German Supreme Court Denies Canadian Pension Fund’s Appeal in ECJ Reclaim Case
The Supreme Court of Germany issued a ruling on December 1st, 2022 concerning the European Court of Justice (ECJ) reclaim submitted by the College Pension Plan of British Columbia, a Canadian pension fund. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal against the rejection of the ECJ reclaim by the Federal Tax Court of Munich in December 2021, which meant that the German withholding taxes levied on dividends could not be refunded. The Supreme Court justified its decision by asserting that the Federal Tax Court of Munich had fulfilled the requirements outlined by the ECJ.
New Austrian Rules for Tax Relief Eligibility following Unprecedented Administrative Court Decision: Impact on Financial Intermediaries and Shareholders
Following the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court “Verwaltungsgerichtshof – (VwGH)” decision on 28 June 2022 (Ro 2022/13/0002) concerning short-term Cum-Ex-Trades and withholding tax refunds, the Austrian Ministry of Finance (MoF) published a new information letter on the 15 November 2022 with regards to the attribution of dividends for income and tax relief eligibility purposes.
Introducing WTax’s Custodian Tax Product Offering
For the last two decades, WTax has been at the forefront of providing end-investors with access to tax technical expertise and expedited reclaim processing through proprietary reclaim technology, ensuring any eligible tax yield is obtained and the associated administrative burden of the ever-evolving and complex withholding tax reclaim process is alleviated.
Taxation changes to Spanish SICAVs
On July 9, 2021, the Spanish Official Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado – BOE) published a major change in Spanish law 11/2021 in relation to measures to prevent and combat tax fraud.
The Future of Taxation for Financial Services, Tax Authorities and End Investors
During the course of October, WTax attended two conferences hosted by Hansuke Consulting: Operational Taxes for Investment Firms, and the Financial Services Tax Conference: Taxation in Times of Crisis. Two significant themes emerged from the insightful discussions held, namely, the evolution of the taxation landscape, and trust in the end-to-end taxation system.
Global ESG Investing: How to increase your investment’s impact
Overview – How to Make the Most of Your Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Investments Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) focused investments have grown by more than 750% since they were first mentioned in the 2006 United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) report. With the considerable growth in ESG investing, ESG factors are being incorporated within the financial evaluation of companies. At the time of writing, there are 4996 signatories, composed of asset owners, asset managers and service providers who represent over $121 trillion in...
Good News for Luxembourg Investment Funds Under New Luxembourg-UK Tax Treaty
On 7 June 2022, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom (UK) signed a new double tax treaty (“DTT”) and a supplementary Protocol that will replace the previous DTT signed in 1967. The new treaty conforms with the latest international tax standards agreed upon by the OECD and includes positive changes that will be beneficial for Luxembourg’s collective investment vehicles (“CIVs”) and pension funds.
Italian Supreme Court Upholds CJEU Precedent on Dividend Withholding Tax for Foreign Funds
The Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione), hereafter the “Court”, issued six judgements (Nos. 21454, 21475, 21479, 21480, 21481 and 21482) on 6 July 2022 relating to United States (US) open-ended investment funds and another judgement (No. 21598) on 7 July 2022 relating to a German open-ended investment fund. The Court established that withholding taxes levied on dividends paid by Italian issuers to foreign investment funds, as far as comparable Italian investment funds were exempt from or subject to a lower rate of withholding tax, is incompatible with the principle of free movement of...