Spain: Reactivation of the standard refund service
Clearstream Banking1 informs customers that effective
1 December 2022
customers can start to provide their standard refund applications on income paid from 30 November 2020 until 31 December 2021.
Refund applications for the year 2022 can only be submitted starting from February 2023.
Background
Following the activation of Clearstream Banking AG’s2 direct access to the Spanish market (Iberclear), for all Iberclear issued securities which are T2S-eligible, Clearstream Banking had to momentarily suspend its standard refund offering for the payments that occurred on the migration date.
Customers should refer to Announcement C20051 for full details.
Customers are also encouraged to refer to the procedures described in the relevant standard refund pages under Market Taxation Guide - Spain.
Impact on customers
Customers must pay attention to the statutory deadline being four years from the income payment date.
Clearstream Banking customers are still recommended to request reduced tax rates via the relief at source (on bonds subject to Royal Decree 1145/2011 through an X account), the immediate refund (on bonds) or via the quick refund (on bonds and equities), to avoid longer deadlines inherent to a standard refund process.
Scope of the new standard refund process
The main regional tax offices in Spain are Madrid, Álava, Bilbao, Gipuzkoa, and Navarra. Requirement definition of the applicable procedure for tax refund falls under the regional tax office to which the issuer of the involved security pays the withheld tax.
The table below is an overview of the securities where issuers pay the tax withheld to the different regional tax offices.
Tax office | Álava | Bilbao | Gipuzkoa | Navarra |
ISIN/Issuer | ES0132945017 (Tubacex) | ES0105630315 (Cie Automative) ES0143416115 (Siemens Gamesa) | ES0147561015 (Iberpapel Gestion) | ES0184262212 (Viscofan) |
The standard refund process for securities falling under the authority of the Álava, Bilbao, Gipuzkoa, Navarra tax offices are not yet available and will be communicated as soon as received.
The ISINs that are not listed above are to be submitted to Madrid Central Tax Authorities.
Impact on customers for securities under the authority of the Madrid Central Tax Authorities
From 1 December 2022 onwards, customers can start providing their standard refund files to Clearstream Banking as follows:
Period of withholding | Reclaim filing to Clearstream Banking |
December 2020 | From 1 December 2022 |
Full year 2021 | From 1 December 2022 |
Full year 2022 | From 1 February 2023 |
Standard refund files provided before the dates stated in this table will be automatically rejected.
Note: The following changes to the operational process that is otherwise similar to the one applied before 30 November 2020.
- The Spanish Tax Authorities will refund the bank account of the final beneficiary directly, instead of processing the refund through the custody chain, via Clearstream Banking and its agent.
To allow this, each beneficial owner will have to provide a bank account certificate with the first refund application. The bank account certificate will be valid until revoked by the beneficial owner. - Clearstream Banking highlights that the follow-up of the payment completion is under the responsibility of the beneficial owner as neither Clearstream Banking nor its agent would have access to the final beneficiary cash account.
The tax refund request will be considered as closed upon successful submission to the relevant tax authorities and confirmation by Clearstream Banking. - A new template of breakdown of refund will be available through the BO upload facility as of 21 November 2022. This template was enhanced to include additional information required by the STA and BBVA. Customers must ensure that they use this last version for any refund request as of 1 December 2022.
- Each beneficial owner has to communicate their Spanish TIN (N code) if it exists or request one. This Spanish TIN must be included in the breakdown of refund in column H. If left blank, the agent will request it from the Spanish Tax Authorities.
- A new Power of Attorney from the Beneficial Owner to Clearstream Banking (the PoA) must be provided. The existing PoAs (either given to Clearstream Banking or to BBVA) that were used for the previous process are no longer legally accurate. The new version to be used is available here. It does not need to be notarised or apostilled and it is valid until revoked.
- Full chain of credit advices from all intermediaries from the BO to Clearstream Banking. The credit advice from Clearstream Banking to its customer can be requested in the specific letter of request.
For full standard refund details per type of instrument and type of beneficial owners customers should refer to the Market Taxation Guide - Spain.
Further information
For further information, customers may contact the Clearstream Banking Tax Help Desk, Clearstream Banking Customer Service, or their 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, registered office at 61, Mergenthalerallee, 65760 Eschborn, Germany and registered in Register B of the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, Germany under number HRB 7500.
2. Clearstream Banking AG (CBF), registered office at Mergenthalerallee 61, 65760 Eschborn, Germany, registered with the Commercial Register of the District Court in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, under number HRB 7500.