Dusseldorf The bright side of investing includes gains on sales, interest income, and dividends. The taxes that are deducted from it, on the other hand, are a necessary evil.
For shareholders of domestic companies, the withholding tax on dividends applies. It is 25 percent. In addition, there is the solidarity surcharge and, if applicable, the church tax, explains Handelsblatt tax expert Laura de la Motte in the current episode of Handelsblatt Today. Taxation for investments in foreign companies is more complicated. This is where the so-called withholding tax applies. According to de la Motte, this can vary from country to country: “The British, for example, completely waive the withholding tax.”
Attention: Shareholders could be taxed twice abroad. Germany has signed agreements with 95 countries to prevent this. But: “These double taxation agreements often work very poorly in practice,” says de la Motte.
Also: Lufthansa is currently planning to take over two foreign airlines. What is probably an opportunity for shareholders should turn out to be a nuisance for passengers, as Handelsblatt aviation expert Jens Koenen explains in the podcast.
More: You should be careful with dividend stocks from three countries
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