Two platforms, one country, two different taxes on your ads
Meta has started adding a location fee to ads delivered in six jurisdictions. Google has charged the same kind of surcharge since 2020. On Italy the two disagree by half a percentage point, on France by a full one, and neither of them lists Romania at all. We read both official pages on the same day, in three languages.
What changed. Meta stopped absorbing digital services taxes and now passes them to advertisers as a location fee: a separate invoice line, calculated on impressions delivered in six jurisdictions. Google has done the same since November 2020, under a different name.
Why it is not for everyone. The fee follows the audience, not the business address. Advertise only where no digital services tax applies and nothing here changes your numbers. Advertise into Italy, France or Austria and it is between two and five percent, from the first euro.
What you leave with. Both platforms' rates country by country, read on the same day from their own pages, the arithmetic on €1,000 delivered, and the two sentences that explain why an invoice can exceed the budget you set.
- On Italy the platforms disagree: Meta charges 3%, Google 2.5%.
- The fee sits outside the budget — Meta writes that the total charged „may exceed your ad budget”.
- Romania appears on neither list.
- Fees can be withdrawn: Canada left Google's list on 1 July 2025.
The half point the two platforms disagree on
A location fee is an amount a platform adds to your invoice for ads delivered in a jurisdiction that levies a digital services tax; it is calculated on impressions delivered there rather than on where your business is registered, and for Italy Meta charges 3% while Google charges 2.5%.
Both numbers come from the platforms' own help pages, read on the same day. Neither is an estimate, and the gap is not a rounding artefact: Meta anchors to the headline rate of the national tax, Google to what it calls a regulatory operating cost, which recovers part of its compliance cost rather than the whole levy. Same country, same month, two different percentages on the same media spend.
Six jurisdictions, four different rates
The fee Meta adds on top of delivery cost, by jurisdiction. Romania is in the chart precisely because it is not on the list — it is the reference point.
Sources: Meta Business Help Centre and Google Ads Help, both read on 2 September 2026 in English, Italian and Romanian · cittago.com
| % of delivery cost | |
|---|---|
| Austria | 5.0 % |
| Türkiye | 5.0 % |
| France | 3.0 % |
| Italy | 3.0 % |
| Spain | 3.0 % |
| United Kingdom | 2.0 % |
| Romania | 0.0 % |
Meta's page states the principle in a sentence worth reading twice: location fees are «determined by where your audience is located and your ads are delivered (ad impressions), not your business location». Google's page says almost the same thing: the surcharge «applies every time an ad is served in specific jurisdictions, regardless of where your actual business is located».
It sits outside the budget, and the platform says so
Anyone running campaigns thinks in monthly budgets. The location fee breaks that habit, and Meta writes it plainly: «Your ad budget or spend cap doesn't cover any location fees that may be charged for your ad purchases depending on the location of your audience.» And directly after: «If you're subject to a location fee, the total amount that you're charged, including those fees, may exceed your ad budget.»
The worked example is Meta's own: «if you deliver USD 100 in ads to Italy (with a 3% location fee), you will be charged USD 100 (ad delivery), plus USD 3 (location fee), for USD 103 total». The fee appears as a distinct line item on the invoice, broken down by country.
Meta notes that «your ad spend remains the same and the fee is added after your ads have been delivered». So the cost per result you read inside Ads Manager excludes the fee, while the cost the business actually pays includes it. At 3% the gap is invisible per result and plain at year end.
On €1,000 delivered, the invoice moves by €50 between markets
What you are charged for €1,000 of ads actually delivered, at the rates published on both official pages. No modelling: it is a multiplication.
Sources: Meta Business Help Centre and Google Ads Help, both read on 2 September 2026 in English, Italian and Romanian · cittago.com
| € charged | |
|---|---|
| Romania | €1,000 |
| Italy · Google | €1,025 |
| Italy · Meta | €1,030 |
| Austria · Meta | €1,050 |
Google has charged this since 2020
The mechanism is not new; Meta joining it is. Google's «Jurisdiction-specific surcharges» page lists each surcharge with the date it started, and the spread of those dates is the story: Austria and the United Kingdom from November 2020, France from May 2021, Italy and Spain from July 2024. Advertisers buying in the same countries have been paying one of these for years without reading the line.
Two of these rates went down, not up
Google Ads surcharges by jurisdiction, with the start date given on its help page. Canada is the only case so far of a surcharge being withdrawn.
