The FAQ: real answers, numbers included

Anyone receiving over-withheld foreign dividends: individual investors first, but also family holding companies and small structures. Our simulator covers French, Belgian, Luxembourg and Swiss tax residences, plus a generic profile for other treaty countries. The one substantive condition: being a tax resident of a country linked to the source country by a tax treaty — it is that treaty, not us, that creates your right to a refund.

11 source countries to date: United States, Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada, Japan, Australia, Ireland, Austria, Sweden — each with its own detailed guide (rates, deadlines, documents, traps). Two are on the list for the opposite reason: the UK withholds nothing on ordinary dividends, and the Dutch 15% withholding already matches the treaty rate for an individual French resident — so there is generally nothing to recover there, and we say so.

Sometimes, yes. Relief at source only works if the right form was valid at the right moment: an expired W-8BEN (it lapses at the end of the third calendar year after signature), a broker switch or a misconfigured omnibus account are enough to push some payments back to the full rate — 30% instead of 15% on US dividends, for instance. Our line-by-line diagnostic pinpoints the over-withheld payments; if there is nothing, it concludes “nothing to file”, free of charge.

One claim per administration: each country processes separately, with its own forms and deadlines. In your account everything is consolidated: each country becomes a distinct ledger entry with its own progress gauge, and the fee is computed claim by claim. Useful detail: Switzerland caps claims at three per year per claimant — so we bundle your Swiss dividends into one annual claim.

Yes. Entities follow the same journey with their own forms — W-8BEN-E on the US side (available as a €129 fixed-fee service), beneficial-ownership evidence elsewhere. Administrations scrutinise this point closely since the dividend-arbitrage scandals: expect somewhat more paperwork than an individual. Above €75,000 recovered, volume pricing is quoted case by case.

No — but there is a common-sense threshold. Below €60 of estimated over-withholding, our €39 minimum fee would absorb most of the gain: the simulator tells you so and advises waiting, then pooling several years before filing. Above that, even a few hundred euros justify filing: that is exactly what our automated pipeline makes economical.

From 2 to 5 years depending on the source country, with different counting rules (calendar year-end or anniversary date). Canada is the shortest in our panel: 2 years after the end of the calendar year of withholding — many Canadian overpayments expire before the investor even realises a claim was possible. Austria and Sweden allow 5 years. Our deadline calculator gives the exact cut-off date for each dividend, free.

Honestly: from a few weeks to more than twelve months, depending on the administration. Sweden is known for relatively fast answers; Germany frequently exceeds twelve months of processing. We have no power over an administration's pace: our job is to file a complete claim first time — the number-one driver of processing time — and then to follow up. Your account shows observed ranges, not promises.

Yes, for the part that depends on us: priority handling (€89 per claim, on top of the success fee) moves your file to the front of our queue — accelerated preparation and filing. As a general rule, what matters legally is the filing date: once the claim is filed in time, processing can continue past the limitation date without extinguishing your right — we check the exact rule of the country concerned before every filing.

Yes — that is actually the most common case. Any dividend whose limitation period has not expired can be claimed: depending on the country, that covers the last 2 to 5 years. Pooling several years into a single filing is often the best strategy: the same supporting documents, one processing round, and a fee computed on the recovered total — so the degressive tranches work harder for you.

The right is extinguished, permanently: no administration reopens an expired limitation period, and no provider — us included — can obtain that for you. It is the only failure in the whole chain with no remedy. That is why we advise checking your deadlines before anything else, with the calculator: free, no account, two minutes.

Encryption in transit (TLS) for every exchange, encryption at rest for stored documents, hosting in the European Union, and internal access partitioned on the least-privilege principle: only the people working on your claim can access it, and those accesses are logged. The security page details every measure — including what we do not display, such as certifications we have not yet obtained.

Because we file claims in your name with tax administrations, and refunds are at stake. Identity verification and sanctions/PEP screening, run by a specialised provider, protect against two real risks: identity theft (someone claiming your refund in your place) and fraudulent use of the service. It happens once, when your file opens.

For the life of the claim, then for the duration of legal obligations: tax and accounting records must be kept for several years after closure (up to 10 years for some accounting documents), and identity evidence follows the retention periods imposed by anti-money-laundering regulation. Beyond those periods: deletion or anonymisation. The full breakdown, category by category, is in our privacy policy.

Access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection: all the classic GDPR rights, exercisable from your account or in writing. One honest limit: we cannot erase what the law requires us to keep — claims filed with administrations, accounting records — before the legal retention periods expire. The privacy policy explains how to exercise each right, and with whom.