.png)
.png)
Correspondence from readers on topical subjects.
Unclaimed withholding tax
The news report ‘Unclaimed withholding tax’ (Taxation 4 February 2016 page 4) highlights the issues with the recovery of withholding tax.
The major problem with this is the amount of work that can be involved and the time it takes to establish the reclaims – often for modest sums – which in accordance with double tax agreements (DTAs) should not have been withheld in the first place. Swiss payers are well known for this – applying a withholding tax of 35% on dividends and interest payable to known UK residents when the DTA limits the withholding to 15% – and this of course is all that HMRC will credit.
I have yet to secure repayment from the Swiss Federal Tax Administration of over-withheld tax of some CHF30 000 on dividends paid to a client between 2012 and 2014 and the claim...
