In certain circumstances the charity will need to file a tax return or other claim form in the source country in order to recover the tax overpaid. Procedures and time limits for refund claims vary considerably.

There have been cases considering whether or not withholding taxes have been illegally imposed due to discriminatory treatment of tax authorities when a domestic and an overseas entity are compared. Charities may wish to consider potential claims for withholding taxes suffered if no such tax would have been applied on payments to a domestic charity, particularly within the EU.