Some domestic and foreign banks support their clients with unlimited tax liability in Germany with the reimbursement of foreign withholding tax. The prerequisite for the refund of foreign withholding tax is typically a confirmation of residence or domicile of the German investor, which is issued by the responsible tax office. For this process of obtaining residence certificates, the banks take over the correspondence with domestic and foreign tax authorities.
In the opinion of the Federal Ministry of Finance (See BMF letter dated 18 December 2018), such an application for residence certificates by credit institutions constitutes unauthorised assistance in tax matters. The term "assistance in tax matters" is interpreted broadly according to the case law of the Federal Fiscal Court (cf. e.g. accountants are also not authorised to prepare advance VAT returns, see BFH II R 22/15). Accordingly, the form for the certificate of residence requires information that needs to be assessed under tax law, so that filling in the form is not a mere clerical aid.
Yours TAXGATE Team will be happy to provide you with further information at any time.
