BETTER FINANCE welcomes the European Commission’s WHT FASTER Proposal that has to potential to bring procedural progress in addressing longstanding obstacles to tax recovery for investors dealing with their cross-border investment income. We applaud an EU-wide framework to streamline withholding tax (WHT) refund modalities under common reporting, and support its digitalisation addressing the current hurdle
Many investors commonly use the strategy of investing in dividend stocks. Yet, investors holding foreign shares often have to pay additional withholding tax on dividends in the respective country. A recent survey conducted by BETTER FINANCE and DSW[1] among 3,000 investors across the EU found that withholding tax (WHT) refund procedures are cumbersome and costly,
A recent survey conducted by BETTER FINANCE and DSW among 3000 investors across the EU found that withholding tax (WHT) refund procedures are cumbersome and costly, making it difficult or financially unreasonable for non-professional investors to reclaim excess withholding tax on cross-border dividend income. More than 90% of European investors find the WHT reclaim procedure
[ARCHIVED: This survey is now closed] The refund of withholding taxes on dividends – to avoid double taxation – can be a complicated procedure for private investors/shareholders across the European Union. Many factors must be taken into account, including the tax residence of the shareholder and the country of the issuer (the listed company), administrative
Individual, non-professional (“retail”) investors are significantly demotivated or hampered from investing cross-border within the EU due to: The widespread de facto double taxation of investment income within the “Single Market” (for example the so-called Belgian-French Tax Treaty to avoid double taxation is in reality organizing the double taxation of Belgian residents holding shares of French-domiciled
At the beginning of February 2018, in support of the Capital Markets Union initiative, the European Commission released a Code of Conduct on Withholding Tax (WHT) aimed at reducing barriers hampering cross-border investments for investors by reducing the double taxation whereby the investor is taxed both at the source of the dividend as well as
An ageing population is putting pressure on European pensions systems. There is an increasing demand for a more sustainable EU-wide pensions system, and in order to meet it a regulatory overhaul is underway in the shape of the Pan- European Personal Pension Product (PEPP). While the EC has acknowledged the importance of tax relief with
Guillaume Prache, Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE, was invited to address the European Commission’s (EC) ‘Public Hearing on a simpler Withholding Tax procedure for Europe’. The EC just released a Code of Conduct on withholding tax aimed at improving the refund and/or relief at source of current withholding taxes (WHT) charged by Member States within
This is not a given, since those Member States currently avoid refunding or granting tax treaty relief at source for more than €6 billion per year according to the European Commission. In support of the Capital Markets Union initiative, this new Code of Conduct aims to reduce the barriers hampering cross-border investments for (individual) investors