Standard refund – eligibility, documentation, deadlines – Slovak corporate bonds, including bank bonds (CBF)
Who can apply for a standard refund?
To be eligible for the standard refund service, the beneficial owners must, among other things, fulfil the following conditions:
- Be a legal entity and a non-resident of the Slovak Republic;
and
- Fall in either of the following categories:
- Qualify for the benefit of a reduced withholding tax rate in accordance with a double taxation treaty (DTT) between its country of residence and the Slovak Republic; or
- Be a resident for tax purposes in a White-List country (19%); or
- Be a resident for tax purposes in an EU area country and hold at least a 25% interest in the capital stock of the bond issuer or vice versa (0%).
Documentation requirements
In order to obtain a refund on behalf of eligible beneficial owners, clients must submit the following documentation to Clearstream Banking by the relevant deadlines:
- Request for Tax Reclaim in relation to Slovak debt securities;
- Letter of Request to Clearstream Banking for reclaim of Slovak withholding tax;
- Certificate of tax residence;
- Declaration of ultimate beneficial owner (UBO);
- Credit advice;
- Power of attorney from the BO to its representative, if applicable.
Important note: Corrections or strike-throughs on any documents being submitted are not allowed and are grounds for immediate rejection.
The documentation requirements may change from time to time, depending on additional requirements of the Slovak Tax Authorities.
Form descriptions are presented in accordance with the procedures available for reclaim of withholding tax on income from Slovak corporate bonds, including bank bonds.
Additional supporting information may, at any time, be requested by Clearstream Banking’s local depository, the issuer or the relevant tax authority, if deemed relevant.
Statutory deadline for reclaiming withholding tax
The statutory deadline for reclaiming withholding tax, applicable to reclaims submitted via standard refund procedures with the Slovak CSD, is ten years after the day the coupon payment was made.
Clearstream Banking deadline for standard refund applications
The deadline by which Clearstream Banking must receive the documentation is at the latest nine months before the statutory deadline.
All standard refund applications received after this deadline will be processed by Clearstream Banking on a “best efforts” basis.
However, in such cases, Clearstream Banking will apply an extra charge and accepts no responsibility for forms that have not reached the Slovak Tax Authorities by the date considered being the statute of limitations deadline.
When are refunds received?
The estimated time for receiving a refund from a standard refund application is three months from the date of receipt by the Slovak Tax Authorities, although this can vary depending on when the application is filed, and the complexity of the information supplied in the reclaim form.
Clearstream Banking’s local depository also indicated that, once received, the required documents will be transferred to each relevant issuer but from then on, the actual refund payment timeline may substantially vary among the relevant issuers.