Sources: Meta Business Help Centre and Google Ads Help, both read on 2 September 2026 in English, Italian and Romanian · cittago.com
| % of delivery cost | |
|---|---|
| Austria · Nov 2020 | 5.0 % |
| Türkiye · Jan 2026 | 4.5 % |
| Spain · Jul 2024 | 3.0 % |
| Italy · Jul 2024 | 2.5 % |
| France · May 2021 | 2.0 % |
| United Kingdom · Nov 2020 | 2.0 % |
| Canada · ended 2025 | 0.0 % |
| Country | Meta | Google Ads |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | 5% | 5% |
| Türkiye | 5% | 4.5% |
| France | 3% | 2% |
| Italy | 3% | 2.5% |
| Spain | 3% | 3% |
| United Kingdom | 2% | 2% |
| Romania | — | — |
| Canada | — | ended 1 July 2025 |
One note of method, about a date that does not line up. Google's page says that «beginning July 1, 2025, ads served in Canada are no longer subject to the 2.5% DST fee», following Canada's official repeal of the digital services tax «on March 26, 2026». The withdrawal precedes by eight months the repeal that justifies it. That is the order events happened in rather than a typo, but if you quote the line, quote all of it.
What the fee covers, and what it does not
Meta's FAQ settles three practical questions. The fee applies «regardless of format (image or video)» and includes «WhatsApp click to message campaigns and marketing messages that are currently invoiced together with ads»; it does not apply to other WhatsApp paid messaging. It applies whatever your payment method. And coupons apply to the total invoice — delivery cost plus fee — with the coupon value split proportionally between them.
What we could not establish, and it matters to anyone doing the sums: none of the three language versions of Meta's page mentions VAT. How the fee enters the taxable base is a question for your accountant, looking at an actual invoice, not for an article.
Where the fee shows up, and where it does not
This is the first question people ask, and the answer explains why the fee went unnoticed in many companies for two months. Meta writes that «you will see a clear breakdown of these fees by country or region from your invoice or transaction statement». The operative word is invoice: the fee does not appear in Ads Manager, does not enter the campaign spend columns, and is absent from every report exported out of the platform.
That opens a gap between two numbers that ought to match inside a company: the spend the marketing lead reports for the month, and the amount that reaches finance. Neither of them is wrong. There is an extra row, with a name neither has seen before, and in a 3% market it is thirty euros in every thousand.
- In Ads Manager: absent. Reported spend stays as delivered, without the fee.
- In billing and payments: present, as a distinct line item, broken down by country.
- On the PDF invoice: present, and this is the document finance works from. If you reconcile ad spend at month end, this is where the two numbers line up again.
Why two platforms charge different rates on one country
On the same Italy, in the same month, Meta charges 3% and Google 2.5%. The gap is not one of them getting it wrong; it follows from what each decided to call the charge. Meta speaks of location fees «to cover digital service taxes (DST) and other location-based fees imposed on Meta in those jurisdictions», and takes the headline rate of the national tax.
Google, across the same continental European jurisdictions, uses the phrase «regulatory operating costs», and its page describes them as covering «part of the costs associated with complying» with the legislation. Part, not all — and a rate below the levy follows from that. In the two countries where Google instead uses the words «DST fee», Austria and the United Kingdom, the two platforms' rates match exactly, at 5% and 2%. The difference in naming and the difference in number travel together, which is the most useful thing to know when predicting what happens as another country joins the list.
What these numbers do NOT say
- They do not say what you will pay in total: that depends on what share of your delivery lands in each country, and targeting decides that share, not the rate.
- They say nothing about VAT. None of the three language versions of Meta's page mentions it, and we found no Meta page explaining how the fee enters the taxable base.
- They do not carry over to other platforms. TikTok, LinkedIn and Amazon have their own policies, which we did not verify for this article and which should not be inferred from these two.
- They are not stable. Meta writes that the list «may change over time», and in two years Google raised Spain, cut Türkiye and closed Canada.
- They do not say whether to move budget between countries. A market with a lower fee but customers worth less is still the worse market, and three percentage points do not overturn that.
What to do, in order
- Open a recent invoice, not Ads Manager. The line exists only there, with the country breakdown.
- Recalculate the annual budget by multiplying the spend delivered in each country by its rate. €2,000 a month into Italy is €720 a year on Meta.
- Look at where your audience actually is, not at the market you think you target. An Italian-language campaign that also reaches Austria carries 5% on that share.
- Compare platforms on the same country only after adding the fee. Half a point will not decide a channel, but it belongs in the right column.
- Diary a re-read in twelve months. The lists change, and Canada shows the change can go either way.
