United Kingdom Withholding tax rates
United Kingdom Withholding tax rates: no single figure applies. The reason is set out below, cited to the governing instrument. Last checked against the official source on 11 Aug 2026.
The income tax the United Kingdom requires payers to deduct at source from payments to non-residents - yearly interest and intellectual-property royalties at the basic rate, and dividends at nil because no deduction-at-source duty extends to them - each at its domestic statutory rate before any double-tax treaty relief. Administered by HMRC under the Income Tax Act 2007, Part 15.
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| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | — |
| Official source | Income Tax Act 2007, Part 15 (Deduction of income tax at source): s.874 - 'The person by or through whom the payment is made must, on making the payment, deduct from it a sum representing income tax on it'; s.906(5) - 'The person by or through whom the payment is made must, on making it, deduct from it a sum representing income tax on it at the basic rate in force for the tax year.' No provision of Part 15 imposes a duty to deduct from company dividends. |
| Last verified | 2026-08-11 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
THERE IS NO SINGLE WITHHOLDING TAX RATE, WHICH IS WHY value IS NULL. The United Kingdom deducts income tax at source at two different outcomes across the three payment types: nil on dividends, and the basic rate (20%) on yearly interest and on intellectual-property royalties. A caller wanting a number must name which payment type; read withholding_rates rather than expecting a headline figure. ALL RATES ARE DOMESTIC STATUTORY RATES, BEFORE TREATY RELIEF. A double-tax treaty can reduce the interest and royalty rates, often to zero, and whether relief is available depends on the recipient's residence and beneficial ownership. We do NOT serve treaty rates: they are bilateral, run to thousands of country pairs, and applying one is a legal determination rather than a lookup. Note that the UK is NOT an EU member and the EU Interest and Royalties Directive relief no longer exists in UK law: Finance Act 2021 s.34 repealed ITTOIA 2005 ss.757-767 ('The following provisions are repealed - (a) sections 757 to 767 of ITTOIA 2005 (exemption from income tax for certain interest and royalty payments)') with effect for 'payments made on or after 1 June 2021', and cancelled exemption notices issued under the 2004 Regulations. EU-resident recipients therefore get only whatever the bilateral treaty gives them. NO SERIES effective_from IS ASSERTED: the primary instruments state the operative rates by reference to 'the basic rate in force for the tax year' rather than stating a commencement date for the current 20% figure, and we do not supply one from memory. SCHEDULED CHANGE ALREADY ENACTED: Finance Act 2026 amends ITA 2007 s.874 for the tax year 2027-28 onwards so that the deduction from yearly interest is at the 'savings basic rate', which FA 2026 s.5 sets at 22% for 2027-28. From 6 April 2027 the interest withholding rate therefore rises to 22% while royalties remain at the basic rate (20%). The consolidated text on legislation.gov.uk already shows the amended 'savings basic rate' wording as the latest version; the operative rate for payments up to 5 April 2027 remains the basic rate, 20%. SCHEDULED REIT CHANGE, ALREADY ENACTED - THE PID WITHHOLDING RATE RISES FROM 20% TO 22% ON 6 APRIL 2027. The withholding on a UK REIT property income distribution is imposed by regulations made under Income Tax Act 2007 s.973 (Part 15, Chapter 18, Real Estate Investment Trusts), and s.974(1)(a) fixes the rate at which those regulations may require deduction. Finance Act 2026, Schedule 1, paragraph 33 substitutes 'the property basic rate' for 'the basic rate' in s.974(1)(a), so the consolidated text on legislation.gov.uk now reads 'require a company to deduct sums representing income tax at the property basic rate before payment of distributions'. Finance Act 2026 s.6 creates the new property basic, property higher and property additional rates and provides at s.6(8) that 'the amendments made by this section and that Schedule have effect for the tax year 2027-28 and subsequent tax years'; s.7 sets the property basic rate at 22% for 2027-28 (property higher rate 42%, property additional rate 47%). The operative PID withholding rate for distributions made up to 5 April 2027 therefore remains the basic rate, 20%, as HMRC's Investment Funds Manual IFM28060 (updated 25 June 2026) and the UK-REIT DT-Individual Notes (HMRC 03/26) both still state; from 6 April 2027 it becomes 22%. This is a distinct change from the s.874 yearly-interest move to the savings basic rate already recorded above: interest moves to the savings basic rate (22% for 2027-28) while REIT property income distributions move to the property basic rate (also 22% for 2027-28), and intellectual-property royalties under s.906 stay on the ordinary basic rate (20%). PRECISION ON THE DIVIDEND ZERO: it is accurate that no Part 15 duty to deduct reaches an ordinary company distribution, but Part 15 is not free of distribution withholding altogether - Chapter 18 (ss.973-974) is the REIT property income distribution regime. The zero served for dividends is the position for ordinary company dividends only; a property income distribution of a UK REIT (or of a PAIF) is not an ordinary dividend and is paid under deduction.
Get it programmatically
curl https://euroref.dev/v1/gb/withholding-tax
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://euroref.dev/v1/gb/withholding-tax/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://euroref.dev/provenance/gb/withholding-taxOther United Kingdom series: Bank of England Bank Rate · Value Added Tax (standard rate) · National Living Wage (statutory minimum, age 21+) · Bank and public holidays 2026 · Consumer Prices Index, annual inflation rate · Corporation Tax (main rate) · Income Tax bands (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) · Statutory social-insurance contributions · Late-payment interest (Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act) · Statutory interest on judgment debts (Judgments Act rate) · VAT registration threshold
The same figure elsewhere: Austria · Belgium · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · all 34