What We Do
Global Tax Recovery is a global specialist in dividend withholding tax reclaims. We provide international investors with a simple and seamless turnkey solution to recovering excess withholding tax on foreign dividends.
Countries impose withholding taxes on dividends paid to non-residents. This is because it would be extremely difficult to collect the tax once the compensation has been paid. To avoid such situations, taxes are deducted from the dividend payment before it is paid to the investor.
Historically a large portion of withholding tax was seldom recovered. This is due to a combination of complicated policies of foreign tax authorities and a minefield of complex procedures. However, when you consider that effective global tax reclamation can enhance the performance of a portfolio by upwards of 250 basis points or 2.5%, investors can no longer ignore the need to recover withheld dividends.
Our thorough knowledge and understanding of complex international tax law, combined with our company’s extensive geographical footprint ensures that we resolve your specific claims both successfully and timeously.
With Global Tax Recovery, you never lay out any money. Any fee charged is contingent and deducted from the successful recovery of previously withheld dividends. If we can’t recover you pay nothing!
The process of filing a reclaim can be intricate, with distinct procedures, specific languages, filing requirements and cultural nuances in every country.
The good news is, to recover your dividends, all we need is data and documentation. With these resources, we can apply our knowledge and expertise to your dividend-withholding tax claims, while you focus on your core business.
A Practical Example of how Dividend Withholding Tax works
When Nestlé (Swiss Domiciled Company) pays a dividend of $1000 – it immediately gets taxed at the Swiss Statutory Tax Rate of 35% ($350) irrespective of who the shareholder is.
However due to a Double Tax Agreement between South Africa and Switzerland, South African residents are entitled to the Double Tax Agreement Rate of 15% ($150).
Therefore – the differential of $200 ($350-$150) is recoverable in its entirety but is retained by the Foreign Tax Office until all the necessary procedures and conditions are met.
