Additional documentation requirements and German Tax Vouchers
The Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern; BZSt) has published a directive (“Prüfung Leerverkäufe"), in German and in English (see Announcement A11140), from the Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesministerium für Finanzen; BMF or MOF) to the BZSt.
This directive describes additional tax reclaim requirements to prevent unjustified reclaims of withholding tax on dividends from shares acquired over the dividend ex-date.
Upon request of the BZSt, non-residents must document when they acquired the shares and provide additional information and documentation.
Note: It is not stated in the directive when BZSt will request additional information, in what form and/or document type it should be presented, or by what medium it must be submitted.
The BZSt has not fully clarified the impact on the tax reclaim process for non-German investors.
Tax Vouchers
Tax Vouchers are only created at the request of the customer. Before requesting German Tax Vouchers via the BO Upload application, customers must complete the relevant One-Time Customer Declaration (OTCD) available on our Tax Forms to use - Germany page:
- Kundenerklärung (Clearstream Banking AG) German version;
- One-Time Customer Declaration (Clearstream Banking AG) English version;
The OTCD needs to be provided on letterhead paper and/or with a company stamp and authorised signatures.
Clearstream Banking may only issue tax vouchers if there is sufficient existing “voucher contingent” per event for the customer. The contingent is the sum of settled positions on entitlement date plus all market claims, sales and purchases compensated by Clearstream Banking in the market claim period.
Accordingly, a continuous check of the voucher contingent is required at customer single-account level (in Clearstream Banking S.A.) per five-digit account number and in Clearstream Banking AG on all sub-accounts to the relevant master account number, for example 1234/xxx). The total amount of issued tax vouchers and outstanding requests must not exceed the total amount of taxes paid. If the voucher contingent is exhausted, no further vouchers will be created and every subsequent open application will be answered with a rejection letter (until the voucher contingent is renewed).
Note: Contingent checks to create Tax Vouchers can only be guaranteed for income payments ten years in the past (the legal period of safekeeping). Tax Vouchers can be issued for income payments on which Clearstream Banking withholds the full withholding tax rate of 26.375% comprising a standard rate of 25% plus a solidarity surcharge (Solidaritätszuschlag; SolZ) of 5.5% of the standard rate and income payments paid by Clearstream Banking with the reduced tax rate of 15% (see German Investment Tax Act (InvStG).
Application for Tax Voucher
The Clearstream Banking customer can file an application for a single tax voucher ("Einzelsteuerbescheinigung") with respect either to their own assets or to those of their client.
An application for a German tax voucher with respect to a Clearstream Banking customer's assets must be made via electronic upload of a data file in the name of beneficial owner/end investor of the capital income (see Upload BO List).
Tax vouchers are issued after the completion of the market claims process (20 business days after payment date). The fee for the issuance of a German tax voucher is set out in the Clearstream Banking Fee Schedule in effect at the relevant time.
If the tax amount to be certified in the tax vouchers requested by a Clearstream Banking customer (on their own behalf or on behalf of their clients) exceeds the amount of the tax actually deducted for an event, Clearstream Banking will reject the application for a tax voucher.
Note: Clearstream Banking accepts tax voucher requests only via electronic upload. Clearstream Banking cannot offer any prioritisation or process ordering service for the uploaded files.
Furthermore, the current Recovery Directive Implementation Act (Beitreibungsrichtlinie-Umsetzungsgesetz ("BeitrRLUmsG")) provides for an accumulative tax voucher ("Sammelsteuerbescheinigung") used in the context of the refund, by the domestic credit institution and ultimate custodian, of withholding tax that has been retained twice (if given). The application for such a voucher may only be filed for shares that were acquired "cum-dividend"and delivered "cum-dividend" (that is, so-called "cum-cum-constellation"; "cum-ex-trades" are not covered).
Clearstream Banking treats an accumulative tax voucher like a single tax voucher. The application for an accumulative tax voucher suspends the issuance of a single tax voucher (including the forwarding of the application for a single tax voucher) for taxes retained on the same capital income. Clearstream Banking AG issues accumulative tax vouchers according to the legal requirements and marks each accumulative tax voucher as such.
Note: The accumulative tax voucher is a special form of a single tax voucher but can only be requested by German depository banks for their positions in non-domestic depository chain. The Clearstream Banking customer must specify the application for a German tax voucher as one of the following:
- Derived Official template I ("PV") from the German Tax Authorities for personal assets (Privatvermögen) - to be used for private individuals subject to tax in Germany for their tax assessment with the local tax office; or
- Official template III ("BV") from the German Tax Authorities for funds from business capital (Betriebsvermögen) - to be used for non-private individuals subject to tax in Germany for their tax assessment with the local tax office or for investors not subject to tax in Germany for reclaiming tax based on a Double Taxation Treaty (DTT) with the central tax office Bundeszentralamt für Steuern "BZSt".
