Poland: 2023 bonds withholding tax regime – Procedure for exemption
Clearstream Banking1 informs customers that that the withholding tax exemption described in Announcement A22169 applies to:
- All types of T-bonds (irrespective of their issuance date);
- Domestic Bank Gospodrastwa Krajowego (BGK) bonds issued on or after 1 January 2019;
- Domestic Bankowy Fundusz Gwarancyjny (BFG) bonds issued on or after 1 January 2019; and
- Any corporate bonds issued on or after 1 January 2019.
The exemption will be based on the disclosure of the actual beneficial owner type as outlined in the relevant rate table below:
Beneficial owner type | |||
Securities type | Legal entity | Individual | Undisclosed |
| 0% | 19% | 19% |
| 20% | 19% | 20% |
Impact on customers
Exemption at source
Investors wishing to benefit from an exemption at source of Polish withholding tax on eligible securities must provide the following documentation by the prescribed deadline as reflected in the Swift notification sent by Clearstream Banking ahead of the payment:
- A completed One-Time Certificate for Polish T-bonds and Other Exempt Polish bonds (OTC) duly signed by the customer, and specifying among other items, whether or not the customer is the sole beneficial owner of the Polish eligible securities held in the account. It must be provided before the first income/redemption payment and remains valid until revoked. Any changes to any details must be communicated in a new OTC; and
- A Power of Attorney (PoA) if the documentation is signed by a third party. If several parties are involved, the full chain of PoAs must be provided; and
- A per-payment instruction for each applicable tax rate provided via Swift (formatted MT565) or Xact Web Portal message that includes:
- Customer account number;
- ISIN;
- Corporate action reference ID;
- Payment date;
- Total holding of eligible securities;
- Holding instructed;
- Requested tax rate; and
- Beneficial owner type (legal entity or individual).
The beneficial owner per-payment instruction must be provided ahead of each interest payment by any customers who have no standing instruction in place (OTC box A).
Clearstream Banking will continue to monitor the Polish market and will provide further information as it becomes available.
Further information
For further information, please contact the Clearstream Banking Tax Help Desk, 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.