Amendment and new validity period for One-Time Certificates
LuxCSD1 informs clients that, as part of our ongoing efforts to maintain compliance, ensure accuracy of the certification and improve operational efficiency, the One-Time Certificates (OTCs), hereby referring to all account level tax certification (for example, Master Instruction, Master Representation, Letter of Indemnity), all designated as the “OTC” are being progressively updated with additional beneficial owner disclaimers and a new validity of five years.
Effective
according to the remediation plan below.
Background
The changes to the OTCs will be gradually implemented to allow clients a smooth transition until June 2026. Priority will be given to certificates used for own assets accounts and the markets on which the publication of new or amended OTCs is required, for example, new Clearstream Europe AG OTC required within the UNO project.
The amendments consist of:
- Update of the validity of all OTC’s (for own assets and third-party accounts):
The validity will be amended for a five-year period for each existing and new OTC. For some markets, the validity may be less than five years. In such cases, a market-specific announcement will be published to inform clients of the applicable validity.
Before this change, the OTCs are generally considered valid until revoked. - A disclaimer will be added in the relevant sections of the OTC’s dedicated to clients that are entitled to the application of withholding tax at the reduced tax rate due to its status as a beneficial owner of the income. The aim of this disclaimer is to ensure, among other points, that the account owner qualifies as the beneficial owner of the income for withholding tax purposes and that the related tax relief entitlement is not restricted by any contractual obligation such as a lending or collateral arrangement.
Remediation plan for the validity update of existing OTCs
Clients will have the new validity applied to their existing OTCs as per the guidelines below, starting with own assets OTCs, followed by client’s assets OTCs:
Current OTC validity start datea | Effective new OTC validity end date | Example |
More than 5 years prior to the publication date of this client announcement date | 6 or 9b months after publication date of this announcement. | OTC with current validity start date = 15/03/2015 à new effective validity end date on |
Less than 5 years prior to this client announcement date; and with a foreseen new validity end date less than 6 months after publication of this announcement | 6 or 9b months after publication date of this announcement. | OTC with current validity start date = 15/03/2021 à new foreseen end date = 14/03/2026 (= less than 6M after publication date of this announcement) à new effective end date = 6M or 9M after publication date of this announcement |
Less than 5 years prior publication date of this announcement date and with a foreseen end date more than 6 months after publication date of this announcement | 5 years after current registered validity start date | Current OTC with start date = 01/10/2024 a new end date = 30/09/2029 (= 5 years after current registered validity start date) |
a. Clients can find the current validity start date of their existing OTCs in Xact Web Portal.
b. Six months for own assets, nine months for third party assets, unless mentioned otherwise in a dedicated market announcement or in an update to this announcement.
Important Note:
- LuxCSD will release specific MT568 messages to the clients informing them of the expiry or new validity of their OTC, when applicable.
- CEU 6-series accounts are not part of the remediation plan due to their decommissioning within UNO project.
- The above remediation plan may be adapted if needed for specific markets. In such cases, a separate announcement will be published.
Update of the OTC templates
All existing OTCs will be gradually amended and new templates published with the new validity of five years and with the new beneficial owner disclaimer, as applicable. Following the above changes, clients are informed that the following OTCs have been updated accordingly:
Market | Form | CEU | CBL and 6-series accounts if applicable | LuxCSD |
Australia | Request for Application of a Reduced Rate of Australian Withholding Tax on Dividends | x | x | |
Australia | Request for Application of a Reduced Rate of Australian Withholding Tax on Interest Payments | x | x | |
Belgium | One-Time Certificate for Belgian Debt Securities integrated into the X/N System of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) | x | x | x |
Bulgaria | One-Time Certificate for Bulgarian Withholding Tax Purposes | x | ||
Canada | One-Time Certificate – Canadian Equities and Trust Instruments – Own Assets | x | x |
|
Canada | One-Time Certificate – Canadian Equities and Trust Instruments – Swiss Intermediary | x | x | |
Czech Republic | One-Time Certificate for Czech Republic Withholding Tax Purposes regarding Debt Securities and Equities held in Clearstream Banking | x | ||
Czech Republic | One-Time Certification for taxable Czech Eurobonds issued as of 1 January 2022 | x | ||
Estonia | One-Time Certificate for Estonian equities | x | x | x |
Finland | One-Time Certificate Publicly Listed Finnish Equities – Own asset client assuming AI responsibility and liability for its own assets | x | x | x |
Finland | One-Time Certificate Publicly Listed Finnish Equities – Own assets | x | x | x |
Finland | One-Time Certificate for Finnish Treasury bills denominated in | x | ||
France | One-Time Certificate – French client | x | x | x |
France | One-Time Certificate for French securities | x | x | x |
Iceland | One-Time Certificate for Icelandic Banks complying with Article 3.2 of Act No 94/1996 | x | ||
Ireland | One-Time Certificate for Irish domestic equities | x | ||
Ireland | One-Time Certificate for Irish Securities deposited outside Ireland | x | ||
Israel | Israeli Securities – One-Time Certificate | x | ||
Italy | Master Instruction | x | x | x |