Who needs to do nothing
If your audience sits entirely in Romania, Germany, Poland or the United States, none of this changes your numbers: none of those countries is on either list. If you are considering opening Italy, France or Austria, put the fee in the plan from month one, because it is a flat percentage and cannot be optimised: it does not depend on how the campaign performs, only on where it is seen.
It is also why, when we set up a Meta Ads campaign for a business selling into several countries, the geographic split of the budget is decided before the creative work starts. It changes the real cost of a contact, and it changes it before the first euro is spent.
Glossary
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Location fee | The amount Meta adds for ads delivered in a jurisdiction with a digital services tax. A separate line item, calculated on impressions. |
| Regulatory operating cost | Google Ads' name for the same thing in France, Spain and Italy. In Austria and the UK it calls it a DST fee. |
| DST | Digital services tax: the national levy on digital revenue that platforms now pass on to advertisers. |
| Impression | One view of the ad. It is the unit the fee is calculated on, which is why the viewer's location decides the rate. |
| Distinct line item | The row separate from delivery cost. It does not appear in campaign reporting. |
Three thresholds, to place yourself
- Under €500 a month delivered into a fee jurisdiction. Under €15 a month. Worth knowing, not worth managing.
- Between €500 and €5,000 a month. €15 to €150 a month, up to €1,800 a year: it belongs in the annual budget and in the margin per contact.
- Over €5,000 a month across several countries. Here the geographic split becomes a real lever: the same spend delivered into different markets produces different invoices for the same result.
Every rate on this page is the one published on 2 September 2026. We will talk about this again in 3–6 months 😉
Questions nobody has actually asked us
The page is new, so these are the questions we expect from businesses advertising in more than one country.
What are Meta location fees?
They are amounts Meta adds to your invoice for ads delivered in jurisdictions that levy a digital services tax. They appear as a line item separate from the ad cost and are calculated on impressions delivered there. Meta notes that «until now, Meta has covered these additional costs».
Which countries and what rates?
From Meta's page: Austria 5%, France 3%, Italy 3%, Spain 3%, Türkiye 5%, United Kingdom 2%. Meta adds that «the list of jurisdictions and rates may change over time». Romania is not on the list, and neither is Germany, Poland or the United States.
Do I pay if my company is not based in one of those countries?
Yes, if your ads are seen there. Meta writes that fees are «determined by where your audience is located and your ads are delivered (ad impressions), not your business location». It works the other way too: a business in a fee jurisdiction advertising only into Romania pays nothing.
Is the fee included in my campaign budget?
No, and this is the part that surprises people. Meta writes that your budget or spend cap «doesn't cover any location fees», and that the total charged «may exceed your ad budget». The spend shown in Ads Manager stays as set; the fee arrives afterwards, on the invoice.
How much is it on €2,000 a month delivered into Italy?
€60 a month on Meta at 3%, or €720 a year. On Google, at 2.5%, €50 a month and €600 a year. These are multiplications of the published rates, not estimates.
Does Google Ads charge the same rates?
Not everywhere. On Italy Google charges 2.5% against Meta's 3%, on France 2% against 3%, on Türkiye 4.5% against 5%. On Austria and the United Kingdom they match. Google has applied these since November 2020; Meta joined in 2026.
Does the fee apply to WhatsApp campaigns?
Only partly. Meta's FAQ says it includes «WhatsApp click to message campaigns and marketing messages that are currently invoiced together with ads», and that it does not apply to other WhatsApp paid messaging.
Do coupons cover the fee?
Yes. Meta writes that coupons apply to the total invoice amount — ad delivery cost plus location fee — and that the coupon value is split proportionally between the two.
Can a surcharge be removed?
It has already happened. Google's page says that «beginning July 1, 2025, ads served in Canada are no longer subject to the 2.5% DST fee», after Canada repealed its digital services tax. It is the only case so far, and the reason to re-read both pages once a year.
Last updated: 2 September 2026. Rates and quotations come from «About location fees for ads on Meta platforms» in the Meta Business Help Centre and «Jurisdiction-specific surcharges» in Google Ads Help, both read on 2 September 2026 with a real browser, in their English, Italian and Romanian versions. The 1 July 2026 start date for Meta's fees does not appear on the help page, which carries no date: it comes from Meta's advertiser notifications and was reported by the trade press in March 2026. None of the three language versions of Meta's page mentions VAT. We update this page when a rate or the country list changes.
Sources: Meta, about location fees for ads · Google Ads, jurisdiction-specific surcharges · eMarketer, Meta passes location fees onto businesses
