Google notified advertisers in Canada they are charging a 2.5% surcharge on top of everything for buying ads on Google. This is on top of many of these advertisers losing the credit card payment option, which was as good as cash for many of them.
These surcharges for some international advertisers are not new, but they are new to Canadian advertisers.
Google calls them a “Jurisdiction-specific surcharges,” which is a made up name by Google, which Google describes as:
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.
These are the countries that have these DST fees; Austria, Canada, Spain, France, United Kingdom, India, Italy, Turkiye, and some others.
The new Canadian fees start as of October 1, 2024. Google wrote, “a 2.5% Canada DST Fee will be added to your next invoice or statement for ads served in Canada. The fees are being added to cover part of the cost of complying with Digital Services Tax legislation in Canada.”
Darcy Burk posted a screenshot of the email he received from Google on this:
Canadian advertisers are not happy about this – here are some complaints:
