As of: July 2026 · Part 1 of the series “Reclaiming Withholding Tax” · Giulia Uggias-Sproß, Steuerberaterin (M.A. Taxation)
Switzerland withholds 35% withholding tax (Verrechnungssteuer) on dividends — far more than the double taxation treaty allows it to keep. You reclaim 20 percentage points, but only via the route that applies today — and that is no longer Form 85.
Anyone searching today for “reclaim Swiss withholding tax” will most likely land on a guide that puts Form 85 centre stage. Print, fill in, tax office, stamp.
For income that fell due on or after 1 January 2020, this route is no longer provided for. As of 31 January 2020 the ESTV introduced an online application that replaces the paper form for applicants resident in Germany. Form 85 now applies only to income due up to 31 December 2019 — that is, to cases that are long time-barred.
The practical consequence: anyone following an old guide fills in a form that is no longer accepted, losing weeks in the process. With a deadline that expires at year-end, that is the difference between a refund and forfeiture.
Example — gross dividend of €5,000 from Swiss shares:
Without an application, €1,000 stays permanently out of reach — not as a tax you owe, but simply because no one claimed it.
For interest the effect is larger: under the treaty Switzerland may levy no withholding tax at all, so the full 35 percentage points are refundable. At the same time the interest must be declared in Germany. Anyone who neither claims the refund nor declares the income has two problems instead of one — overpaid, to the wrong tax authority, while breaching a domestic filing duty.
The refund claim lapses three years after the end of the calendar year in which the taxable payment fell due. The legal basis is Art. 32 para. 1 of the Swiss Withholding Tax Act (VStG): the right to a refund expires if the application is not filed within three years of the end of the calendar year in which the taxable payment became due.
Anyone who received Swiss dividends in 2023 and does nothing by year-end loses the claim for good. This is a forfeiture deadline; there is no general relief provision to invoke later (Art. 32 para. 2 VStG provides only a narrow 60-day grace period for the technical special case where the tax is paid only after an ESTV objection — not a situation the ordinary investor faces).
The practical mistake is rarely forgetting the deadline, but the timing beforehand: before applying you need a certificate of residence from your German tax office. How long your tax office takes is outside your control. Starting in November cuts it too fine.
The credit in Anlage KAP is forgotten. The 15 creditable percentage points do not run automatically in every case. For foreign custody accounts — and depending on the broker, for domestic ones too — you must claim the creditable withholding tax yourself in Anlage KAP. That is the second, often overlooked part of the money.
Refund and credit are claimed twice. If the withholding tax is refunded by Switzerland, the amount creditable in Germany is reduced accordingly. Claiming both in full is incorrect.
The application is filed separately every year. Permissible, but unnecessary. Within the three-year deadline several years can be combined — one procedure instead of three, one certificate of residence instead of three. Anyone who bundles, however, must keep an eye on the deadline of the oldest year.
For withholding taxes within the EU, the EU “FASTER” directive brings standardised, faster procedures from 1 January 2030 — relief at source or a fast-track procedure with a short processing deadline. Switzerland, however, is not an EU member state but a third country. Its withholding tax does not fall under FASTER.
So the directive changes nothing for reclaiming Swiss withholding tax. The current ESTV procedure remains. In practice this is rather an argument not to defer: while EU procedures become more digital and faster, the Swiss route stays as it is for now. The 2023–2028 years must be claimed under today’s procedure, or they lapse.
Tax advisors can register as representatives in the ePortal and file applications for their clients. The effort then lies with us, not with you — especially where several years, several custody accounts or several countries come together.
G-Tax Consulting advises on international tax law and the taxation of investments with cross-border ties. We advise in German, English, Russian and Italian.
This article reflects the legal situation as of July 2026 and does not replace individual tax advice.
