In order to be able to avail of the tax benefits available in the respective markets noted below for the year 2020, all non-resident investors are advised to update their Certificates of Tax Residence, issued for the year 2020. As customary, such certificates remain valid for the calendar year of issuance. The pertinent details of the investor on the issued Certificate of Tax Residence (i.e. name, address, etc.) has to match the name and address associated with the client’s account.
In Romania and Serbia, the Certificate of Tax Residence must be provided as an original document. Notarization and legalization of the document is not required, however the document has to be signed and stamped (in wet ink) by the relevant tax authority of the client’s country of tax domicile. Additionally, if requested, documents proving that the investor is the actual beneficiary of the income have to be submitted.
In Russia, Certificates of Tax Residence should be provided only by the actual recipients of the income from securities held via Owner Accounts, whereby the actual recipients might be UniCredit’s client itself (owner account holder) or a third party non-resident as disclosed by the client. The Certificate of Tax Residence shall also be supported by a Beneficial Owner Representation (“BOR”). Please note that the new form of BOR to be completed by clients will be provided by AO UniCredit Bank (pursuant to implementation of MLI in Russia, as communicated earlier). Foreign nominee account holders are currently not required to collect Certificates of Tax Residence and BORs from their underlying clients. Where required, Certificates of Tax Residence shall be presented apostilled and will have to be translated into Russian.
In Czech Republic, the Certificate of Tax Residence must be an original document or alternatively a certified copy, with a wet ink signature and/or stamp. In case the document does not have a wet ink signature and/or stamp, the document must be certified by a notary, confirming the document is an original document or a true copy of the original document issued by the tax authority of the particular country, and must also be apostilled.
In this market, the Certificate of Tax Residence shall also be supported by a Beneficial Owner Declaration. The new requirements for Beneficial Owner Declarations are as follows:
- since local laws and regulations are not specific about the age of the Beneficial Owner Declaration, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s. has decided to apply a less strict approach and we ask our clients to deliver Beneficial Owner Declarations not older than 3 calendar years following the year when the document was issued (e.g. a Beneficial Owner Declaration received in December 2019 will be valid until 31 December 2022)
- the Beneficial Owner Disclosure/Breakdown is required for each income / redemption payment and should be issued after the record date; an alternative is for the local sub custodian (i.e. UniCredit) to provide a declaration that all valid documents (including the Beneficial Owner Declaration) are in place and will be delivered upon request in case the Tax Authorities perform an onsite audit of the paying agent
- in order to act consistently, this approach will be applied to all income / redemption payments, i.e. not only in cases where the Czech National Bank acts as paying agent
- if applicable, the updated Beneficial Owner Declaration should be delivered to UniCredit as soon as possible - in the absence of the updated Beneficial Owner Declaration, the maximum tax rate, i.e. 35%, will be applied.
Impact on investors: Updated tax documentation for 2020 should be provided as soon as they become available around 1 January 2020, in order to avoid the application of standard tax rates (which will otherwise be applied until valid updated documents are received).