Netherlands: New tax procedure for standard refund
Effective
immediately
the Dutch Tax Authorities (DTA) have implemented a new online tool for the filing of standard reclaims of tax withheld on dividend payments.
The paper forms IB92, IB93, IB95, IB96, DIV11 and DIV16 are no longer accepted and cannot be downloaded from the website of the DTA for the purpose of standard reclaims.
Impact on customers
Customers wishing to reclaim tax on dividends through the standard refund procedure will have to provide Clearstream with the following documentation by the prescribed deadlines:
For the benefit of the Double Tax Treaty (DTT) rates:
- A Certificate of Tax Residence (COTR): COTR or 6166 for U.S. residents;
- The COTR must clearly state that the beneficial owner (BO) is a resident within the meaning of the convention between the Netherlands and the BO’s country of residence.
- The 6166 must clearly state the status or revenue code of any specific DTT provision claimed by the BO.
- A Credit Advice (CA) at the BO’s level. The CA has to be provided for each refund application. The full chain of CAs may be required in the event of an audit by the DTA; and
- A letter of request to Clearstream Banking for Standard Refund of Dutch Withholding Tax, available on our Tax Forms to use - Netherlands page.
For the benefit of the domestic law:
- A Certificate of Exemption (COE) confirming the BO’s tax exempt status;
- A CA at the BO’s level. The CA has to be provided for each refund application. The full chain of CAs may be required in the event of an audit by the DTA; and
- A letter of request to Clearstream Banking for Standard Refund of Dutch Withholding Tax, available on our Tax Forms to use - Netherlands page.
Deadline for receipt of the tax documents
The statutory deadline for reclaiming withholding tax is generally five years after the end of the calendar year in which the income is paid. However, the deadline can vary depending on the DTT of the country of residence of the beneficial owner as detailed in Appendix 1 of the Tax Guide, available on our Market Taxation Guide - Netherlands page.
The above mentioned tax documentation has to be sent to the following address at the latest two months before the relevant statutory deadline:
Clearstream Operations Prague s.r.o
Attn: PTR - Tax Services
Futurama Business Park Building B
Sokolovska 662/136b
CZ - 18600 Prague 8
Czech Republic
Validity of the COTR/COE
The DTA have provided more flexible validity rules to be applied during the transition. From a general point of view, the COTR/COE is valid one year before the year of the issuance date until one year after the year of issuance. Hence, a COTR/COE issued in 2016, should be valid from 1 January 2015 until 31 December 2017. However, the following exceptions apply:
- If a fiscal year is mentioned on the COTR/COE, it is valid from 1 January until 31 December of that year, for example, “valid for year/fiscal year 2016” then it should be valid from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016.
- If a starting date is mentioned on the COTR/COE, it is valid from that date until 31 December of the following year, for example, ”valid as of 1 January 2016” then it is valid from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017.
- If no fiscal year, nor starting date, is mentioned on the COTR/COE the validity depends if the COTR/COE has been issued during the transition period which comprises 2015 and 2016 and are considered to be part of the grace period (1 January 2011 to 31 December 2016). In that case, the COTR/COE will cover the period starting on 1 January 2011 until the 31 December of the year following the date of issuance of the document, for example, COTR/COE dated 2015, as 2015 is part of the grace period the document will be considered as valid to reclaim tax withheld from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2016. A COTR/COE dated 2017, as 2017 is not in the grace period, it will only be valid from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018.
Important note:
The usual statute of limitation rules remain valid.
Tax levied on dividends paid in 2011 can be reclaimed until 31 December 2016 at the latest for a statute of limitation of 5 years.
The original COTR/COE is needed only for the first reclaim. Soft copies are accepted for any additional reclaim filled during the period of validity of the COTR/COE for the same BO.
Audit by the DTA
In the event of an audit, the DTA may request the full chain of CAs or any other additional information. It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that they will be able to provide it within 7 calendar days prior to the deadline given by the DTA which is expected to be at most 3 weeks.
Further information
For further information, please contact the Clearstream Banking Tax Help Desk, Clearstream Banking Client Services or your Relationship Officer.
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1. Clearstream Banking refers collectively to Clearstream Banking S.A., registered office at 42, avenue John F. Kennedy, L-1855 Luxembourg, and registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register under number B-9248, and Clearstream Banking AG (for Clearstream Banking Frankfurt (CBF) customers using CreationOnline), registered office at 61, Mergenthalerallee, 65760 Eschborn, Germany and registered in Register B of the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, Germany under number HRB 7500.