UPDATE TO SHAREHOLDERS BASED IN FRANCE
REGARDING THE
REFUND OF WITHHOLDING TAX OF 15% LEVIED ON THE
ZCCMIH DIVIDEND
Introduction
At the Annual General Meeting held on 7 October 2014, the shareholders of the Company approved a Final Dividend of K1.56 per share for the period ended 31 March 2014.
Subsequently, Dividend payments were made from Monday, 10 November 2014. Following Dividend payments to shareholders based in France, an issue regarding withholding tax on dividends paid to shareholders in France arose. The matter was pursued with the relevant authorities, specifically, the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) regarding the provisions of the Double Tax Agreement (DTA) of 1950 signed between Zambia and France. The DTA provides for exemption of withholding tax at source. This means that dividends payable to shareholders domiciled in France by a Zambian company are legally not subject to withholding tax. This means that the shareholders on whom a withholding tax of 15% was levied on the ZCCMIH dividend will be refunded the withheld tax once the process underlined below is fulfilled.
The ZRA will honor the provisions of the Double Tax Agreement subject to each individual shareholder providing the French tax residence certificate and completing the WHT3 form.
Required Action
If you are a shareholder who received a dividend payment, you are required to do the following:
- Provide proof that you have received a dividend payment by sending a copy of the dividend warrant
- Provide a copy of the French Residence Certificate
- Provide Bank details including: Bank Name , Account Holder’s Name, Swift Code and
Kindly note that the process will take some time and it is entirely upto each shareholder to provide the correct details and submit all the requirements on time. You have upto 30 September 2015 to submit the required documentation after which you will have to deal directly with ZRA.
Once you have all the required documentation, kindly send these to the following address:
Corpserve Transfer Agents
House No. 6
Mwaleshi Road, Olympia Park,
P.O. Box 37522
Lusaka, Zambia
Email: info@corpservezambia.com.zm
Issued on behalf of ZCCM Investments Holdings:
C Chabala
Company Secretary
Lusaka
Date: 4 June 2015