Standard refund process in CBF
Following the migration of Italian, French, Belgium and Dutch T2S-eligible assets, Clearstream Banking1 informs customers about the impacts on the standard refund process that are effective
immediately
Italian migration of 26 March 2018 (step 1) and 23 April 2018 (step 2)
As described in the announcements C18008/A18025 and C18017/A18044, a cutoff on the existing holdings of Italian taxable debt securities deposited with CBL and impacted by the Italian migration was performed to ensure that the entire tax process on outstanding accrued interest and issue discount, as well as on the holdings exempted from tax were carried over from CBL reporting obligations to CBF.
For each impacted security, a fictitious sale followed by a fictitious purchase was created by Clearstream Banking on the customer’s global holding. For the non-certified accounts the maximum tax rate was applied for the fictitious sale, thereby generating a debit on the customer’s cash account, followed by the fictitious purchase of the same holding at the same tax rate, thereby generating a credit on the same cash account. The resulting tax amount of these transactions was nil. Both instructions were processed with the same requested settlement date as the value date for the cash instructions.
Customers applying for a standard refund on a holding period including the cutoff, must disregard the fictitious trades created by Clearstream Banking and should consider the total period for which tax is claimed without any interruption due to the cutoff (thatis, one line in Mod 111).
Customers should also take into consideration that the “international” securities subject to Italian tax (Eurobonds, bonds deposited with DTCC, etc.) remain under CBL’s tax agent responsibility. Therefore, refund applications for Italian domestic T2S-eligible securities (for which CBF became tax agent after the migration) cannot be submitted on the same forms with the refund applications for International securities subject to Italian tax (for which CBL is tax agent). Consequently, two separate refund forms (Mod 111) must be submitted for the same beneficial owner if holding domestic and international bonds subject to Italian tax.
French (ESES) migration on 9 April 2018 (step 1) and 7 May 2018 (step 2)
As described in the announcements D17073/A17174, every entity acting as tax agent is obliged, according to French law requirements, to receive the original certification from each beneficial owner applying for tax relief or reclaiming the tax withheld at source.
Consequently, for the securities migrated from CBL to CBF, CBL customers must ensure that refunds linked to pre-migration events or to securities that are not migrated to CBF (for which BNP Paribas Securities Services continues to act as tax agent) are submitted separately from the ones linked to post-migration events (for which CBF acts as tax agent), and therefore in such cases, two separate sets of refund certificates must be submitted for the same beneficiary.
Belgium and Dutch (ESES) migration on 9 April 2018 (step 1) and 7 May 2018 (step 2)
Clearstream Banking continues to process the reclaims directly with the Belgium and Dutch Tax Authorities. There are no changes to the standard refund process to be followed by customers.
CBF accounts denomination
We remind customers that on 20 November 2017, CBF account denomination changed from 4-digits to 7-digits. The consequences for the standard refund applications are the following:
- Refunds linked to events that took place before 20 November 2017: the forms submitted for the refund request should mention the 4-digit account and these applications will be recorded based on the corresponding 7-digit main account (000).
- Refunds linked to events that took place between 20 November 2017 and the migration date: the forms submitted for the refund request should mention the 7-digit main account (000).
- Refunds linked to events that took place after the migration date: the forms submitted for the refund request must mention the exact 7- digit subaccount or main account where the securities were held when the income was paid. Applications mentioning the 4-digit account or the incorrect account number are rejected.
We take this opportunity to also remind customers that it is highly recommended to:
- subscribe to SWIFT acknowledgements instead of paper acknowledgements sent by mail by Clearstream Banking for each certificate/refund form.
- to use the new connectivity solution Xact Web Portal as CBF accounts are not visible in CreationOnline.
Further information
For further information about the withholding tax procedures, please refer to the appropriate Clearstream Banking Market Taxation Guide.
Customers may contact the Clearstream Banking Tax Help Desk or Clearstream Banking Client Services or their Relationship Officer.
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1. Clearstream Banking refers collectively to Clearstream Banking AG, registered office at 61, Mergenthalerallee, 65760 Eschborn, Germany and registered in Register B of the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, Germany under number HRB 7500 and 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.