France: New templates for Forms 5000 and 5001

21.06.2016

Clearstream Banking1 wishes to inform customers that effective

immediately

eligible non-resident beneficial owners must submit and complete the new templates of Form 5000 (Certificate of Residence) and Form 5001 (Calculation of withholding tax on dividends) when applying for tax treaty benefits.

Background

The French Tax Authorities (FTA) have recently published new versions of Form 5000 and Form 5001 as well as the related instructions to be used by non-resident beneficial owners eligible to apply through the simplified procedure or through the standard  tax reclaim procedure for reduced tax rates granted by the Double Taxation Treaties signed between their country of residence and France.

The new forms and their instructions are available on the FTA’s website. Customers should then enter the following keywords in the relevant search box:

Search box

Keywords

Année

2016

Numéro d’imprimé (the first box only)

5000 or 5001

The instructions may then be accessed via the “Lire le détail” link on the next page after the completion of the search.  

Note: The FTA website no longer offers the possibility to complete these forms online.

These new Form 5000 and Form 5001 are available in French, English, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch languages and, compared to the previous templates (dating from 2008), they contain the following main changes:

  • The updated current standard withholding tax rate on dividends (that is, 30% instead of 25%); and
  • The addition of a footnote n°10 on Form 5001 to detail the withholding tax rates applicable on French-sourced income paid out to non-residents under Article 187 of the French Tax Code.

Impact on customers

Any Form 5000 and/or Form 5001 that has already been submitted to Clearstream Banking in order to:

  • Obtain reduced tax rates at source via the simplified procedure; or
  • Reclaim the tax withheld at source via the standard refund procedure

remains valid and should not be replaced by the new templates.

All new applications must be submitted using the new templates of Form 5000 and/or Form 5001. In the event that the old templates have already been completed and processed with the beneficial owner’s local tax authorities, they may be submitted to Clearstream Banking to be forwarded to our local custodian acting as withholding tax agent and responsible for confirming their validity.

However, such flexibility in accepting the old templates is limited to 15 July 2016 at the latest.

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 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, and 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.