Russian Withholding Tax Refund
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Russian withholding tax refund Tax & Legal If you or your clients invested in Russian securities and are entitled to a substantial dividend or interest income, there is a chance that you overpaid your taxes and may qualify for a tax refund © 2018 Deloitte Consulting LLC Background Investors may apply a According to the The Russian The tax refund reduced tax rate for Russian tax withholding tax rate is practice in Russia is their interest and/or authorities, they are set at 15% on not well-developed: dividend income, ready to reimburse dividends and 20 the tax legislation depending on the overpaid taxes, if a percent on interest. does not provide for a conditions set by the full package of Effective from 1 specific list of Russian Tax Code or documents confirming January 2014, the documents to be applicable Double Tax the income payment duties of the tax collected and Treaties. Calculations chain and the agent for WHT requirements to be of a standard Russian investor’s rights to purposes were met. For these rate or the standard the income is transferred to the reasons, the process reduced Double Tax submitted. local Russian can be lengthy and Treaty rate, as well as custodian or, in a sometimes fruitless. submission of claims limited number of However, the trend is on tax can be cases, to the reassuring: the refunded, should be fiduciary, broker or number of successful made by investors issuer. refund claims and themselves within positive court three calendar years, decisions is growing. following the year in which it was withheld. Therefore, investors may often qualify for a refund up to 10- 20% income received. © 2018 Deloitte Consulting LLC Our practice We are engaged in a We have a solid We are developing number of tax refund experience of our tax refund projects and have had managing the whole practice in Russia and excessive Russian process, which is very abroad now. We have withholding tax time-consuming and had some positive successfully refunded burdensome, so our experience with our to our clients after it success rate today is global clients in this was charged on very high. For area and look forward Russian shares and/or instance, in a recent to bringing more depositary receipts for case, we facilitated value to a wider client shares, including such the refund of over range. blue chips as RUB 7 million in Gazprom, excessively withheld Gazpromneft, tax on Lukoil’s Sberbank, MTS, depositary receipts for Novatek, TMK, Central Bank located Magnit, Severstal, in Asia, to whom we Sistema, Lukoil, and refund taxes on VTB. annual basis. © 2018 Deloitte Consulting LLC Tax refund steps Preliminary assessment • Determine whether the investor is entitled to a tax refund; • Walk the investor through the refund procedure; 02 • Analyse the current court practice; • Determine the potential challenges and required docuements; Collecting documents • Analyse the structure of Preparing the necessary documents might ownership and income involve translation and other procedures distribution. required to legalise the foreign documents in Russia. Based on our experience, the documents that confirm income flow and beneficial ownership of income may 01 include, but are not limited to: • A certificate of tax residence and other documents confirming the investor’s entitlement to double tax treaty benefits; • Copies of tax returns (tax calculations) for the income paid by the issuer, Preparing and filing tax creditor, and depository, acting as tax reclaim application and agents; cover letter • Copies of documents, confirming the Well-prepared tax reclaim cash flows from one party of application and cover dividend/interest distribution chain to letter (which describes in another (e.g. extracts from financial detail the taxable income statements, bank payment orders, etc.); flow) are key to success • Copies of payment orders confirming the in the tax refund process. discharge of tax liabilities on A package of documents dividend/interest income; to confirm the existence 03 • Copies of documents confirming the of the described income relations among the parties of the flow should be formed, dividend/interest distribution chain; too. The confirming • Representation letters from each party of documents should meet the dividend/interest distribution chain. certain requirements, in This list is not exhaustive, as the tax particular: refund practice in Russia is just developing • Copies of documents and the Russian tax authorities may should contain the seal require additional documents to provide a (stamp) of the issuing tax refund. We are assisting our customers organisation, date, full 04 throughout the process of collecting name of the person documents and submitting them to the tax issuing the copy, his authorities. position and signature; • Pages of the documents should be numbered, and the document Communicating with Russian tax authorities should be bound; We will communicate with the Russian tax authorities on behalf of • A Russian translation the investor to: should be attached to • Follow-up on/clarify the issues raised by tax officers at each stage the documents in a of the process; foreign language. • Prepare and submit additional documents and explanatory letters, if requested by the tax authorities; • Resolve the technical issues arising during the transfer of the refunded amount to the ultimate beneficiary's account. © 2018 Deloitte Consulting LLC Our services and our team Our services Deloitte has an experienced, strong tax refund team that provides high-quality services. We will be happy to offer a turnkey solution for claiming a refund of the overpaid Russian withholding tax, drawing on our track record of success and in strict compliance with the legislative requirements. Our team For more information on the withholding tax refunds and our services, please contact: Alexander Sinitsyn Sofya Tretyakova Khava Chabieva Director Manager Consultant +7 (495) 787 06 00, +7 (495) 787 06 00, +7 (495) 787 06 00, ext. 2099 ext. 5183 ext. 1153 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] © 2018 Deloitte Consulting LLC deloitte.ru About Deloitte Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a more detailed description of DTTL and its member firms. Deloitte provides audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, tax and related services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. Deloitte serves four out of five Fortune Global 500® companies through a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries bringing world-class capabilities, insights, and high-quality service to address clients’ most complex business challenges. To learn more about how Deloitte’s approximately 264,000 professionals make an impact that matters, please connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. This communication contains general information only, and none of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, its member firms, or their related entities (collectively, the “Deloitte Network”) is, by means of this communication, rendering professional advice or services. 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