UK private investors are missing out on around £250 million ($434.4 million) because they fail to reclaim tax on dividends from their foreig...

UK private investors are missing out on around £250 million ($434.4 million) because they fail to reclaim tax on dividends from their foreign securities, according to a report by Global Operations and Administration Ltd. (GOAL), a tax specialist consultancy. Estimates by the report authors say UK private investors own more than £250 billion in domestic and foreign equities. The report said that the loss represents around 13-14 per cent of overall dividend returns. Around 90 per cent of the reclaimable tax on holdings of overseas shares lies un-reclaimed because of complex red tape. The situation for private investors, according to the report, is much worse than for institutional investors, where their custodian banks manage to reclaim more than 70 per cent of tax on foreign securities. GOAL said that it expects the situation to worsen. “Accountants, stockbrokers, banks and other asset managers are missing out on a valuable element of customer service that would allow clients to achieve better return on investment,” said the report.