France: Reminder: Annual renewal of Form 5000 and Form RPPM for relief at source on French dividend income
Renewal of Form 5000
Customers of Clearstream Banking1 are reminded that if you use the simplified procedure to claim relief at source from tax withheld on dividends, you must renew Form 5000 certifying the residence status of the beneficial owner for 2016 according to the existing procedure for non-resident beneficial owners whose country of residence has a Double Taxation Treaty (DTT) with France.
For beneficial owners to benefit from this relief at source for the calendar year 2016, a renewed Form 5000 (Dividends - simplified procedure) must be filed as soon as possible, butno later than 09:00 CET 10 business days before the first dividend payment date to which it applies. The Form 5000 must be dated before the first relevant dividend payment in 2016.
Certification specifics for customers
As a general statement, in order to provide more flexibility in investment, to avoid an uncertified period and thereby to ensure relief at source on eligible dividend payments for all certified beneficial owners, customers are strongly recommended to start the renewal procedure, if appropriate, as early as possible in the first quarter of 2016. However, please see below specific requirements related to the potential previous certification or the particular status of the beneficial owner:
- For all beneficial owners who have not filed a Form 5000 in 2015
Beneficial owners for whom a Form 5000 for 2015 has not been submitted are reminded that the form, duly completed, signed and stamped, must be received as soon as possible,but no later than 09:00 CET 10 business days before the first dividend payment to which it applies. - For beneficial owners who have filed a Form 5000 in 2015
For beneficial owners for whom a Form 5000 for 2015 has been submitted, its validity will be extended according to the following general rules:- A Form 5000 submitted in 2015 remains valid until 31 March 2016 on the condition that we receive a new Form 5000, duly completed, signed and stamped by the local tax authorities of the final beneficial owner before the end of March 2016.
- The payments of the first quarter of 2016 are certified and relief at source will be applied, based on the form received in 2015. However, if no new Form 5000 is submitted by the end of March 2016, reversals will be required for this payment period.
- For beneficial owners that are covered by a DTT with France and are investment companies or hold funds under an investment scheme
As the collective entitlement of such companies and funds to DTT benefits are limited to the proportion of their unit/shareholders that are residents of their home country (that is, the country for which the DTT benefit is claimed), this percentage must be 100 in order to be eligible for the simplified procedure.
An eligible beneficial owner that is a collective investment scheme must, in most cases2, fill in Box VII of Form 5000 to certify the percentage of shareholders eligible under the respective DTT during the accounting period in which the profit was realised (that is, directly prior before the dividend payment period).
Note: The accounting period may not correspond to a calendar year and so multiple Forms 5000 may be required. In such a case, on condition that a Form 5000 signed by the local tax authorities is already in place for the calendar year, the newly submitted Form 5000 can be signed and dated by the beneficial owner/representative only (that is, not by the local tax authorities). - For specific entities for which a specific attestation is required by the French Tax Authorities
The same renewal procedure as explained above applies to specific attestations implemented by the French Tax Authorities and required to be filed by particular foreign entities such as funds, trusts, etc. Depending on the beneficial owner’s country of residence, such attestations may be required in addition to the Form 5000 or may replace it.
Important note:
Customers are reminded that the same tax certificate cannot be used to serve both the Clearstream Banking AG (CBF) CASCADE platform and the Clearstream Banking S.A. (CBL) Creation platform. Any certificate submitted must clearly indicate whether it applies to a CASCADE account or to a Creation account. Any certificate for which such information is not provided or in which both CBF and CBL accounts are specified will be rejected.
Renewal of Form RPPM
For Collective Investment Vehicles (CIVs), relief at source from withholding tax is only granted upon submission of the new Form RPPM, which replaces Form 5000. Beneficial owners that have already sent a Form 5000 for 2015 and want to claim exemption based on their CIV status will have to send a Form RPPM instead as Form 5000 will not be considered.
Customers are kindly requested to ensure that a Form RPPM is submitted by 10:00 CET no later than 7 business days before the first dividend payment date to which it applies. The Form RPPM must be dated before the first relevant dividend payment in 2016.
Certification specifics for customers
In order to provide more flexibility in investment, to avoid an uncertified period and thereby to ensure relief at source on eligible dividend payments for all certified beneficial owners, customers are strongly recommended to start the renewal procedure, if appropriate, as early as possible in the first quarter of 2016.
- For all CIVs that have not filed a Form RPPM in 2015
All CIVs that have not filed a Form RPPM in 2015 are reminded that the form, duly completed, signed and stamped, must be received as soon as possible, no lat later than 7 business days before the first dividend payment to which it applies. - For beneficial owners that have filed a Form RPPM in/before 2015
For beneficial owners for whom a Form RPPM for/before 2015 has been submitted, its validity depends on the status of the CIV, as follows:- If the CIV is considered as a UCIT IV, the Form RPPM submitted in/before 2015 remains valid until revoked.
- If the CIV is considered as an AIF, the Form RPPM submitted in/before 2015 remains valid until 31 December 2015 and must be renewed no later than 7 business days before the first relevant dividend payment in 2016.
Further information
For further information about the withholding tax procedures for French equities, please refer to the Clearstream Banking Market Taxation Guide - France.
Customers may contact the Clearstream Banking Tax Help Desk or Clearstream Banking Client Services or their Relationship Officer.
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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.
2. For Investment companies and funds from Spain, the U.S.A. and Trinidad and Tobago, treaty benefits apply, as indicated in the notes accompanying Form 5000, to all French-source income and, consequently, in these cases, Box VII of Form 5000 should not be filled in.