Google Announces Starting November 1st, Advertisers in the UK, Austria and Turkey Will Be Absorbing the New Digital Service Tax Costs

Following suit with Amazon’s move, advertisers in the UK, Turkey, and Austria are going to feel the impact of the UK’s new Digital Service Tax (DST). The additional cost will be passed directly through to advertisers. The fees will kick in starting November 1. Advertisers running ads in Austria and Turkey will have a 5% tax, and advertisers in the UK will have 2%. The main target of the DST are the large digital media companies, namely Google, Amazon, and Facebook. The threshold is for digital companies that have at least £500m in revenue, and specifically £25m in the UK. Amazon announced the increase in August, with a start date of September 1. Their fee applies to a range of their services, which differs some from a more straightforward ad environment such as Google Ads. Due to their e-commerce footprint, the fees applied will include FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) and fulfillment fees. Facebook hasn’t issued a statement yet, but it’s widely expected they will issue a similar statement and process.