After all, someone has to pay for the croissants and paella!
As of May 1, 2021, advertisers with active Google Ads campaigns for France and Spain will start paying a regulatory operating cost fee or DST (Digital Service Tax) of 2%, similarly to what happened last year, in November, with Austria, the United Kingdom and Turkey. The announcement was made now but payment will only start to be made from May this year.
This new fee will apply to advertisers promoting their products/ services in these countries, whether they are advertisers based and advertising there, or advertisers based elsewhere but running Google Ads in those countries. Currently, the countries where the DST fee is charged are:
- Turkey and Austria: 5% over the amount spent;
- United Kingdom, France and Spain: 2% over the amount spent.
The fee is charged based on the number of impressions or clicks on an ad published in one of the countries listed above. If you advertise in several countries at the same time within the same campaign, you will only be charged for those countries where DST is due. In other words, if you have a campaign running for France, Norway, Germany and Italy, only the click or the impression of an ad seen by a user in France will be taxed with the additional 2% fee.
We therefore recommend that you review your accounts and verify if the targeted locations where you want your ads to appear include those countries. You’ll be able to see the location targeting in each campaign’s settings. If you have a lot of campaigns, we suggest creating a predefined report in Reports - Locations/ Distance, to simplify the view, by simply deleting the existing lines and add the Campaigns and Country/ territory metrics.
For more information, bespoke strategies and efficient digital marketing solutions, just contact the Clarity’s girls through info@yourdigitalclarity.com or visit our website at yourdigitalclarity.com.