Italy | One-Time Certificate for Italian Equities | x | x | x |
Italy | One-Time Certificate for Italian securities | x | x | x |
Italy | Letter of Indemnity from an Italian Client – Italian Bonds | x | x | x |
Italy | Letter of Indemnity from a Non-Italian Client – Italian Bonds | x | x | x |
Italy | Letter of Indemnity from an Italian Beneficial Owner – Italian Bonds | x | x | x |
Italy | Letter of Indemnity from an Italian Bank - Italian Bonds | x | x | x |
Italy | Letter of Indemnity from an Italian Company – Italian Bonds | x | x | x |
Italy | Letter of Indemnity from an Italian Fiduciary Company – Italian Bonds | x | x | x |
Japan | Master Representation for Debt Obligations issued outside Japan before 1 April 2010 (CBL) | x | ||
Japan | Master Representation for Debt Obligations issued outside Japan before 1 April 2010 (CEU) | x | ||
Japan | Master Representation for Debt Obligations issued outside Japan on or after 1 April 2010 (CBL) | x | ||
Japan | Master Representation for Debt Obligations issued outside Japan on or after 1 April 2010 (CEU) | x | ||
Japan | One-Time Certificate for Japanese ADRs | x | ||
Japan | One-Time Certificate for Japanese Listed Equities, ETFs and REITs – Own Assets Only | x | ||
Japan | One-Time Certificate of Residence in Japan – Designated Financial Institutions | x | ||
Japan | Request to Clearstream Banking to Obtain Treaty Relief on Japanese Convertible Bonds | x | ||
Japan | Samurai Bonds – One-Time Certificate of Residence in Japan – Corporations | x | ||
Japan | Samurai Bonds – One-Time Certificate of Residence outside Japan | x | ||
Malta | One-Time Certificate for Maltese debt securities | x | x | x |
New Zealand | One-Time Certification for New Zealand Government Debt Securities and other New Zealand Domestic Debt Securities governed by the Approved Issuer Levy Regime | x | ||
New Zealand | One-Time Certificate for Non-Resident Withholding Tax (NRWT) Regime on New Zealand Domestic Debt Securities | x | ||
New Zealand | Request for Application of a Reduced Rate of New Zealand Withholding Tax on Equities | x | ||
Norway | One-Time Certificate for Norwegian Equities | x | x | |
Poland | One-Time Certificate for Polish Debt Securities | x | ||
Poland | One-Time Certificate for Polish Equities | x | ||
Poland | One-Time Certificate for Polish T-Bonds | x | ||
Poland | One-Time Certificate for Polish EUR – Denominated Mortgage Bonds | x | ||
Portugal | One-Time Certificate for Portuguese Debt Securities - DL 193/2005 of November 7 | x | x | x |
Portugal | Master Instruction Portuguese Debt Securities – DL 193/2005 of November | x | x | |
Portugal | One-Time Certificate for Portuguese Equities | x | x | x |
Portugal | One-Time Certificate for Portuguese Securitisation Bonds | x | ||
Romania | One-Time Certificate for Romanian Securities | x | ||
Slovak Republic | One-Time Certificate for Slovak Equities | x | ||
South Africa | One-Time Certificate for South African Equities and Inward Listed Securities | x | x | |
South Korea | One-Time Certificate for South Korea Treasury Bonds (KTB) and Monetary Stabilisation Bonds (MSB) | x | ||
Spain | One-Time Certificate for Spanish Debt Securities subject to Royal Decree 1145/2011 | x | x | x |
Spain | One-Time Certificate for Spanish Equities | x | x | x |
Spain | Spanish Securities - Standing Instruction for International and Supranational Organisations and Central Banks | x | x | x |
Sweden | One-Time Certificate for Swedish Equities | x | ||
Turkey | One-Time Certificate for Turkish Securities | x | ||
Turkey | One-Time Certificate for fixed income securities issued by the Turkish governmental authorities or institutions through the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey | x | ||
USA | One-Time Certificate – U.S. Financial Institution | x | x | |
USA | One-Time Certificate – FATCA compliant FFI / Exempted beneficial owner own account | x | x |
The list in this announcement will be updated regularly to reflect the addition of new markets.
Duplication of new OTCs in the future
Clients who certified an account with a new OTC (with a validity of five years) can request the duplication of the valid OTC to another account however, the validity end date of the certificate after duplication will be the same as the validity end date of the source certificate.
Specific case of markets impacted by the UNO migration
Within the UNO project, clients might have the possibility to request the duplication of their valid certificates from a 6-series account to a Clearstream Europe AG (7-digit) or a Clearstream Banking S.A. account.
When requesting the duplication, the new validity period will be five years from the date of receipt by LuxCSD of the duplication instruction, unless the certificate to be duplicated already bears a validity end date of five years. In such cases, clients should refer to the above paragraph.
For this purpose, the Swift instruction template was updated to include both the beneficial owner disclaimer and the new validity. Clients should refer to Announcement D25032 for further details.
Impact on clients
Clients are requested to provide the updated OTC’s, by the prescribed deadlines mentioned in the MT568, as follows:
Clients who have an existing OTC in place
The current OTC will remain valid as per guidelines provided in the above table.
The expiry or new validity of the OTC will be communicated to clients via an MT568, depending on the actual validity of their documentation and as per the above guidelines.
Clients who do not yet have an OTC in place
Clients must ensure to always use the latest version of the OTCs published in the Market Taxation Guides and Tax forms to use.
Further information
Clients may contact the Tax Help Desk, LuxCSD Client Services or their Relationship Officer.
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1. LuxCSD refers to LuxCSD S.A., registered office at 42, Avenue J.F. Kennedy, L-1855 Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register under number B-154.449.