Japan: Reminder: Renewal of Application Form for Withholding Tax Exemption
Clearstream Banking1 would like to remind all customers whose Application Form for Withholding Tax Exemption on Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs), Japanese Corporate and Municipal Bonds and Discount Bonds has an expiry date of 31 December 2020, that they must provide a renewed Application Form for Withholding Tax Exemption by
30 September 2020
otherwise it will not be possible to hold these bonds after 31 December 2020.
The Application Form for Withholding Tax Exemption should be submitted together with a valid ID document for customers holding JGBs, Japanese Corporate and Municipal Bonds and Discount Bonds as proprietary assets.
Renewal process for customers
Customers are recommended to start the renewal procedure, if appropriate, as early as possible.
Submitting the documents
Application Form for Withholding Tax Exemption
Customers are reminded that the Application Form for Withholding Tax Exemption provides details regarding the beneficial owner and its Qualified Financial Intermediary (QFI).
The applicant in the form should always be the ultimate beneficial owner of the securities and the applicable QFI to be mentioned in the form must be the last financial institution in the custody chain with which the beneficial owner has the account.
The QFI of the applicant is to complete the QFI part and sign this on behalf of the beneficial owner.
Copies must be sent by email to tax@clearstream.com according to whether the customer holds the securities for itself or for a third party, as follows:
- For customers holding proprietary assets, an electronic copy;
- For customers holding client segregated assets, a scanned copy. The original form must be sent by registered post.
The Application Form for Withholding Tax Exemption is valid for five years.
Valid ID document
- For customers holding proprietary assets, a valid ID document (Certificate of residence, Certificate of incorporation, Articles of association, etc.) issued by the government or any public office within six months must be submitted together with the Application Form for Withholding Tax Exemption. The valid ID document should mention a valid ID number, the beneficial owner’s name and address. The beneficial owner’s details on both forms should be identical.
- For customers holding client segregated assets, a valid ID document (Certificate of residence, Certificate of incorporation, Articles of association, etc.) issued by the government or any public office within six months, has to be submitted and retained by the last financial institution/QFI in the chain with whom the applicant (final beneficial owner) has the account and who must, in turn, provide it promptly to the Clearstream Banking customer, upon request at any time, for forwarding to Clearstream Banking.
Important note
If the beneficial owner’s details on the renewed Application Form for Withholding Tax Exemption (and valid ID document) are not identical to the ones on the expired form (change in the beneficial owner’s details), customers must submit a full set of documents.
For further information on the documentation requirements, please refer to our dedicated pages of the Market Taxation Guide – Japan:
Please note that the forms templates are available on our website under Tax Forms to use – Japan.
All originals must be sent to the following address:
Clearstream Operations Prague s.r.o.
Attn: PTS - Tax Services
Futurama Business Park Building B
Sokolovska 662/136b
CZ-18600 Prague 8
Czech Republic
Impact on customers
Customers are strongly recommended to start the renewal procedure, as early as possible, to meet the above deadline.
If the above documentation is not in place before the expiry date of the form, customers will not be able to hold JGBs, Japanese Corporate and Municipal Bonds and Discount Bonds through Clearstream Banking.
Further information
For further information, please contact the Clearstream Banking Tax Help Desk or Clearstream Banking Client Services or your Relationship Officer.
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1. Clearstream Banking refers collectively to 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, and Clearstream Banking AG (for Clearstream Banking AG customers using Creation Accounts), registered office at 61, Mergenthalerallee, 65760 Eschborn, Germany and registered in Register B of the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, Germany under number HRB 7500.