How to get your withholding tax back

Frankfurt It’s dividend hunter time. Companies at home and abroad distribute profit-sharing in record amounts. Many investors would also like to access foreign stocks, such as the French luxury goods group LVMH, the Norwegian aluminum giant Norsk Hydro or the Spanish Telefonica. But the associated tax problems make many people shy away, observes Marc Tüngler, general manager at the investor association DSW. At the same time, he warns: “This home bias in investing worsens the risk profile.”

In the case of dividends from abroad, the foreign and German tax authorities hold hands. Despite double taxation agreements, investors actually have to recover the overpaid taxes themselves. But this is so complex that the Germans prefer to leave a billion euros a year.