Withholding Tax (WHT) and International Law
We provide assistance both at the stage of structuring transactions and determining the correct tax consequences of transactions already made, contracts negotiated or waiting to be performed. We support clients in the correct settlement of WHT and documentation of cross-border contracts based on: national regulations, double tax treaties, EU law and OECD guidelines.
We have many years of experience both in performing analytical work, reviews, as well as in conducting disputes with tax authorities (as part of tax, customs and fiscal audits, tax proceedings for refunds and overpayments), and then before administrative courts.
Projects – examples:
- assistance in the recovery of multi-million amounts and interest for late payment of WHT paid in Poland (in a properly determined procedure in accordance with the CIT Act or the Tax Ordinance);
- preparation of applications for the issuance of an opinion on preference (for various types of payments: dividends, interest, royalties);
- assistance in the collection of documentation, legal and economic arguments to demonstrate that:
– the payer shows due diligence in assessing the effects of WHT from the perspective of individual payments abroad;
– the payee is the beneficial owner of the payment; - reviews of comprehensive business models resulting in interest, royalties, dividends payments between different countries in order to assess whether they meet the criteria of beneficial owner, etc.;
- preparation of statements of the WHT payer, i.e. WH-OSC;
- obtaining individual interpretations – for example, in order to obtain an answer as to whether the remuneration for the use of a specific device should be qualified as a fee for the use of industrial equipment and be subject to WHT.
