Hi,
If anybody could help me with this. Total SA just paid dividend 0.68€ per share but I only got 0.49€ per share. That’s 27% less. I’ve heard that the tax on EU dividends for the UK residents is 15% but this seems much more.
Thanks for your help guys
Hello! Dividends paid by a French corporation to a non-resident shareholder are subject to a 28% withholding tax. I think you might find this helpful. 
Hi @Martin,
However I read:
Dividends – Dividends paid by a French corporation to a nonresident shareholder are subject to a 28%
withholding tax, unless a tax treaty provides for a lower rate.
I believe all EU states have treaty for 10-15% Witholding tax, no?
@Xul We’re charging 28% because we’re also being charged 28% as the legal entity holding the assets on your behalf.
The withholding tax rate for French-sourced dividends paid to non-resident beneficiaries is 28% for legal entities.
We’re thinking of a workaround.
Hello @David, can you point to where this is stated? As I don’t see anything specific for company stating tax treaty don’t apply for company. I am interested as I also want to invest in some French companies.
I was under impression only 15% would be taken.
@Vedran https://www.clearstream.com/clearstream-en/products-and-services/asset-services/tax-and-certification/c20002-1735756
A treaty does reduce this tax, we’re just still in the process of enabling this with our intermediaries.
@David Understand, hopefully it will get worked out.
Legally however 15% is correct? So my guess is t212 can fill in for tax return or this will have to be done by individuals?
Or you consider until t212 works on solution, 15% extra paid is lost capital?
@David One workaround for UK residents is for Trading 212 to add the Total S.A. shares (TTA) being traded on the LSE to the platform to avoid the 28% French withholding tax.
Hi David,
I have been looking at some French shares and came across this thread. Just wondering if you managed to implement a workaround yet?
Many thanks
Chris
@1Chris1 The current workaround is to add the the company’s stock that’s listed on a different exchange - like the example of Total on LSE.
Hi David,
When is this workaround going to happen so you think? I mean airbus has two i.e France and Germany but not LSE. The same goes for several other stocks such as Total that you’ve just mentioned and a lot of all the US shares I’ve looked at so far. All these companies trade on the LSE. Is this easy for you to do or is it something that takes time? Thanks
@Kwabenanti2002 We can add the LSE listings if requested. If a company isn’t listed on the LSE, there’s nothing we can currently do to avoid this taxation issue.
Thanks for the reply @David. Does listing a foreign stock LSE do away with the withholding tax?
There are so many stocks I’d like to see offered on LSE. Airbus, AAL, DAL, UAL, BA (Boeing). All these are listed on the LSE but that option is not available on T212 platform. Do you add them on by populate request? If they’re available on LSE then I think that option should be available to customers. Thanks
@Kwabenanti2002 If they’re requested in the stocks & ETFs requests category, we’ll add them at some point.
@Kwabenanti2002
I think you missed the point, @David correct me if wrong.
But US companies listed on LSE will not provide 0% witholding tax result for dividends. It will still have 15% tax withheld , due to taxation treaty UK&US.
What the workaround provides is not having full withheld tax of source country ie France 28%, Spain 19%, Germany 28%(??).
@David @Vedran
What is the advantage of listing stocks from foreign companies on LSE? If it doesn’t make any difference to the tax situation then you might as well list it on the exchange of the home country.
To round this up, if I bought airbus shares per se, am I correct in saying the dividends tax is 28% regardless of whether it’s from France or Germany. What about capital gains tax if you sell your shares? From my readings I don’t think France charge cgt on people don’t live in France but I think Germany do.
Total was specific case being French company and french law is 28% tax withold on dividend. However there is dual taxation treaty between EU countries level to 15%. However this is not case for French companies listed on Paris exchange, workaround proposed is , use LSE. Result , I am not sure, if you own French company listed on LSE, if witholding will be 0 or 15% due to treaty. My expectation would be 15%. But that is not clarified, maybe someone more knowledgeable on subject can explain?
Airbus is Dutch company, Dutch witholding tax is 15%. Thus even if listed on French exchange should be taxed 15% as the source country is indeed Holland not France… But all this has been confusing… I stay away from EU companies anyway…
Thanks for your contributions on this @Vedran. Staying away from EU companies looks like the right thing to do but I just don’t want to pass on the opportunity of buying airbus shares as the prices are reasonable. I know it’ll be a bumpy ride initially but I strongly feel that they’ll bounce back looking at their finances and the support they have from the European governments plus I’m not just looking for a quick gain, I’m happy to wait.
@David, surely T212 has had to process sales of airbus shares from a person who does not live in the Netherlands. What was the tax you got charged? I’m sure the tax is taken off before the person gets the money from the sale.
As you previously pointed
Looking at source:
Dividend taxation
As of January 1, 2007, based on Dutch tax law, all dividend distributions, independent of the origin/home country of the shareholder, are subject to a 15% dividend withholding tax. For more information please consult a professional tax advisor. See also the most recent Registration Document (Chapter 3 General Description of the company and its Share Capital) in our Annual Reports section.
I would expect 15% tax withheld for Airbus dividend.
I think so too, from the horses own mouth. It doesn’t mention anything about capital gains tax which comes into play when you sell the shares and make a profit. My research so far on cgt in the Netherlands for people who don’t live there hasn’t returned anything concrete.