- cash account
means the account or accounts to which the payments related to the securities held or registered in the investment account are made;
- certified financial intermediary
means a financial intermediary that is registered with a national register as referred to in Article 5;
- collective investment undertaking
means a UCITS, an EU AIF or an alternative investment fund managed by an EU AIFM, or any other collective investment vehicle that, based on the national rules of the source Member State or on a double tax treaty, is entitled to relief of excess withholding tax, or a collective investment vehicle of which the underlying investors are entitled to such relief that can be requested on their behalf, except such collective investment vehicles that are, or whose manager or depositary is, established in a third country listed in Annex I to the Council conclusions on the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes or in Table I of the Annex to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1675;
- competent authority
means the authority which has been designated by a Member State in accordance with Article 5 and includes any person authorised in accordance with national rules by such an authority to act on its behalf for the purposes of this Directive;
- comprehensive relief-at-source system
means a relief-at-source system that is applied by a Member State and meets all of the following conditions:
- depositary receipts
means financial instruments which are negotiable on the capital market of a Member State or a third country and which represent ownership of the securities of an issuer within the Union while being traded on a trading venue in a Member State or a third country and traded independently of the securities of the issuer;
- double tax treaty
means an agreement or convention that applies between two or more jurisdictions and provides for the elimination of double taxation of income and where applicable, of capital;
- entity
means a legal person or a legal arrangement, including but not limited to a corporation, partnership, trust or foundation;
- EUID
means the European unique identifier as referred to in Article 16 of Directive (EU) 2017/1132 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
- ex-dividend date
means the date from which the shares are traded without the rights derived from the shares, including the right to participate and vote in a general meeting, where relevant;
- excess withholding tax
means the difference between the amount of withholding tax levied by a Member State on payments to non-resident owners of dividends or interest from securities by applying the general domestic rate and the lower amount of withholding tax applicable by that Member State on the same dividends or interest in accordance with a double tax treaty or specific national rules, as the case may be;
- financial arrangement
means any arrangement or series of arrangements, or any contractual obligation, whereby:
- financial intermediary
means any of the following which is part of the securities payment chain between the entity issuing securities and the registered owner receiving payments on such securities:
- group
means a group as defined in Article 2(12) of Directive (EU) 2002/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;
- institution for occupational retirement provision
means an institution for occupational retirement provision as defined in Article 6(1) of Directive (EU) 2016/2341;
- investment account
means the account or accounts provided by financial intermediaries to registered owners via which their securities are held or registered;
- investment firm
means an investment firm as defined in Article 4(1), point (1), of Directive 2014/65/EU;
- large institution
means a large institution as defined in Article 4(1), point (146), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013;
- market capitalisation
means the total value of the publicly traded shares of companies whose shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market or on a multilateral trading facility, represented in a Member State as published on an annual basis by ESMA;
- market capitalisation ratio
means the ratio expressed as a percentage of the market capitalisation of a Member State on 31 December to the overall market capitalisation of the Union on 31 December, in a given year;
- payment date
means the date on which the payment of the dividend of a publicly traded share or the interest of a publicly traded bond is due to the registered owner;
- publicly traded bond
means a bond admitted to trading on a regulated market, or traded on a multilateral trading facility or on an organised trading facility;
- publicly traded share
means a share admitted to trading on a regulated market or traded on a multilateral trading facility;
- quick refund system
means a system whereby a payment of dividends or interest is made by taking into account the general domestic withholding tax rate followed by a request for a refund of the excess withholding tax within the timeframe set in Article 14;
- record date
means the date set by the issuer of a security on which the identity of the holder of that security and the rights derived therefrom shall be determined, based on the settled positions struck in the books of the financial intermediary by book-entry at the close of business;
- registered owner
means any natural person or entity that is entitled to receive dividends or interest from securities subject to tax withheld at source in a Member State as the holder of the securities on the record date, without prejudice to the adjustments to transactions pending settlement that could be made in accordance with the national rules of the source Member State, and that is not a financial intermediary acting for the account of others with respect to those dividends or interest;
- relief-at-source system
means a system whereby the appropriate withholding tax rate, in accordance with the applicable national rules or international agreements, such as the relevant double tax treaty, is applied at the moment of payment of dividends or interest;
- securities payment chain
means the sequence of financial intermediaries that handle the payment of dividends or interest on securities between the securities’ issuer and a registered owner to which dividends or interest from such securities are paid, and includes brokers that are investment firms authorised under Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council or that are credit institutions authorised under Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, when providing one or more investment services or performing investment activities, as well as third-country legal persons authorised under comparable rules of a third country of residence when providing investment services or performing investment activities;
- security
means a publicly traded share or a publicly traded bond;
- settlement
means the completion of a securities transaction where it is concluded with the aim of discharging the obligation of the parties to that transaction through the transfer of cash or securities or both, as defined in Article 2(1), point (7), of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014;
- source Member State
means the Member State of residence of the issuer of the security paying dividends or interest;
- standard refund system
means a system whereby a payment of dividends or interest is made taking into account the general domestic withholding tax rate followed by a request for a refund of the excess withholding tax not falling under the procedure set out in Article 14;
- TIN
means the unique identifier for tax purposes of a registered owner in a Member State;
- UCITS
means a UCITS as defined in Article 1(2) of Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;
- withholding tax agent
means an entity that has the responsibility under or has been authorised in accordance with the national rules of the source Member State to deduct the withholding tax from the payment of dividends or interest from securities and to transfer such withholding tax to the tax authority of the source Member State;
- withholding tax relief procedure
means a procedure whereby a registered owner receiving dividends or interest from securities that can be subject to excess withholding tax is relieved of, or receives a refund for, such excess withholding tax;