About country-specific surcharges
Regulatory Operating Costs or DST Fees may be charged in addition to your advertising costs every time an ad is served in specific countries. These new surcharges are associated with the cost of doing business in these countries.
France Regulatory Operating Cost
As of May 1, 2021, a 2% France Regulatory Operating Cost will be added to your next invoice or statement for ads served in France. The Regulatory Operating Costs are being added to cover part of the cost of complying with Digital Services Tax legislation in France.
Spain Regulatory Operating Cost
As of May 1, 2021, a 2% Spain Regulatory Operating Cost will be added to your next invoice or statement for ads served in Spain. The Regulatory Operating Costs are being added to cover part of the cost of complying with Digital Services Tax legislation in Spain.
Austria DST Fee
As of November 1, 2020, a 5% Austria DST Fee will be added to your next invoice or statement for ads served in Austria. The surcharge is driven by the new digital services tax in that country.UK DST Fee
As of November 1, 2020, a 2% UK DST Fee will be added to your next invoice or statement for ads served in the United Kingdom. The surcharge is driven by the new digital services tax in that country.Turkey Regulatory Operating Cost
As of November 1, 2020, a 5% Turkey Regulatory Operating Cost will be added to your next invoice or statement for ads served in Turkey. The Regulatory Operating Costs are being added due to significant increases in complexity and cost of complying with regulations in Turkey.When surcharges are levied
Automatic payments & Monthly invoicing
We'll add the surcharges to your Google Ads costs once at the end of every month, to be paid the next time you are charged. These surcharges will also be added on top of your account budget if you’ve set up one. For example, if you have a budget of €100 and accrue €5 in Austria DST Fees for ads served in Austria, you’ll be billed €105 (plus any taxes, such as VAT, that may apply in your country). Learn more about adjusting your account budget
The new surcharges will be subject to any taxes, such as sales tax, VAT, GST, or QST that apply in your country. Any taxes, such as sales tax, VAT, GST, or QST that apply in your country will be charged in addition to the new surcharges.
Manual payments or prepayments
If you pay through manual payments or make a prepayment on your automatic payments account, these surcharges may be charged after your payment has been fully spent. You may be left with an open balance that will be automatically deducted from your next prepayment. For example, if you accumulate €5 of Regulatory Operating Costs for ads served in Turkey, and you make a new payment for €100, you would have €95 credit towards displaying ads (€100 - €5), and your available balance would show €95.
The new surcharges will be subject to any taxes, such as sales tax, VAT, GST, or QST that apply in your country. Any taxes, such as sales tax,VAT, GST, or QST that apply in your country will be charged in addition to the new surcharges.
Where to check for these surcharges
You can see the surcharges in either of the following places in your Google Ads account:
- In your monthly invoice or statement as a separate line item per country
- In the "Transactions" section of your Google Ads account.
- You’ll be charged for advertisements served in specific countries. To view a DST Fee or a Regulatory Operating Cost, click the tools icon
and under “Billing” choose Summary, then click Transactions from the menu on the left.
- You’ll be charged for advertisements served in specific countries. To view a DST Fee or a Regulatory Operating Cost, click the tools icon
How surcharges are calculated
Surcharges are levied based on the number of ad impressions or clicks that are served in a specific country. If you advertise in several countries, you’ll only be levied a surcharge when ads have been served to people in the impacted countries. (For example, If you advertise in Germany, Austria and Poland, you will be levied only the surcharges that correspond to the countries where the surcharges are applicable).
It is possible for a campaign that doesn't explicitly target a particular country, for example the United Kingdom, to show ads to users in the United Kingdom because your business might be in a location of interest for those users. Therefore, it’s the advertiser’s responsibility to ensure that your campaign target settings are correct and the ads are served in the intended countries. Google will not refund the Regulatory Operating Costs or DST Fees that were charged as a result of legitimate clicks and impressions served according to your campaign target settings.
To check which countries your ads are served, create a custom report using the following steps:
- Create a predefined "Distance" report.
- Remove all default rows.
- Add “Country/Territory (user location)” row.
If you find that your ads are served in an unintended country, it is recommended that you explicitly exclude the country from your target setting.