Poland: Extension of quick refund service
Effective
1 January 2015
following the amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Law and Personal Income Tax Law, local custodians and local brokers will become tax remitters for withholding tax on all dividends and all interest payments. Currently, local custodians and local brokers are already tax remitters for T-Bonds.
However, the issuers remain tax remitters for the corporate, municipal and mortgage debt instruments issued until the end of 2014 and until their redemption.
This is further to our announcement A14133 dated 14 October 2014
Impact on customers
As a consequence of the amendment to the law, our local depository Citi Handlowy will offer a Quick Tax Refund service for all interests and dividends paid as of 1 January 2014 and for which they are considered as tax remitter.
A quick tax refund service is already available interest and redemptions on T-Bonds
Quick refund
For payments made from 1 January 2015, a quick refund of withholding tax will be available for beneficial owners eligible for tax relief if the required certification has not been provided within the relief at source deadlines.
Eligibility criteria
The eligibility criteria are the same as for relief at source. Please refer to our announcement A12087 dated 17 November 2013 for full details
Documentation requirements
In order to obtain a quick refund on all interest (except for Corporate, Municipal and Mortgage bonds issued until 31 December 2014), redemptions and dividends paid from 1 January 2015, customers of Clearstream Banking1 must provide the required documentation within the prescribed deadlines. Documentation is the same as for relief at source, please refer to our announcement A12087 dated 17 November 2013 for full details.
Important: the validity of the certificate of residence (COR) has been clarified by the new regulations. From 4 January 2015, a COR issued without any validity period will be considered as valid for twelve months from the date of issuance. However the validity period, if mentioned, will always supersede the issuance date. Please refer to our announcement A14133 for full details.
Deadline for quick refund
Our depository is still reviewing the deadlines that will be applicable from 1 January 2015. We will inform customers as soon as they are available.
Specific treatment of Corporate, Municipal and Mortgage bonds
As explained above, for securities that were issued before 31 December 2014, the issuer will remain tax remitter until the redemption of the security.
Therefore, no quick refund on these bonds will be offered by our local depository and the procedure in place just now remains applicable.
Our local depository has identified the following four securities issued before the end of 2014 and for which the issuer remains tax remitter:
Note: This list is non-exhaustive and may be updated from time to time.
PLRHNHP00359 EUR FL.R MBANK HIPOTECZNY 14-2018
PLRHNHP00367 EUR 3,50 MBANK HIPOTECZNY 14-2029
PLRHNHP00375 EUR 3,50 MBANK HIPOTECZNY 14-2029
PLRHNHP00417 EUR 1,115 MBANK HIPOTECZNY 14-2018
Important
For these securities, the documentation requirements, deadlines and possibility to have a quick refund will depend on the decisions of the issuers.
We expect to receive the information at the earliest 21 days before the event payment date and will inform our customers accordingly upon receipt of full details.
Further information
For further information, please contact the Clearstream Banking Tax Help Desk, Clearstream Banking Client Services or your Relationship Officer.
__________
1. Clearstream Banking refers collectively to Clearstream Banking AG, registered office at 61, Mergenthalerallee, 65760 Eschborn, Germany and registered in Register B of the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, Germany under number HRB 7500, and 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.