Article 13 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus defines the concept of dividends.
It is income accrued by an organization (except for partnership) to a participant (shareholder) on shares (stocks) belonging to this participant (shareholder) in the order of distribution of profit remaining after taxation.
Any income accrued by a unitary enterprise to the owner of its property – a legal entity or an individual in the order of distribution of profit remaining after taxation, as well as the part of profit remaining after taxation attributable to the share of a withdrawn (expelled) participant of a company, received by this company from the moment of withdrawal (expulsion) of this participant until the moment of settlement with them shall be treated as dividends.
The taxation of dividends depends on the person to whom the dividends are paid:
- an individual (resident or non-resident of the Republic of Belarus);
- legal entity – resident of the Republic of Belarus;
- legal entity – non-resident of the Republic of Belarus.
How the tax base for dividends is calculated
The taxes imposed on income in the form of dividends in each of the above cases will be different. However, the calculation of the tax base for this type of income in all cases is made in accordance with the procedure established by p. 6 of art. 182 of the Tax Code according to the formula:
TB = R x (DA – DR),
where: TB is the amount of the tax base;
R is the ratio of the amount of dividends due to the payer to the total amount of profit distributed as dividends;
DA is the total amount of profit distributed as dividends;
DR is the amount of dividends received by a Belarusian company that accrued dividends in the current calendar year and (or) in the immediately preceding calendar year if these amounts of dividends were not previously accounted by such a company in determining the tax base as part of the DR indicator and were received not earlier than January 1, 2009.
Dividends received in foreign currency are translated into Belarusian rubles at the official exchange rate set by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus on the date of receipt.
When determining the tax base, the value of the DR indicator is accounted in the amount not exceeding the value of the DA indicator.
Important!
Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 285 “On special accounts” dated September 13, 2023 came into force on September 16, 2023.
Decree No. 285 gives the Government of the Republic of Belarus the right to apply a special restrictive measure against persons from unfriendly states. Such persons include foreign participants, owners of property of legal entities of the Republic of Belarus (except for banks).
The essence of the special restrictive measure is that the receipt of profit and (or) dividends by such persons will be possible through special accounts, the profit shall be used only for the purposes specified in paragraph 5 of the Regulation on the Procedure of functioning of current (settlement) bank accounts with special functioning mode, approved by the Decree No. 285.
As of the date of publication of the article on our website, the Government of the Republic of Belarus has not made a decision to introduce a special restrictive measure.
Taxation on payment of dividends to an individual
When paying dividends to an individual personal income tax item arises as by virtue of the norms of p. 1 of art 196 of the Tax Code, income received by payers from the following is recognized as personal income tax item:
- from sources in Belarus and/or from sources outside Belarus – for individuals recognized as tax residents of Belarus;
- from sources in Belarus – for individuals who are not recognized as tax residents of Belarus.
Income received from sources in Belarus includes, inter alia, dividends and interest received from a Belarusian organization (sp. 1.1 of p. 1 of art. 197 of the Tax Code).
Income from sources outside Belarus includes, inter alia, dividends and interest received from a foreign organization (p. 1 of art. 198 of the Tax Code).
Deductions: standard, social, property and professional deductions may be applied to the amount of calculated income subject to taxation (part 1 of p. 3 of art. 199 of the Tax Code).
The generally established income tax rate on dividend income is 13%.
At the same time, since January 1, 2019, reduced rates are set for dividends paid to individuals – tax residents of the Republic of Belarus:
– 6% – if within 3 preceding calendar years income has not been consistently distributed among participants (shareholders) of a Belarusian organization – tax residents of the Republic of Belarus;
– 0% – if within 5 preceding calendar years income has not been consistently distributed among participants (shareholders) of a Belarusian organization – tax residents of the Republic of Belarus.
!!! The following should be taken into account when paying dividends to individuals:
– provisions of international agreements (treaties) on avoidance of double taxation may be applied to dividend income paid to individuals who are non-residents of the Republic of Belarus. If there is a residence certificate from a foreign individual, such income is taxed at a reduced rate or is exempt from income tax;
– Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 12 dated September 22, 2005 “On High-Tech Park” establishes a privilege in the form of a reduced income tax rate of 9% on dividend income received from a HTP resident by a participant (shareholder) of such HTP resident, unless more favorable conditions are established by legislative acts;
– if the supervisory authority establishes that the tax agent has unlawfully failed to withhold and remit income tax, the 26% rate is applied (art. 214.7 of the Tax Code);
– norms of Decree No. 285 “On special accounts”.
Taxation of dividends paid to a legal entity which is the resident in the Republic of Belarus
Belarusian organizations that have made a decision to pay dividends are recognized as tax agents and are required to withhold and transfer income tax on dividends to the budget.
Dividends accrued by the following organizations are exempt from income tax:
– public associations “Belarusian Society of the Disabled”, “Belarusian Society of the Deaf” and “Belarusian Association of the Visually Impaired”, unitary enterprises which property owners are these associations;
– venture capital organizations, Belinfund, innovative organizations (it is necessary to comply with the criterion for the share of revenue of an innovative organization, for further details please see p. 13 of
art. 181 of the Tax Code).