- Official template IV ("SB") accumulative tax voucher from the German Tax Authorities only for German depository banks with positions in non-domestic depository chain.
Note: If the Clearstream Banking customer does not specify the type of request as for a tax voucher with regard to the template to be used, then Clearstream Banking must assume that application is made for a tax voucher for an investor not subject to tax in Germany for reclaiming tax based on a DTT with the central tax office (Official Template III - "BV").
In letter IV C 1 - S 2401/08/10001:007 (DOK 2011/1041094) from 29 December 2011, the German Ministry of Finance (MoF) published the final draft of the accumulative tax voucher, requiring that it show the following:
- The original date of request by the German depository that applied for the accumulative tax voucher; and
- The name and address of any other subcustodian(s), the Clearstream Banking customer being the first subcustodian in the depository chain.
Note: In the case of an application for an accumulative tax voucher (Official Template IV - "SB"), Clearstream Banking assumes that the day of the data file transfer or date of issuance of the application form is the date of application of the German depository that asked for the accumulative tax voucher.
It is the customer's responsibility to check and order the correct tax voucher; Clearstream Banking is not in a position to check whether the chosen tax voucher template is the correct one.
CSV upload data file for German Tax Vouchers
The CSV upload data file for requesting German Tax Vouchers is available via the BO Upload application under Germany / Tax Voucher / German Tax Voucher.
The CSV file must be completed with the following formats before being uploaded to the BO Upload application.
| Field name | Format | M / O | Description | Remark |
| ISIN | Alphanumeric (12 characters) | M | ISIN | |
| BID (completed by CBF) | Alphanumeric (34 characters) | O | Completed by CBF. | |
Ex-Date | Date (10 digits) | M | Ex-date for equities or funds, payment date for convertible bonds | |
Account Master | Numeric (4 digits) | M | Clearstream Banking customer account number (from tax point of view it is the account number of CBF customer):
| |
Nominal | Numeric (10,3) | M | Nominal or number of shares the tax voucher is requested for. | The nominal or number of shares must match the payment received for this Fund-Ord-Nr if the customer requests a tax voucher for a certified investment fund that already enjoyed a reduced taxation of 14.218 pct. (KESt rate). |
Name | Alphanumeric (34 characters) | M | Name of investor/beneficiary | |
Address 1 | Alphanumeric (34 characters) | M | Address 1 of the investor beneficiary | |
Address 2 | Alphanumeric (34 characters) | O | Address 2 of the investor/beneficiary | |
| Address 3 | Alphanumeric (34 characters) | O | Address 3 of the investor/beneficiary | |
| Address 4 | Alphanumeric (34 characters) | O | Address 4 of the investor/beneficiary | |
Address 5 | Alphanumeric (34 characters) | O | Address 5 of the investor/beneficiary | |
| Name of 2nd foreign depository | Alphanumeric (34 characters) | O | Name of Zwischenverwahrer/ second foreign depository Only necessary for accumulative tax vouchers. | |
| Address of 2nd foreign depository | Alphanumeric (34 characters) | O | Address of Zwischenverwahrer/ second foreign depository. Only necessary for accumulative tax vouchers | |
Date of request | Date (10 digits) | O | Only necessary for accumulative tax vouchers = Date of request by end investor/depository bank If the field is not completed, the date of the CSV file transfer is assumed. | |
| Kind of tax voucher | Alphanumeric (2 characters) | M |
If the field is not completed, BV is assumed. | |
Event type (completed by CBF) | Numeric (3 digits) | O | Completed by CBF. | |
KADI Run Number (completed by CBF) | Alphanumeric (2 characters) | O | Completed by CBF. | |
Fund-Ord-Nr | Alphanumeric | O | Ordnungsnummer mentioned in the Tax Status Certificate (key field). | (M) mandatory if customer requests a tax voucher for a certified investment fund that already enjoyed a reduced taxation of 14.218 pct. (KESt rate) |
KESt Rate | Numeric | O | Tax rate processed with the income distribution. | (M) mandatory if customer requests a tax voucher for a certified investment fund that already enjoyed a reduced taxation of 14.218 pct. (KESt rate). |
| Upload reference | Alphanumeric | n/a | Completed by CBF. |