France: Reminder: Annual renewal of Form 5000 and Form RPPM for relief at source on French dividend income
Renewal of Form 5000
Customers of Clearstream Banking1 are reminded that if you use the simplified procedure to claim relief at source from tax withheld on dividends, you must renew Form 5000 certifying the residence status of the beneficial owner for 2020 according to the existing procedure for non-resident beneficial owners whose country of residence has a Double Taxation Treaty (DTT) with France.
For beneficial owners to benefit from this relief at source for the calendar year 2020, a renewed Form 5000 (Dividends - simplified procedure) must be filed as soon as possible, but no later than 09:00 CET 10 business days before the first dividend payment date to which it applies. The Form 5000 must be dated before the first relevant dividend payment in 2020.
Certification specifics for customers
As a general statement, in order to provide more flexibility in investment, to avoid an uncertified period and thereby to ensure relief at source on eligible dividend payments for all certified beneficial owners, customers are strongly recommended to start the renewal procedure, if appropriate, as early as possible in the first quarter of 2020. However, please see below specific requirements related to the potential previous certification or the particular status of the beneficial owner:
- For all beneficial owners who have not filed a Form 5000 in 2019
Beneficial owners for whom a Form 5000 for 2019 has not been submitted are reminded that the form, duly completed, signed and stamped, must be received as soon as possible, but no later than 09:00 CET 10 business days before the first dividend payment to which it applies. - For beneficial owners who have filed a Form 5000 in 2019
For beneficial owners for whom a Form 5000 for 2019 has been submitted, its validity will be extended according to the following general rules:- A Form 5000 submitted in 2019 remains valid until 31 March 2020 on the condition that we receive a new Form 5000, duly completed, signed and stamped by the local tax authorities of the final beneficial owner before the end of March 2020.
- The payments of the first quarter of 2020 are certified and relief at source will be applied, based on the form received in 2019. However, if no new Form 5000 is submitted by the end of March 2020, reversals will be required for this payment period.
- For beneficial owners that are covered by a DTT with France and are investment companies or hold funds under an investment scheme
As the collective entitlement of such companies and funds to DTT benefits are limited to the proportion of their unit/shareholders that are residents of their home country (that is, the country for which the DTT benefit is claimed), this percentage must be 100 in order to be eligible for the simplified procedure.
An eligible beneficial owner that is a collective investment scheme must, in most cases2, fill in Box VII of Form 5000 to certify the percentage of shareholders eligible under the respective DTT during the accounting period in which the profit was realised (that is, directly prior before the dividend payment period).
Note: The accounting period may not correspond to a calendar year and so multiple Forms 5000 may be required. In such a case, on condition that a Form 5000 signed by the local tax authorities is already in place for the calendar year, the newly submitted Form 5000 can be signed and dated by the beneficial owner/representative only (that is, not by the local tax authorities). - Clearstream Banking requires this section III to be fully completed by all beneficial owners.
The non-completion of this attestation of being subject to tax in the beneficial owner’s country of residence will lead to a longer treatment of the form and to potential impossibility to offer the simplified procedure.
Please refer to Announcement A17150 for more details. - For beneficial owners being foreign individuals benefiting from the 12.8% domestic tax rate
The Form 5000 or Certificate of Residence (COR) have a validity period of three (3) years. - For all foreign individual beneficial owners who have not filed a Form 5000 or COR in 2019
Beneficial owners for whom a Form 5000 or COR for 2019 has not been submitted are reminded that the form, duly completed, signed and stamped, must be received as soon as possible, but no later than 09:00 CET 10 business days before the first dividend payment to which it applies. - For foreign individual beneficial owners who have filed a Form 5000 or COR in 2019 (dated in 2019)
For beneficial owners for whom a Form 5000 or COR for 2019 has been submitted, its validity was automatically extended until 31 March 2022, with the obligation to renew in 2022. No renewal in 2020 is necessary. Please refer to Announcement C18022.
Important note on completion of section III of forms 5000
Clearstream Banking requires the section III of the form 5000 to be fully completed by all beneficial owners.
The non-completion of this attestation of being subject to tax in the beneficial owner’s country of residence will lead to a longer treatment of the form and to potential impossibility to offer the simplified procedure.
Please refer to Announcement A17150 for more details.
Renewal of Form RPPM
For Collective Investment Vehicles (CIVs), relief at source from withholding tax is only granted upon submission of Form RPPM.
Form RPPM is valid until revoked for both UCITS and AIFs.
- For beneficial owners who have not filed a Form RPPM in 2019
Beneficial owners for whom a Form RPPM for 2019 has not been submitted are reminded that the form, duly completed, signed and stamped, must be received as soon as possible, but no later than 09:00 CET 10 business days before the first dividend payment to which it applies. - For beneficial owners who have renewed their Form RPPM in 2019, renewal is not needed in 2020 as the forms are valid until revoked.
Important note:
Following the migration of the French T2S eligible assets to Clearstream Banking AG (CBF) in 2018 customers holding both migrated and non-migrated securities must provide two original Forms 5000 or RPPM for the same beneficial owner in order to cover the holdings in French T2S securities (settled via CBF) and holdings in non-T2S securities (settled via BP2S) as described in Announcement A17174.
These certificates will be registered in Clearstream Banking’s system by default as follows:
- The first Form 5000 or RPPM for the T2S activity (submitted to CBF);
- The second Form 5000 or RPPM for securities not migrated in T2S (submitted to BP2S).
Customers wishing to use Form 5000 or RPPM in a different way must instruct CBL accordingly in a cover letter accompanying the originals, or by SWIFT message.
Further information
For further information about the withholding tax procedures for French equities, please refer to the Clearstream Banking Market Taxation Guide - France.
Customers may contact the Clearstream Banking Tax Help Desk or Clearstream Banking Client Services or their Relationship Officer.
------------------------------------------
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 (for CBF customers using CreationOnline), 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. For Investment companies and funds from Spain, the U.S.A. and Trinidad and Tobago, treaty benefits apply, as indicated in the notes accompanying Form 5000, to all French-source income and, consequently, in these cases, Box VII of Form 5000 should not be filled in.