As of: July 2026 · Part 2 of the series “Reclaiming Withholding Tax” · Giulia Uggias-Sproß, Steuerberaterin (M.A. Taxation)
On US dividends the authorities initially withhold 30% — yet with the correct set-up there is usually nothing for German investors to reclaim. When that holds, and when it is worth a closer look.
Among the large investment markets, the USA is the most comfortable country in this series. Not because the rate is low, but because the relief procedure works before the money flows.
Two things are required:
If both conditions are met, 15% instead of 30% is withheld from the outset. You credit this 15% against German flat-rate tax. The total burden then matches that of a domestic dividend. There is nothing to reclaim because nothing was overpaid.
Most custodian banks and brokers operating in Germany meet QI status. At many German banks the W-8BEN runs in the background: the bank obtains the necessary declaration when the account is opened, or applies the treaty rate via its QI status, without you filling in a US form. At foreign direct brokers, by contrast, you submit the W-8BEN yourself and must keep it current. Anyone holding US shares through a German bank or an established European broker generally needs to do nothing.
Example — gross dividend of €5,000, when everything runs smoothly:
1. The W-8BEN has expired. The declaration is generally time-limited — usually until the end of the third calendar year following signature (a W-8BEN signed in January 2026 thus runs until 31 December 2029). If it lapses without renewal, your bank falls back to the standard rate — and withholds 30%. Check the expiry in your account documents. This is by far the most common mistake and the most easily avoided.
2. The broker has no QI status. This is the case with some foreign direct brokers and with custody accounts outside the EU. Then source relief does not apply.
3. From a US perspective you are not a “simple” case. US citizenship, a green card, longer US stays, US real estate or interests in US partnerships fundamentally change the starting position. Then it is no longer about withholding tax but about your own US filing obligation.
4. You hold REITs, MLPs or certain fund structures. For US REITs, typical private investors — a natural person with a holding of no more than 10% — do remain at the 15% rate under the treaty (Art. 10 para. 4 lit. a). But the withholding runs differently: often 30% is withheld initially, and the distribution splits into components — ordinary dividend, return of capital, capital gain — which are treated differently. For large or concentrated REIT holdings the 15% benefit falls away entirely. MLPs are, for tax purposes, not dividends but interests in US partnerships with their own, usually much higher, withholding. The lean 15%-at-source automatism therefore does not carry here — though the treaty ceiling itself is not necessarily a different one in every case.
Here the US procedure differs from all other countries in this series. There is no lean refund application to an authority as Switzerland, Austria or Denmark have. The route runs through the US tax assessment for non-residents: a separate tax return on Form 1040-NR, generally a US tax number (ITIN, applied for via Form W-7) and processing times that stretch over months. The claim is subject to a deadline of generally three years from filing the return (or two years from paying the tax).
The honest advice: for smaller amounts it is not worth it. The effort is out of all proportion. It makes more sense to fix the cause — renew the W-8BEN, change broker — and write off the 15 points overpaid as a lesson. From what size the procedure pays off depends on the individual case: on account size, the number of years affected and the ITIN question.
Even if everything runs smoothly in the USA: the credit in Germany does not happen automatically in every case.
With a domestic custody account the creditable withholding tax is usually taken into account by the bank. With foreign custody accounts — which is regularly the situation for internationally positioned investors — it is not. Then you must claim the creditable US withholding tax yourself in Anlage KAP.
Anyone holding a foreign custody account and filing no Anlage KAP forfeits the 15 percentage points entirely — and, depending on the situation, has at the same time breached a filing duty. The second point weighs more heavily than the first.
You can answer the first question in five minutes, and it decides whether you need to read any further at all.
G-Tax Consulting advises on international tax law and the taxation of investments with cross-border ties — including the question of whether and to what extent foreign withholding tax is creditable in Germany. 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.