The standard income tax rate on dividends is 12%.
In addition, the norms of the Tax Code stipulate that the income tax rate on dividends is set at:
– 6% – if within three preceding calendar years the income has not been consistently distributed among participants (shareholders) of a Belarusian organization – residents of the Republic of Belarus;
– 0% – if within five preceding calendar years income has not been consistently distributed among participants (shareholders) of a Belarusian organization – residents of the Republic of Belarus.
The tax is calculated in the month when the dividends are accrued.
!!! The following should be taken into account when paying dividends to Belarusian organizations:
– organizations working with the simplified taxation system, payers of the single tax for agricultural producers, and HTP residents calculate and pay income tax on dividends in accordance with the generally established procedure;
– Belarusian organizations that have accrued dividends on shares owned by the Republic of Belarus and (or) administrative territory are not tax agents (letter of the Ministry of Tax and Duties and the Ministry of Finance dated March 10, 2010 No. 2-2-9/10455/05-1-25/38);
– Belarusian organization that accrues dividends does not include the amounts of accrued dividends in the cost accounted at taxation (sp. 1.5 of p. 1 of art. 173 of the Tax Code);
– dividends received from Belarusian organizations (including tax withheld by the tax agent) are not included in non-operating income, i.e. are not accounted when calculating income tax (sp. 4.7 of p. 4 of
art. 174 of the Tax Code).
Taxation of dividends paid to a non-resident legal entity of Belarus
In this case, the organization that accrues and pays dividends must calculate, withhold, and transfer to the budget the income tax of foreign organizations that do not operate in the Republic of Belarus through a permanent establishment (hereinafter referred to as income tax).
The object of taxation is income received by the payer from sources in the Republic of Belarus and listed in p. 1 of art. 189 of the Tax Code, which include, inter alia, dividends and income equated to them.
Foreign and international organizations, including those that are not legal entities and do not operate in Belarus through a permanent establishment but derive income from sources in Belarus, are payers of income tax.
Income tax is calculated and transferred to the budget by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs who accrue and/or pay income to a foreign organization that does not operate in the Republic of Belarus through a permanent establishment. These legal entities and individual entrepreneurs are recognized as tax agents and have the rights and obligations established by art. 23 of the Tax Code (p. 3 of art. 193 of the Tax Code).
The general income tax rate on dividend income of a foreign organization is 15%.
!!! The following should be considered when paying dividends to foreign organizations:
– the provisions of international agreements (treaties) on avoidance of double taxation may be applied to dividend income, in accordance with which, if there is a certificate of residence from a foreign organization, such income is taxed at a reduced rate or is exempted from income tax;
– with respect to dividend income, the concept of the actual owner of income is applied, if it is envisaged by the norms of specific international agreements (treaties) on avoidance of double taxation;
– for HTP residents, Decree of the President No. 12 dated September 22, 2005 establishes income tax privilege in the form of a reduced rate (5%), unless a more favorable regime is established by international treaties of the Republic of Belarus;
– in 2023, sp. 2.10 of p. 2 of Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 93 dated March 14, 2022 gives the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus (its Presidium) the right to establish the increased income tax rate with respect to dividend payments in 2023. This measure applies to foreign organizations which location is a state included in the list of foreign states committing unfriendly actions against Belarusian legal entities and/or individuals. The said list is approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus No. 209 dated April 6, 2022;
– norms of Decree No. 285 “On special accounts”.
Taxation of dividends received by certain categories of taxpayers
The rates of income tax on dividend payments in 2023, income tax and personal income tax at the rate of 0% are set for:
1) dividends accrued by China-Belarus Investment Fund OJSC and Managing Company of China-Belarus Investment Fund CJSC to their founders (participants). This benefit is envisaged by sp. 2.3 and 2.3-1 of
p. 2 of Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 163 “On the China-Belarus Investment Fund”.
2) dividends accrued to their founders (participants, shareholders, owners of their property) who are residents of the Republic of Belarus and non-residents of the Republic of Belarus – the actual owners of income:
– residents of the Great Stone China-Belarus industrial park (except for residents of the Industrial Park implementing a large investment project),
– joint venture companies,
– venture organizations with location in the Industrial Park, that finance innovative projects of innovative companies as well as innovative companies of the Industrial Park;
– legal entities operating on the territory of the Industrial Park, 50 and more percent of shares (equity stakes) of which belong to the joint venture company or whose property is owned by the joint venture company.
The benefit is applied for 5 calendar years starting from the first calendar year when dividends or equivalent income is accrued accordingly.
3) dividends accrued by residents of the China Belarus Industrial Park Great Stone implementing large investment project to their founders (participants, shareholders, owners of their property) who are residents and non-residents of the Republic of Belarus – the actual owners of income.
The benefit is applied for 10 calendar years starting from the first calendar year when consequently dividends or equivalent income is accrued.
The benefits mentioned above are envisaged by p. 51, 110 of the Regulations on the Special Legal Regime of the China Belarus Industrial Park Great Stone approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 166 “On improving the special legal regime of China Belarus Industrial Park Great Stone”.
Consultant: Yuliya Fridrik, Tax Consultant, Accounting and Tax Specialist, + 375 29 107 66 02.