Dividends from foreign companies section (SA100)

This section is used to enter foreign dividends received. You should add a section for each country from which dividends were received.

All amounts of foreign income received and foreign tax paid must be entered in sterling.

In most circumstances foreign income only needs be declared where the taxpayer is resident in the UK for all or part of the tax year. Do not enter foreign income if the taxpayer is non-resident as IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts will include all entered income on the return and computation.

In some circumstances, foreign dividends can be included on page 3 of the SA100 form, instead of including the SA106 foreign pages:

  • Where foreign dividends are the only foreign income entered and

  • the amount received is less than £300 (for tax years prior to 2020/21) and £2,000 for 2020/21 and

  • foreign tax credit relief is not being claimed and

  • the dividends qualify for UK tax credits.

Refer to the HMRC Tax return for Self Assessment guidance if needed (opens in a new tab).

  1. From the Clients menu, select Clients list.
  2. Change the client list view to either Active clients or a custom view that includes all relevant clients.

    3. If any of the entries are greyed out and you cannot select them, this is a restricted item — the parent client record has been set to Private and you do not have access. If you believe this is a mistake, contact your IRIS Elements administrator. Users who have Administrator level permissions are able to view all public and private client records, even those where they are not named as assigned users.

  3. Open the relevant client record.
  4. On the Personal tax returns widget on the client dashboard, select the required return. The Status tab is shown by default.
  5. Select the Data input tab, then select Add new section.

    Any previously added sections are crossed through. Once added, the section can be edited by selecting its name.

  1. On Choose a section to add, select the Foreign income tab.

  2. Select Dividends from foreign companies.

    If the section is crossed through, it has already been added to the tax return. To adjust it the existing values, close the window and select the section on the Data Input tab.

  3. For each dividend, complete the following, then select Save changes.

Dividends from foreign companies

  • Country - begin typing the country name from which the dividends were received, then select from the list.

  • Claim Foreign Tax Credit Relief? - select to claim foreign tax credit relief for any foreign tax suffered. If not selected, foreign tax will be deducted from the income.

Dividends are entered via a grid

  • Description of income - enter a brief description of the dividend received.

  • Gross income arising - enter the gross amount of the dividend before any foreign tax or UK withholding tax was taken off.

  • Foreign tax taken off - enter the amount of foreign tax suffered.

  • UK tax taken off - enter the amount of UK tax taken off.

  • Taxable amount - this column will show the taxable amount after deducting any foreign tax that is not being claimed via foreign tax credit relief.

  • Pre 2016 dividend remitted this year? - select if the dividend was received before the 2016 tax year but remitted to the UK in the current tax year. Ensure that the Remittance basis section is also completed.