Austrian Tax: Google To Raise AD Fees

American technological search engine Google will raise the cost for its advert in order to meet the Austrian tax demand effect from the second half of the year 2020.

A reliable source close to the company revealed that Austrian government has since January 1st, imposed an additional 5% levy on online advertising revenues for some big firms including Google.

The source said because of the new development, the tech giant will be adding 5% levy to the invoices of the companies in Austria whose adverts are viewed by users.

He added that the “charges will work regardless of the advertiser’s location and it will be effective from the second half of the year.” the source said.

While countries all over the world are currently debating on the new media taxation, Austrian seems to be used to the tax term for a long time now as there are constitutional backings to the online revenue law.

The Austrian law applies to firms with annual sales of more than 750 million Euros ($830 million) providing at least 25 million Euros are generated in Austria.

The government claims that the online revenue law has brought taxation equality among digital and traditional media which is already subject to the same levy on advertising revenues.

Austrian newspaper The Standard broke the story on Feb 1, publishing excerpts from a German-language email purportedly from Google to its advertisers announcing the rise in fees.