.png)
.png)
UK investors suffered losses on foreign shares and bonds.
Some £13.2bn of investors’ returns from foreign shares and bonds were lost in 2014 because withholding tax on dividends and income is not being fully reclaimed, according to research from Goal Group. UK investors suffered the biggest losses of major European markets, missing out on £910m in recoverable returns.
The research revealed a net decrease of 15% in global losses due to unclaimed withholding tax between 2012 and 2014.
Stephen Everard of Goal Group said: ‘Just under a quarter of recoverable withholding tax languishes in foreign tax systems each year. Funds that reclaim tax typically boost returns by at least 25 basis points annually, yet there is still the belief that the complex reclamation process is not worth the trouble.
‘Custodians and fund managers have a fiduciary duty to maximise returns for shareholders, and withholding tax reclamation is a vital element of this.’
