a capricious and pig headed organization.

Sorry to be harsh, but that's the way I see it.

If the OP had done his homework a bit better this whole issue would have never existed in the first place.

He's only acting like this now because his savings have run out.

BigCo (including Apple) eventually will pay, I'm sure they will. But if you start to make waves then all bets are off, it might work to your advantage, it might not. I would not go that route until I had tried a bunch of others, such as trying to get someone a bit higher up in the pecking order to look at it and break the gridlock.

Edit: oh, I see in one of your comments that you weren't able to do that because your old UK business wasn't registered.

OK, so as I understand it, Apple owes money to a UK business (that in turn belongs to you), but you can't get the money because your UK business has no bank account and isn't registered.

I wonder if Apple can legally take money that it owes to your UK business and give it to a different business (your US business), even if it wanted to?

I think you need to talk to a lawyer in corporate law, and find out how you get money from your UK business that you have no bank account for and haven't registered.

Take Austria for example, you need to have €35000 in equity (I hope that is the right financial vocabulary) to start a GmbH - a company type similar to an LTD in terms of liability.

In the EU there is a ruling that you can create a company in any EU state, without actually living there. Of course you still have to obey the laws (of both countries) regarding taxes.

So if you want limited liability but you don't have enough cash upfront, a UK LTD can be a good idea. But you usually create a UK bank account for your company after incorporating.

Get an EIN number from the IRS - http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98350,00.h...

Set up a business banking account with a bank using that number. Give that info to Apple, when they pay you, use some of that money to set up an LLC through legal zoom - just the bare stuff, none of the extra fluff they try to sell you.

And at some point you'll have to pay some taxes. Good luck!

If you it's not a registered limited businesss - let the bank know you want to set up as a sole trader and use the business name you gave to apple.

Can you re-register on apple as a developer with correct details and apps then chase up your old payments in the background?

For starters, which court ?

The one where his 'original' business was listed ? (the UK one). The court in the home country ? (why would it have standing ? )

The one where apple resides ?

As soon as you go 'cross border' the costs of litigation square.