ADWORDS, VAT & europeans

Dear AdWords Advertiser,

We'd like to inform you of an important change to how VAT impacts
your AdWords account.

I. What has changed?

We recently reviewed your AdWords account to make sure that its
VAT setting is correct.
It was indicated previously either that your account was intended
for non-business purposes, or you have not entered a VAT ID. We
therefore have assessed VAT at the Irish standard rate (currently
21%) and added this amount to your AdWords charges.
During our review, we determined that your VAT setting was
incorrect. Your AdWords account is, in fact, used for business
purposes. This means that it is used to gain an economic advantage
by promoting goods or services on Google AdWords. Note that the
vast majority of advertisers use AdWords for business purposes,
including corporates, affiliates, sole traders, self-employed
merchants, partnerships, etc.

II. How has this affected me?

As a result of this discovery, we have switched your VAT setting
and will no longer add Irish VAT to your AdWords charges. You are
now responsible for self-assessing VAT at your country's local
rate (Ref: article 194 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC).

We will switch an AdWords account's VAT setting whenever a review
finds that the setting is incorrect. This is true even if your
AdWords account is inactive. (Rest assured that the switch will
not reactivate an inactive account.)
Please note that Google AdWords cannot provide advertisers with
VAT advice. For general information about VAT rates,
self-assessing VAT, or receiving services for a business purpose,
we recommend consulting your local tax office.

III. What should I do now?

You may be eligible for a refund of Irish VAT charged by Google
Ireland Ltd.
Please sign in to your AdWords account and update your
VAT information per the instructions at
http://adwords.google.com/support/bi...=6398&hl=en_US.
This will alert our system to check for refund eligibility as well
as ensure that we have the correct address for any refund that we
issue.
When updating your VAT information, you will need to ensure that
you have correctly completed the 'Company Name' field:

- Your account's 'Company Name' field is located on your 'Billing
Preferences' page, under 'VAT Information > Business Address.'
- Make sure that the name in this field matches the name on your
bank account.
- If you only have a bank account in your own name, you can enter
your own name in the 'Company Name' field.
- It is not a requirement for you to enter a VAT Id in your
account. However, we recommend you do, so that the Id will appear
on future invoices issued to you by Google Ireland Limited.

It's important that you follow these instructions, since any
refund check you receive will be made out to whatever you enter
under 'Company name.' You will only be able to deposit this check
in a bank account held in the same name. If you are unable to
deposit your refund check, it may take us up to three months to
issue you with a new one.
Please be sure to update your account shortly per the instructions
above. If you are eligible for a VAT refund but do not update your
account, we will send your refund check to your account's billing
address:

edited

We will send you an email if we determine that you are eligible
for a VAT refund. Due to the high volume of cases, this process
can take up to two months. We appreciate your patience.
Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team