(Correct me if I’m wrong, but)
With Ireland-based funds you give up the 15% WHT (L1?), I believe you can’t do anything about it.
Ok cool! Thanks for confirming ! I thought so but have been doubting if I’ve not missed something, cool that it’s not the case 
No refund is applicable.
Nothing to worry 
Hello,
It can be helpful to include the scenario where an investor has not filed Form W-8BEN. This often comes up in forums or when someone uses a broker that is not a Qualified Intermediary. In those cases, the process is as follows:
Case 1 -: Swiss broker (non-Qualified Intermediary or Form W-8BEN not filed with Qualified Intermediary)
- VWRL will have 0 withholding tax
- CHSPI will have 35% withholding tax, let’s call it C1
- VT will have U1 = 30% WHT , U2 = 0
Case 2 -: International Broker (non-Qualified Intermediary or Form W-8BEN not filed with Qualified Intermediary)
- VWRL will have 0 withholding tax
- CHSPI will have 35% WHT, C1
- VT will have U1 = 30% WHT , U2 = 0
In both VT scenarios, you may claim a 15 % credit on U1 withholding tax against your Swiss tax liability by using Form DA-1. You may not[1]:
- Request a 15 % refund of U1 withholding on Form R-US 164, or
- Claim the full 30 % U1 withholding as a credit on Form DA-1, despite what some forum posts suggest.
You may be able to recover that extra 15% by filing a U.S. nonresident tax return (Form 1040-NR), but that option is beyond the scope of this guide. [2]
This is why it’s essential to choose a broker who is a Qualified Intermediary (foreign or Swiss) and to file Form W-8BEN. Only then can you avoid irrecoverable withholding.
Source:
Swiss Federal Tax Administration (USA)
[1] III. 1. c. & IV. 1.
[2] III. 2. c.
DE - Übersicht über die Auswirkungen des Abkommens vom 2. Oktober 1996
FR - Aperçu des effets de la convention du 2 octobre 1996
It might also help to include, on the same line for both scenarios (whether Form W-8BEN is filed or not), the refundable or creditable amount and the corresponding form (DA-1/R-US 164) for each withholding tax category (U1/U2) directly alongside the VT entries, making the information more immediately clear.
One last note on this topic: it appears that scenario 4 (options 1 and 3) in this post of the Mustachian Post blog is incorrect regarding the amounts recoverable and the forms required in each case.
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Hello, I would like a second opinion from the community regarding my situation. I use IBKR, I have filled out the W8B form and I have the following amounts of withholding taxes from dividends for the past year : -720 CHF, -32 EUR, -2500 NOK (~200 CHF) and -677 USD. The dividends are mostly from ETFs (VT, CHSPI, SGOV, CSBGC7 and a few stocks, 10 more or less). I have a person helping with the steuererklarung and he usually reports the total of my IBKR account in the “Wertschriften- und Gut habenverzeichnis” section under “Steuerwert” and the sum of interest and dividens (without withholding tax) under “Bruttoertrag - B Werte ohne Verrechnungs-steuerabzug”. In his opinion it does not make sense to fill out the DA-1 form because of 1) high effort on his side (which I have to pay) and 2) low probability of refund. I was looking for a second opinion for the following aspects:
-
does it make sense to declare things as he does and is it correct the way he does it? I understand that it would make more sense to split up the swiss withholding tax (the C1 referred in this post) from the others (EUR, USD, NOK).
-
Up until which amount of WHT does it make sense to “reclaim” it, e.g. so that cost for paying him doing so does not exceed the benefit of declaring it
-
I understand WHT are turned into a credit rather than into cash given back to you. is that correct? If not, is the credit going to be subtracted from the final tax bill?
Thank you very much in advance to whomever feels like helping.
PS: apologies if I am replying here, let me know if I should post this somewhere else.
Looks like you might be the perfect customer for this new offering 
https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/programmatic-tax-return/11908/26?u=nabalzbhf
If you’re not reclaiming it, yes I think you can declare net dividends.
Swiss withholding is a credit, DA-1 is usually cash given back (at least it’s been working like this for me).
For me (smallish sums from eg savings account) it would be passed forward to the subsequent year bill.
2 Likes
This is already a lot. I don’t know the rules for the Norwegian withholding tax, but this alone is a nice chunk already. I strongly recommend to fill your tax declaration yourself, not only to save money, but also to learn in detail about your financial situation.
Even without a Swiss electronic tax report, all it takes to calculate how much was withheld is generating a yearly report from IB and doing some spreadsheet calculations. And putting it into DA-1.
3 Likes
Thank a lot @nabalzbhf for the link!
Thank you @Dr.PI for your answer, there is a bunch of reasons I do not fill it out myself 
rest assured I am doing the best I can to inform myself and take care of my financial situation