Dusseldorf Anyone who takes foreign shares into their portfolio usually pays too much tax on dividends. The reason: When the dividend is paid, the tax authorities in the respective home country of the company withhold part of the dividend as withholding tax. 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.
“Many investors are understandably very disappointed and therefore keep their hands off foreign dividend stocks,” says Handelsblatt financial editor Laura de la Motte in the podcast. Many then stayed with their German stocks – but that was suboptimal with a view to risk diversification. It is possible to get help from banks or tax consultants. For many private investors, however, this is not worthwhile because of the fees.
In an interview with Anis Micijevic, Laura de la Motte reveals what other options there are to recover the overpaid taxes from foreign tax authorities.
Also: This Thursday, the trial against former Wirecard boss Markus Braun and two co-defendants began at the Munich district court. Braun has been in custody for almost two and a half years. The public prosecutor accuses him of infidelity, balance sheet falsification, market manipulation and commercial gang fraud. The indictment is 474 pages long. Markus Braun was once the head of the most valuable financial group in Germany, but there is nothing left of it after Wirecard’s spectacular bankruptcy. He now faces up to fifteen years in prison.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Whether it really comes to that depends on whether a number of important questions that concern not only tens of thousands of investors can be answered in court. Sönke Iwersen, co-head of the Handelsblatt investigative department, knows what questions these are.
More: The Wirecard file – Here you will find all the background to the scandal
We have an exclusive subscription offer for you as a Handelsblatt Today listener: test Handelsblatt Premium for 4 weeks for 1 € and always stay informed about what’s moving the financial markets. More information is available here.
If you have any comments, questions, criticism or praise for this episode, please email us at: [email protected]
We can now be reached on WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram via the following number: 01523 – 80 99 427