The reclaim of withholding taxes on dividends and interest ranks among the most complex tasks within the fund back office. Diverging national procedures, filing deadlines, documentation requirements and double taxation treaties create a significant manual workload – with direct implications for efficiency, costs and overall fund performance. For this reason, an increasing number of management companies rely on specialised partners such as RAQUEST to consolidate and recover withholding taxes across multiple markets.

Based on clearly defined data relating to claims and payments, RAQUEST assumes responsibility for the operational handling of reclaims on behalf of the management company – ranging from relief-at-source procedures and quick refunds to traditional reclaim processes. The result is standardised workflows, reduced risk exposure and a substantial alleviation of back-office resources. For this collaboration to function efficiently, however, one element is crucial: a structured, complete and consistent data foundation.

This is exactly where XENTIS comes into play. Our Investment Management Software provides all information required by RAQUEST in a structured format and generates interface files that can be uploaded directly into the RAQUEST tool. Manual data collection, spreadsheet-based processes and duplicate entries become obsolete. For the management company, this translates into a significantly higher degree of automation combined with enhanced data quality.

New growth potential for management companies

The combination of XENTIS and RAQUEST transforms withholding tax reclaims from an operational bottleneck into a largely automated process. This not only reduces administrative workload but also has a direct impact on fund performance. Through this integrated approach, management companies benefit on multiple levels:

• A high degree of automation through structured data provision and standardised interfaces
• Significantly reduced manual effort within the back office
• Improved yield through higher and faster recovery of withholding taxes
• Lower operational and compliance risk thanks to clearly defined processes and deadline monitoring
• Strong scalability, even across large fund volumes and numerous target markets
• Broad market coverage spanning multiple jurisdictions and procedures
• Enhanced transparency and reporting capabilities for NAV control and investor communication

Particularly in an environment of rising costs and increasing regulatory demands, the efficient recovery of withholding taxes becomes a genuine competitive advantage. Outsourcing the operational reclaim process to a specialised partner such as RAQUEST – combined with the structured data foundation provided by XENTIS – creates sustainable relief for management companies and measurable added value. Processes become leaner, operational risks decrease and funds directly benefit from improved net returns.

Would you like to simplify your processes? We would be pleased to demonstrate in a personal discussion how XENTIS, together with the RAQUEST integration, can help you design your withholding tax processes efficiently and future-proof them for the long term. Our ambition is to position our clients so that complex matters such as withholding tax reclaims no longer create friction but function seamlessly.