The right refund form, country by country: the reference table
Modelo 210, Form 83, NR7-R, 276 Div.-Aut., 5000/5001… The form, the authority, the window and the filing channel for all 19 covered countries — all free from the administrations, table updated with our country database.
Data reviewed on 7 min read
Every tax administration has its own form, filing channel and vocabulary: Spain's Modelo 210, Switzerland's Form 83, Canada's NR7-R, Belgium's 276 Div.-Aut., France's 5000/5001 pair… This table is our internal reference, published as is: the right document, the right authority and the right channel for each of the 19 covered countries. All of these forms are free from the administrations — knowing them already means being able to do it yourself.
The reference table
| Country | Form | Authority | Window · counting | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺 Australia | ATO claim | Australian Taxation Office (ATO) | 4 yrs · calendar year-end * | Online |
| 🇦🇹 Austria | ZS-RD1 (online pre-filing) | Finanzamt für Großbetriebe (Austrian tax office) | 5 yrs · calendar year-end | Online |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | 276 Div.-Aut. | FPS Finance (Belgian tax administration) | 4 yrs · calendar year-end * | Online |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | NR7-R | Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) | 2 yrs · calendar year-end | Paper |
| 🇩🇰 Denmark | Form 06.003 (online claim) | Skattestyrelsen (Danish Tax Agency) | 3 yrs · anniversary * | Online |
| 🇫🇮 Finland | Form 6164e (individuals) | Finnish Tax Administration (Vero Skatt) | 3 yrs · calendar year-end | Online |
| 🇫🇷 France | Forms 5000 + 5001 | DGFiP (French public finances directorate) | 2 yrs · calendar year-end | Paper |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | BZSt claim (online portal) | Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) | 4 yrs · calendar year-end | Online |
| 🇮🇪 Ireland | DWT refund claim (Revenue) | Irish Revenue | 4 yrs · calendar year-end | Paper |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | Form A (dividends) | Agenzia delle Entrate — Pescara Operations Centre | 4 yrs · anniversary | Paper |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | Form 1 (relief) / refund claim via the paying agent | National Tax Agency (NTA) | 5 yrs · anniversary | Paper |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | Belastingdienst claim | Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax Administration) | 3 yrs · calendar year-end * | Online |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | RF-1306 (online claim) | Skatteetaten (Norwegian Tax Administration) | 5 yrs · calendar year-end * | Online |
| 🇵🇹 Portugal | Form 22-RFI | Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (Portuguese tax authority) | 2 yrs · calendar year-end * | Paper |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | Modelo 210 | Agencia Tributaria (AEAT) | 4 yrs · calendar year-end * | Online |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden | SKV 3740 | Skatteverket (Swedish Tax Agency) | 5 yrs · calendar year-end * | Online |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | Form 83 (French residents) | Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) | 3 yrs · calendar year-end | Online |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | — | HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) | 4 yrs · calendar year-end * | Paper |
| 🇺🇸 United States | 1040-NR | IRS (Internal Revenue Service) | 3 yrs · anniversary | Paper |
Three useful readings of this table. The window is covered in depth in the statute-of-limitations ranking — it is the column that decides your filing order. The channel splits the panel into two worlds: 11 administrations accept online filing, 8 still require paper — and paper adds its own processing time. The form itself is never the real difficulty: its attachments are what sink files.
The form is only the visible part
No administration refunds on the strength of a well-completed form alone. What drives the decision is the supporting evidence — and it looks similar from one country to the next:
- The certificate of tax residence, stamped by your tax office, often on the source country's own form (Germany and Japan are particular about this). It is the slowest document to obtain: allow several weeks.
- Evidence of the dividends and the withholding: statements, tax vouchers, custodian attestations. Some countries (Germany first among them) require the full chain of custody.
- Proof of holding on the payment date — the point the refund frauds made non-negotiable, in Denmark and elsewhere.
- A representation mandate, if a third party files for you.
The good news: these documents pool. A four-country portfolio does not require four full files, but one common base declined four times — precisely where delegating becomes worthwhile, and the leading cause of rejection when a document is missing.
Your questions about the forms
Can I download these forms myself?
Yes, all of them — free of charge, from the official sites of the administrations listed in the table. Beware of websites charging for a public document. If you go it alone, our one firm piece of advice: check the statute of limitations before investing time in the file.
Why isn't the US recovery form the W-8BEN?
Because the W-8BEN is preventive: it secures the right rate on future payments but refunds nothing retroactively. After-the-fact US recovery goes through a dedicated return filed with the IRS (1040-NR) — two separate procedures, two forms, and confusing them is one of the most frequent mistakes we see.
Is one residence certificate enough for several countries?
No: each administration wants its own copy, often on its own template, sometimes with a freshness requirement (under a year). In practice you request several stamped copies from your tax office in one go — the kind of friction we absorb in a delegated file.
My source country is not in the table: what now?
The panel covers the 19 markets our clients hold most, and it extends regularly — the database is versioned. For a country outside the panel the principle is the same (treaty, form, residence certificate, deadline): write to us and we will tell you honestly whether we can handle it, or not yet.
The simulator first tells you whether the file is worth it — free, no account.