Prior to section 33 Finance Act 2010, certain non-resident companies receiving dividends from Irish resident companies where required to provide a tax residence and/or auditor's certificate together with a non-resident declaration form in order to receive payment of dividends free of DWT. Section 33 Finance Act 2010 removes this requirement; instead the non-resident company will have to operate a self-certification system.

Under the self-certification system, the non-resident company will provide a declaration to the dividend paying company or qualifying intermediary which will include:

• an undertaking from an authorised signatory that the company is beneficially entitled to the distribution in respect of which the declaration is made;
• details of the tax residency of the named company and;
• an undertaking to provide any further supporting documentation relating to the residency or control of the company to Revenue upon request.

The required declaration form and explanatory notes are available on the Revenue website at http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/dwt/forms/index.html

The new arrangements are effective from 3 April 2010. Declarations/certificates provided by qualifying non-resident companies prior to this date will remain valid until their current expiry date has passed.

The provisions of section 33 Finance Act 2010 apply to non-resident companies only.

Section 33 Finance Act 2010 also amends section 172I TCA 1997 and provides for the electronic transmission of dividend statements to all shareholders.

Revenue's eBrief 26/10 contains further information on the above changes and is available here.