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 territory2,
- Companies resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory2 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 territory2,
- 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 territory2,
- 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 territory2.
- 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 Member State of the European Union other than Ireland or, not being such a Member State, a country with which Ireland has a double taxation treaty.