Beneficial owners eligible for tax relief - Irish equities

The following types of beneficial owners are entitled to a withholding tax exemption/reduced withholding tax rate on dividends from Irish equities:

• Qualifying non-resident persons: beneficial owners that qualify as non-resident persons may benefit from a tax exemption on dividends paid from Irish equities via the standard refund procedure.

According to “The Dividend Withholding Tax Technical Guidance Notes” published on the Irish Revenue Commissioners website, the following categories of beneficiaries are considered as being qualifying  non-resident persons:

• An unincorporated body of persons, such as a charity or superannuation fund, which is

resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory¹,

• Individuals who are neither resident nor ordinarily resident in the State but are resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory^1,
• Companies resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory¹ and which are not controlled by Irish residents,
• Companies that are not resident in the State which are under the ultimate control of persons who are neither resident nor ordinarily resident in the State, but are resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory¹,
• Companies, the principal class of shares of which, or (of a company of which it is at least a 75 per cent subsidiary) is substantially and regularly traded on a recognised stock exchange in a relevant territory^1,
• Companies which are wholly owned by two or more companies, each of whose principal class of shares are substantially and regularly traded on one or more recognised stock exchanges in a relevant territory¹.

• Residents of Double Taxation Treaty (DTT) countries: beneficial owners that are not “qualifying non-resident persons” but that are residents in a country which has signed a DTT with Ireland may benefit from a reduced tax rate on dividends from Irish equities via the standard refund procedure.

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1. “Relevant territory” refers to a country (other than Ireland) which is a member of the European Union, an EEA state or a country with which Ireland has a Double Taxation Agreement.