Source: Google Ads charges surcharges for ads serving in specific jurisdictions. To learn more about each specific surcharge, select the jurisdiction where the surcharges apply (for example, select Austria for Austria DST Fees).
About jurisdiction-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 jurisdictions, regardless of where your actual business is located. These surcharges are associated with the cost of doing business when an ad is served in these jurisdictions.
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When surcharges are levied
Automatic payments and 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 one up. 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 jurisdiction). 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 jurisdiction. Any taxes, such as sales tax, VAT, GST, or QST that apply in your jurisdiction 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 €7 of regulatory operating costs for ads served in Turkey, and you make a new payment for €100, you would have €93 credit towards displaying ads (€100 – €7), and your available balance would show €93.
For YouTube placements purchased on a reservation basis
We’ll add the surcharges to your YouTube placement costs once at the end of every month, to be paid the next time that you are charged. Surcharges will also be added on top of your account budget if you’ve set up one.
The new surcharges will be subject to any taxes, such as sales tax, VAT, GST, or QST that apply in your jurisdiction. Any taxes, such as sales tax, VAT, GST, or QST that apply in your jurisdiction 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 jurisdiction.
- In the “Transactions” section of your Google Ads account.
Note: The instructions below are part of the new design for the Google Ads user experience. To use the previous design, click the “Appearance” icon, and select Use previous design. If you’re using the previous version of Google Ads, review the Quick reference map or use the Search bar in the top navigation panel of Google Ads to find the page you’re searching for.
To view a DST Fee or a Regulatory Operating Cost
- In your Google Ads account, click the Billing icon
.
- Click Transactions.
How surcharges are calculated
Surcharges are levied based on the number of ad impressions or clicks that are served in a specific jurisdiction. If you advertise in several jurisdictions, you’ll only be levied a surcharge when ads have been served to people in the impacted jurisdictions. For example, If you advertise in Germany, Austria, and Poland, you’ll be levied only the surcharges that correspond to the jurisdictions where the surcharges are applicable.
It is possible for a campaign that doesn’t explicitly target a particular jurisdiction, 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 jurisdictions. Google will not refund the Regulatory Operating Costs or DST Fees that were levied as a result of legitimate clicks and impressions served according to your campaign target settings.
To check which jurisdictions your ads are served in, create a custom report using the following steps:
- Create a predefined “Distance” report.
- Remove all default rows.
- Add a “Country/Territory (user location)” row.
If you find that your ads are served in an unintended jurisdiction, it’s recommended that you explicitly exclude the jurisdiction from your target setting.