Hello,
How are withholding taxes on dividends handled for French residents ?
More specifically, is there any withholding on French stocks ?
Current alternative is to request listings of French companies available on LSE.
It is possible for an individual to reclaim some of this tax. But the individual has to do the paperwork. For example, a UK resident could reduce the tax to 15% and then take this as a credit against UK tax. Even without reclaim, 15% can be taken as credit to reduce the UK tax bill.
Here from the FT, "According to Goal Group, which specialises in withholding tax reclamation, UK retail investors are collectively missing out on many millions of pounds of reclaimable overseas tax, largely because of “red tape” and the cost of claiming in some countries.
“Those with significant shareholdings know how to reclaim or will be advised, but small investors will be hit,” it says.
John Whiting, policy director at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, says: “Many investors will not even be aware of withholding tax as an issue (with overseas shares).”
The problem is that for other countries there is no comparable mechanism to the W8-BEN for US shares, allowing for tax be reduced before payment.
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This article is helpful in explaining difficulties.
Thank you for your answer. I suppose I will have to report those dividends manually .