European investors face hurdles in reclaiming withholding tax

Procedures in Europe for reclaiming withholding tax remain cumbersome and costly, making it difficult or “financially unreasonable” for non-professional investors to reclaim taxes paid twice on cross-border dividend income, a recent study has found. The European Commission in June is due to present proposals to remove obstacles to prevent double taxation. The survey was conducted among 3,000 European investors by two investor interest groups, Brussels-based NGO Better Finance and Düsseldorf, Germany-based DSW.