Germany: Update for electronic transfer of refund applications for taxpayers with restricted tax liability
Further to Announcement C22029 and D22045, Clearstream Banking1 informs clients of an update from the German Tax Authorities (BZSt) to extend the existing good will scheme for the submission of paper-based applications for the refund procedure of tax on capital gains to
30 September 2023
Background
As previously announced, the legal obligation to submit refund applications electronically, was suspended to 30 June 2023.
With this extension, during the period from 30 June 2023 to 30 September 2023, only paper-based applications may be submitted for capital gains received in 2019, which would then become statute-barred at the end of 2023. Paper-based applications concerning capital gains received after 2019 will be rejected by the BZSt.
All applications that do not fall under the extended goodwill rule or that cannot be submitted until 30 September 2023, must be submitted via the BZSt online portal. All necessary information on submission via the BZSt online portal and registration in the portal via a corresponding certificate can be found on the BZSt website. The information has recently been made available in German and English language.
There is currently no guideline or procedure announced by the BZSt describing how banks in their capacity as service providers, will be able to assist clients going forward.
Impact on clients
Clearstream Banking will accept client’s paper-based tax refund requests on capital gains received in 2019 until 30 June 2023.
Provided that the required tax reclaim certification is complete and valid, all standard refund applications received after the Clearstream Banking deadline will be processed on a "best effort" basis. However, in such cases, Clearstream Banking can accept no responsibility for documentation that has not reached the local tax authorities before the market deadline.
Note: Clients are reminded that Clearstream Banking will not assume any responsibility for the acceptance or non-acceptance of refund applications by the BZSt. It is the client’s responsibility to determine any entitlement to a refund of tax withheld, to correctly complete the required forms and to calculate the amount due.
Where to send the tax reclaims
Clients are kindly requested to send all tax reclaim requests for the above markets to the address as indicated in the Clearstream Banking Creation Quick Tax Reference Matrix.
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, registered office at 61, Mergenthalerallee, 65760 Eschborn, Germany and registered in Register B of the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, Germany under number HRB 7500.