The Lemon Fool

Hi all

I hold shares in Accenture which are domiciled in Ireland. My shares are held in a HSBC Stockbroking account

I'm trying to reclaim tax from the Irish tax office for overpaid dividend withholding tax given the difference between the rates in Ireland and the UK

They have just send an email saying they won't pay out on the basis of my annual tax dividend documents from HSBC but want additional evidence of who paid HSBC....

"As we need to see evidence of the full flow of dividend passing from the paying company “Accenture” to you “the beneficial owner” - to allow us to identify the tax paid over to Revenue we require the Original Dividend vouchers (or certified copies of same) showing each step of the dividend being passed from the paying company to beneficial owner. I am looking for documentary evidence showing who passed the dividend to HSBC UK. We are aware that some custodians may have concerns about disclosing this information to Clients, if this is an issue; the custodian may forward the documents to DWT Unit clearly marked for my attention at the address below and be assured that, it will not be disclosed to a third party"

I have no idea where to go now to request this. How would I find out who had paid HSBC. And how on earth would I get anything out of them referencing my name and shareholding? I assume they would just transfer to HSBC in bulk.

Thanks

I can't see you getting anywhere with this. HSBC will have received a dividend voucher for the entire holding of Accenture held on behalf of all their clients. I doubt they will be prepared to mess around for one client.

Perhaps you should remove the shares from HSBC and hold them certificated in your name. Them in future you will receive your own personal dividend tax voucher and can reclaim tax.

Thanks - how would I go about holding them in my own name to prevent this problem going forward? Do you mean a paper certificate or something else? Would I just request that from HSBC?

Dealing with tax stuff can be a real headache. I'd suggest giving HSBC a buzz first. Explain the situation and see if they can provide the docs you need. They might need some prodding, but it's worth a shot. If that doesn't work, maybe consult with a tax advisor or someone in the know.

dingdong wrote:Thanks - how would I go about holding them in my own name to prevent this problem going forward? Do you mean a paper certificate or something else? Would I just request that from HSBC?

Essentially, yes. You'd have to pay, of course. It's typically £20 to transfer a nominee holding out into a certificate, but you'd have to check HSBC Stockbroking's charges.

Though I don't know how this will work in future, with ongoing proposals for "dematerialisation" of all share holdings. Place holding with the share Registrar's account?

Hi - did you get any where with this? I am having the same issue with Accenture shares where my UK bank will not assist and has never heard of Irish DWT or an original dividend voucher.

Do you ever get the feeling that overseas tax authorities make it so difficult to claim a dividend tax rebate because they know that most people will just give up.

Sorry if I sound a little cynical.

I looked into applying for a rebate on shares I hold in a Spanish company. Its possible but you need a very large holding to make it worth while.

Good luck, It will be interesting if you get anywhere with this because in the past I was thinking about how you could prove that you own shares that are held by a custodian. I hold some overseas shares that have a perk attached and I was thinking of utilising this perk but I am pretty sure that when I present a screen shot or an online 'buy' A4 sheet of paper the company offering the perk will just say no, that is not evidence. How can you prove it without an original paper certificate from Ireland or Italy or Spain?

Regards, D.L.

You will need to obtain documentary evidence of how the dividends from Accenture were transferred from the company itself to you as the final recipient through HSBC. This information is usually provided by the custodian, in this case HSBC.