What To Know About New Google Ads Fee in Canada
If you use Google Ads to reach web surfers in Canada, you need to know about surcharges the company has just introduced. These fees, called Canada DST fees, will apply whenever an ad is shown in Canada—even for businesses that aren’t based in the country. Google states that it’s implementing the fees to make up for the extra costs of serving ads in Canadian jurisdictions, which are largely a result of Canada’s Digital Services Tax Act. The tech company will start charging these fees Oct. 1, 2024.
How Much More Will You Pay for Google Ads in Canada?
The surcharges will raise your bills for Canadian ads by 2.5%. This applies to all Google ad types, including YouTube advertisements. Because many countries have introduced digital service taxes, Google has created surcharges for ads placed in several other nations, too. However, the fee percentage varies from country to country. If your company advertises worldwide, you must check the fee amounts in each country separately to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Canada DST Fee Billing Details:
- Monthly billing and automatic payments: At the end of each month, Google will add the new fee to your advertising account. The payment will be due the next time you’re charged.
- Manual payments and prepayments: If you use manual payments or prepay, Google might add surcharges after your funds are gone. This could leave you with an open balance that Google will subtract from your next payment.
- Reservation-based payments: As with monthly billing and automatic payments, you’ll see the surcharges added at the end of every month. The fees will be due the next time Google charges you.
These new fees won’t fall within the budget you’ve already set up. Instead, Google will add them as an additional charge. For instance, if someone with a budget of $200 accrued $5 in surcharges, they’d need to pay $205. The company encourages advertisers to readjust their budgets to accommodate this change.
Additionally, all taxes in relevant Canadian jurisdictions will apply to DST fees, so you’ll want to factor that into your budget adjustment as well. Surcharges applied to your account will be visible in your invoice as individual line items for each jurisdiction–for example, if you place ads in both Canada and the United Kingdom, you’ll see “Canada DST fee” and “United Kingdom DST fee” on separate lines of your invoice. You’ll also find them in your account’s Transactions section.
What Next?
Fortunately, leaders at Google understand that this will be an adjustment for advertisers. The Report Builder tool now includes metrics showing regulatory operating costs in CAD, the advertiser’s currency, and each relevant nation’s currency. This will help advertisers keep track of fees for each campaign. Display & Video 360, Google’s unified platform for managing ads, can make individualized reports showing advertisers where Google is serving their ads.
The detailed information will make it easy to identify whether ads are being served in countries outside a company’s target market, allowing advertisers to exclude those countries from the list of those where their ads can be served. Last but not least, remember to edit your budget to account for the new surcharges by Oct. 1.
