The company will charge a 2% surcharge from May to its advertising customers in Spain.

Google has informed advertisers using its advertising network in Spain that it will charge a 2% surcharge on invoices as of 1 May. In this way, it is passing on to its advertising clients part of the new Tax on Certain Digital Services (IDSD), which came into force last January and levies a tax rate of 3% on advertising, intermediation and online data transmission activities.

Google explains that this 2% surcharge on invoices is due to the fact that the new tax increases the cost of digital advertising. «This additional charge is intended to cover part of the costs associated with complying with the Digital Services Tax in force in Spain,» the company said in a statement. The increase will apply to ads served in Spain, regardless of where the company is headquartered.

Google becomes the second digital giant to take such a measure. Amazon is going to charge the entirety of the so-called Google tax to SMEs that sell on the e-shop. From 1 April, the e-commerce multinational will increase the fees it charges for products sold in Spain by 3%.

Spain is not the first country in which Google is charging advertisers the cost of the new tax rates on digital activities. The search engine has implemented similar surcharges in the UK (2%), Austria (5%) and Turkey (5%) from 1 November 2020. «We encourage governments globally to pursue international tax reform within the framework of the OECD rather than implementing new levies or country-specific regulations,» the company said.

Apple has also made similar decisions in other countries. In September, it announced that it would pass on to app developers the 3% tax in France and Italy, and the 2% tax imposed in the UK. Facebook, however, has so far distanced itself from this and so far has not passed on the tax burden to advertisers.

Source: Expansión.