Beneficial owners eligible for withholding tax exemption or reduced withholding tax rate – Irish equities
The following types of beneficial owners are entitled to a withholding tax exemption/reduced withholding tax rate on dividends from Irish equities:
- Qualifying non-resident persons: beneficial owners that qualify as non-resident persons may benefit from a tax exemption on dividends paid from Irish equities via the standard refund procedure.
According to “The Dividend Withholding Tax Technical Guidance Notes” published on the Irish Revenue Commissioners website, the following categories of beneficiaries are considered as being qualifying non-resident persons:
- An unincorporated body of persons, such as a charity or superannuation fund, which is resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory1,
- Individuals who are neither resident nor ordinarily resident in the State but are resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory1,
- Companies resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory1 and which are not controlled by Irish residents,
- Companies that are not resident in the State which are under the ultimate control of persons who are neither resident nor ordinarily resident in the State, but are resident for the purposes of tax in a relevant territory1,
- Companies, the principal class of shares of which, or (of a company of which it is at least a 75 per cent subsidiary) is substantially and regularly traded on a recognised stock exchange in a relevant territory1,
- Companies which are wholly owned by two or more companies, each of whose principal class of shares are substantially and regularly traded on one or more recognised stock exchanges in a relevant territory1.
Residents of Double Taxation Treaty (DTT) countries: beneficial owners that are residents in a country which has signed a DTT with Ireland may benefit from a reduced tax rate on dividends from Irish equities via the standard refund procedure.
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1. “Relevant territory” refers to a country (other than Ireland) which is a member of the European Union or an EEA state or a country with which Ireland has a Double Taxation Agreement.