diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/StorageApiWriteUnshardedRecords.java b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/StorageApiWriteUnshardedRecords.java
index 2dfc8b2f1c00..e639b5812d24 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/StorageApiWriteUnshardedRecords.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/StorageApiWriteUnshardedRecords.java
@@ -792,9 +792,17 @@ long flush(
 
               // Maximum number of times we retry before we fail the work item.
               if (failedContext.failureCount > allowedRetry) {
-                throw new RuntimeException(
+                String errorMessage =
                     String.format(
-                        "More than %d attempts to call AppendRows failed.", allowedRetry));
+                        "More than %d attempts to call AppendRows failed. Last encountered error: %s",
+                        allowedRetry, error != null ? error.toString() : "unknown");
+                if (statusCode == Status.Code.PERMISSION_DENIED
+                    || statusCode == Status.Code.NOT_FOUND) {
+                  errorMessage +=
+                      ". Please check if the destination table exists and if the service account has the "
+                          + "bigquery.tables.updateData permission.";
+                }
+                throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, error);
               }
 
               // The following errors are known to be persistent, so always fail the work item in
diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/StorageApiWritesShardedRecords.java b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/StorageApiWritesShardedRecords.java
index b644d7aa752c..188f393dbe8c 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/StorageApiWritesShardedRecords.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/StorageApiWritesShardedRecords.java
@@ -1066,7 +1066,25 @@ public void process(
 
         if (numAppends > 0) {
           initializeContexts.accept(contexts);
-          retryManager.run(true);
+          try {
+            retryManager.run(true);
+          } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+            throw e;
+          } catch (Exception e) {
+            Status.Code statusCode = Status.fromThrowable(e).getCode();
+            String errorMessage =
+                String.format(
+                    "More than %d attempts to call AppendRows failed. Last encountered error: %s",
+                    maxRetries, e.toString());
+            if (statusCode == Status.Code.PERMISSION_DENIED
+                || statusCode == Status.Code.NOT_FOUND) {
+              errorMessage +=
+                  ". Please check if the destination table exists and if the service account has the "
+                      + "bigquery.tables.updateData permission.";
+            }
+            throw new RuntimeException(errorMessage, e);
+          }
 
           appendSplitDistribution.update(numAppends);
           if (autoUpdateSchema) {
diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/testing/FakeDatasetService.java b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/testing/FakeDatasetService.java
index 814f4eec421f..6c0d97fbc6b8 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/testing/FakeDatasetService.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/testing/FakeDatasetService.java
@@ -238,6 +238,13 @@ void commit() {
 
   Function<TableRow, Boolean> shouldFailRow =
       (Function<TableRow, Boolean> & Serializable) tr -> false;
+
+  private volatile Throwable appendRowsError = null;
+
+  public void setAppendRowsError(Throwable t) {
+    this.appendRowsError = t;
+  }
+
   Map<String, List<String>> insertErrors = Maps.newHashMap();
 
   // The counter for the number of insertions performed.
@@ -801,6 +808,9 @@ Exceptions.StorageException tryInitialize() throws Exception {
       @Override
       public ApiFuture<AppendRowsResponse> appendRows(long offset, ProtoRows rows)
           throws Exception {
+        if (appendRowsError != null) {
+          return ApiFutures.immediateFailedFuture(appendRowsError);
+        }
         // The BigQuery client returns stream-open errors when the first append is called, so we
         // duplicate that here.
         Exceptions.StorageException storageException = tryInitialize();
diff --git a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/BigQueryIOWriteTest.java b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/BigQueryIOWriteTest.java
index 601ed71473ed..0581e00fe558 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/BigQueryIOWriteTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/google-cloud-platform/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/gcp/bigquery/BigQueryIOWriteTest.java
@@ -1659,6 +1659,48 @@ public void testStreamingStorageApiWriteWithErrorHandling() throws Exception {
     storageWriteWithErrorHandling(false);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testStorageApiWriteFailureExhaustedRetries() throws Exception {
+    assumeTrue(useStorageApi);
+
+    // Set up fake dataset service to return PERMISSION_DENIED for appendRows
+    fakeDatasetService.setAppendRowsError(
+        new io.grpc.StatusRuntimeException(
+            io.grpc.Status.PERMISSION_DENIED.withDescription("Missing permissions")));
+
+    List<Integer> elements = Lists.newArrayList(1, 2, 3);
+
+    BigQueryIO.Write<Integer> write =
+        BigQueryIO.<Integer>write()
+            .to("project-id:dataset-id.table-id")
+            .withCreateDisposition(BigQueryIO.Write.CreateDisposition.CREATE_NEVER)
+            .withFormatFunction(
+                (SerializableFunction<Integer, TableRow>)
+                    input -> new TableRow().set("number", input))
+            .withSchema(
+                new TableSchema()
+                    .setFields(
+                        ImmutableList.of(
+                            new TableFieldSchema().setName("number").setType("INTEGER"))))
+            .withTestServices(fakeBqServices)
+            .withoutValidation();
+
+    if (useStreaming) {
+      write = write.withTriggeringFrequency(Duration.standardSeconds(30));
+    }
+
+    PCollection<Integer> input = p.apply(Create.of(elements).withCoder(BigEndianIntegerCoder.of()));
+    input.apply("WriteToBQ", write);
+
+    thrown.expect(RuntimeException.class);
+    thrown.expectMessage("More than");
+    thrown.expectMessage("attempts to call AppendRows failed");
+    thrown.expectMessage("PERMISSION_DENIED");
+    thrown.expectMessage("bigquery.tables.updateData");
+
+    p.run().waitUntilFinish();
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testStreamingStorageApiWriteWithAutoShardingWithErrorHandling() throws Exception {
     assumeTrue(useStreaming);