Google’s billing system can be a bit confusing. It can be overwhelming when you receive your first one. However, once you get used to how it works and how to read one of their invoices, its not so bad.
Here we explain how to read an invoice from Google.
Google collects payments every time your Google ads account reaches the payment threshold, which is usually between £150-£500 OR every time you complete a 30 day cycle. It depends on whichever occurs first.
This often means that what you spend on a Google ads campaign during a month is different from the payment Google takes. This is why the invoice can be hard to read.
Each Google invoice is split across two pages (Please see the images in this article for reference).
Page 1
The first page contains information such as:
- Your address
- The invoice number
- Invoice Date
- Billing ID
- Total cost of clicks accumulated during that month
The total cost of clicks accumulated during that month will be different from the value of the payments you made during that month. To view payments, you will need to explore the 2nd page.
Page 2
The second page of the invoice covers two sections
The first is called Record of Costs and Taxes. This provides details of the total cost of clicks accumulated during that month. In other words, this is the same as the amount shown on page one.
The second section is called Record of Payments Received and provides details of the payments you made, including when they were made, how much for and to which account.
Both of these elements should be used for your accounting. However, if you want to keep track of your payments, you should review the last section of the 2nd page called Record of Payments Received.
If you have any questions regarding your Google invoices, get in touch with the DBS team.
