Dividend Withholding Tax (DWT) Return - File Format Specification

Version 1.1

Version Control

Version / Date / Change
1.0 / 28/02/2010 / Document created.
-Formversion attribute set to 6.
-Employer and P35L elements moved to external schemas.
-Updated sample file.
1.1 / 20/07/2012 / Updated the following fields to allow them to support the new format registration numbers. The update involves a change to the regular expression used to determine if a number is valid.
Change Details:
Before: “[0-9]{7,8}[A-Wa-w][TWXtwx ]?”
After: “[0-9]{7,8}[A-Wa-w][A-ITWXZa-itwxz ]?”
Sample Numbers:
Existing Format: 1234567T
New Format: 1234567FA
Section / Field
Pg.2 – CompanyDetails / ctnumber
Pg. 3 – Sample File / Updated to include some of the new format numbers

Change Since Version 1.0

Element / Change
ShareholderDetails / Attribute names changed: address11 to address1, address12 to address2, address13 to address3, address14 to address4, address15 to address5

DOCuMENT TYPE DEFINITION

The DWT file should be a well-formed XML document conforming to the Document Type Definition below:

<!DOCTYPE DwtFile [

<!ELEMENT DwtFile (CompanyDetails, Distributiondetails*)>

<!ATTLISTDwtFile

formversion( 1 )#REQUIRED

periodstartCDATA#REQUIRED

periodendCDATA#REQUIRED

language( E | G )#REQUIRED

<!ELEMENTCompanyDetails (Company)>

<!ELEMENTCompany EMPTY>

<!ATTLISTctnumberCDATA#REQUIRED

companynameCDATA#REQUIRED

address1CDATA#REQUIRED

address2CDATA#REQUIRED

address3CDATA#IMPLIED

address4CDATA#IMPLIED

dateofdistributionCDATA#REQUIRED

<!ELEMENTDistributiondetails(ShareholderDetails+, Details)>

<!ELEMENTShareholderDetails EMPTY>

<!ATTLISTbennameCDATA#REQUIRED

address11CDATA#REQUIRED

address12CDATA#REQUIRED

address13CDATA#IMPLIED

address14CDATA#IMPLIED

address15CDATA#IMPLIED

<!ELEMENTDetails EMPTY>

<!ATTLISTisexempt( true | false )“false”

investordesignationCDATA#IMPLIED grossamtdistribution CDATA #REQUIRED

dwtdeductedCDATA#IMPLIED

NOTES ON ELEMENTS

DwtFile

The DwtFile element has the following attributes:

formversion / Numeric, required / Must be equal to “1” for this version of the file format. Will change with each new edition of the form.
periodstart / Date, required / Start of tax year in which distribution was made (dd/mm/yyyy)
periodend / Date, required / End of tax year in which distribution was made (dd/mm/yyyy)
language / E or G, required / E for English, G for Irish

It then consists of one CompanyDetails element and one or more Distributiondetails element.

CompanyDetails

The CompanyDetails element has the following attributes:

ctnumber / AlphaNumeric, required / Corporation Tax Registration Number (7 numeric + 1 or 2 alpha characters)
companyname / Alpha, required / Name of Company (max 70 characters)
address1 / AlphaNumeric, required / Line 1 of the full postal address of the company. (max length 35)
address2 / AlphaNumeric, required / Line 2 of the full postal address of the company. (max length 35)
address3 / AlphaNumeric, optional / Line 3 of the full postal address of the company. (max length 35)
address4 / AlphaNumeric, optional / Line 4 of the full postal address of the company. (max length 35)
dateofdistribution / Date, required / Date of Distribution in format dd/mm/yyyy. The Date of Distribution must be a date within the tax year in which the distribution was made and cannot be prior to 06/04/1999.

Distributiondetails

The Distributiondetails element has no attributes. It consists of one to four ShareholderDetails elements and one Details element.

ShareholderDetails

The ShareholderDetails element contains the following attributes:

benname / Alpha, required / Enter Beneficiary’s name (max 150 characters). The name may take the following format: - Prefix, Forename, Surname, Suffix
address1 / AlphaNumeric, required / Line 1 of the full postal address of the beneficiary. (max length 35)
address2 / AlphaNumeric, required / Line 2 of the full postal address of the beneficiary. (max length 35)
address3 / AlphaNumeric, optional / Line 3 of the full postal address of the beneficiary. (max length 35)
address4 / AlphaNumeric, optional / Line 4 of the full postal address of the beneficiary. (max length 35)
address5 / AlphaNumeric, optional / Line 5 of the full postal address of the beneficiary. (max length 35)

Details

The Details element has the following attributes:

isexempt / True or False, optional / Indicator of whether or not exempt from DWT deductions.
investordesignation / AlphaNumeric, optional / Further identifies underlying beneficiaries. (max 8 characters).
grossamtdistribution / Numeric, required / Enter total amount of Distribution in Euro for that Date (max 11 characters)
dwtdeducted / Numeric / If the isexempt attribute is true, dwtdeducted should be set to zero. If isexempt is false, dwtdeducted is calculated at a rate applicable to the Distribution date already entered.

Example

This is an example of a correct DWT XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

</CompanyDetails>

</Distributiondetails>

</Distributiondetails>

</DwtFile>

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