Anyone who invests in foreign shares and receives dividends for them must first pay withholding tax, which can then be refunded, at least in part. This is a cumbersome process that the startup DivTax simplifies via a platform. It has now received 1 million euros in a financing round for this purpose.
DivTax handles the entire refund process
Angel Invest, CapCircle, Superangels, the COO of ING Germany, Dr Ralph Müller, and Max Linden, founder of lemon.markets, are participating in the round. They are joined by industry-savvy business angels such as Christian Stiebner and Matthias Goegele. Müller and Stiebner had already invested a total of 330,000 euros in DivTax at the end of 2024. In 2023, the company also received funding from the InnoFinTech programme of IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH. The startup was founded by Nicolas Oldag and Julius and Linus Holzer. The idea originated in Lisbon, where Nicolas and Julius were working on a master's thesis on the refund of withholding tax on international capital gains. The amounts often exceed the 15 per cent stipulated for Germany.
In order to recover the excess amounts paid, investors usually have to contact the relevant foreign tax authorities. This is a task that many shy away from, which is why it is estimated that a total of over 1 billion euros in dividends is lost every year. The DivTax platform now allows users to check what refunds are possible in a matter of minutes and retroactively for up to five years. The entire application process can also be completed online with minimal effort. The service is aimed at private customers and now also institutional investors, a business area that is set to expand with the fresh money.
