Recital (13)

To ensure more transparency regarding the identity and the circumstances of the investor receiving a dividend or interest payment and regarding the flow of payments from the issuer, certified financial intermediaries should report relevant information within specific timelines. Two reporting options should be provided for in this Directive: direct and indirect reporting. Where the reporting is direct, a certified financial intermediary should report directly to the competent authority of the source Member State. Where the reporting is indirect, the certified financial intermediaries should provide the information along the securities payment chain in sequential order and in respect of the position of those certified financial intermediaries in the securities payment chain of which they are part. The outcome should be that that information reaches the withholding tax agent or a designated certified financial intermediary, that reports the information to the competent authority of the source Member State. The reported data should include information on the eligibility of the investor concerned, but should be limited to the information that is available to the reporting certified financial intermediary. Financial intermediaries that are not under an obligation to register as certified financial intermediaries and have not opted to register as such, should not have reporting obligations under this Directive. Nevertheless, information on the payments handled by such intermediaries that are not certified financial intermediaries remains relevant for the proper reconstruction of the payment chain before applying the relief systems set out in this Directive.