IB UK will withhold 30% on my US dividend

Taxes
1

Dear all,

I’ve got a reply when I asked how much IB was gonna withhold on my US dividends.

the reply is as follows:

Depending on which entity of Interactive Brokers your account is opened with, and your country of legal residence, IBKR might act as a withholding agent and apply the applicable treaty rates, or the tax might be applied by our clearing agent prior to receipt. In such a case, holders might be unable to take advantage of any country specific rates which may exist. Unfortunately, that is the case here.

The withholding rate on US dividends would be 30% but you may be eligible to reclaim half of that back. We recommend you consult with a tax advisor for assistance in making a claim for a tax refund.

Info: my cantonal tax office told me the following:
They can process all 30% (US Quellensteuer 15% and zusätzlicher Steuerrückbehalt 15%) if my broker is a Swiss broker. If it’s not the case, they can ONLY process the US Quellensteuer.

So to my understanding, IBRK needs only deduct 15% and not 30%. The question is why they did 30% in the first place? I’m a Swiss citizen living in Switzerland.

However, I don’t recall to fill any W8 form when I applied for the IB UK account.

Is this normal? Do you guys also get 30% withheld or only 15% withheld by IB UK?
Appreciate your help!

2

The issue seems to be that it is the clearing agent, not IBKR, that withholds the 30%. It seems outside of their control. Is this a special ETF?

2 Likes
3

…which, again, is 30% (non-treaty rate).

But only 15% should be non-refundable from the U.S. - and only those 15% can be offset against Swiss taxes.

1 Like
4

No, I only invested in some normal US stocks/ETF (all domiciled in the U.S.) that pay dividends.

5

All clear. It’s just that IBKR should only deduct 15% instead of 30% in the usual scenario. I don’t know what part went wrong.

6

No, just 15% US WHT for my US ETF and stocks at IB UK.
I have to “digitally” confirm the W8-BEN form annually (I think it comes up each year, it may be a little less often).

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7

Thanks man, this is what I’m looking for. But why didn’t I get this confirmation on the IBKR platform? They never asked me to digitally sign or confirm anything. Where can I find this under the account page?

8

15% withheld on my U.S. dividends as well.

I couldn’t find it either.
Seems it’s not that easy to find.

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9

No problem.
I think I’ve only ever accessed it via the link they send, but (in the IBKR App) try under

  • “Account Settings” - “Profile” - “i” (next to name the “i”)

then either

  • near the bottom of the list, access the “Tax Forms” by pressibg “Combined CRS/ Tax Forms”
    or
  • Right at the bottom there’s also a button “Update Tax Forms”.

(disclaimer - sorry i didn’t actively access the forms to check , so that I do not get into a loop, “you accessed the form but didn’t change anything”, etc)

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10

Thank you so much. I found it!

I noticed there is this “Tax ID (Switzerland)” right above “Tax Form”.
I have N.A. there. Is that the problem? Can you check on yours whether you have a number there?
What should I put there? My AHV number? I don’t have a Tax ID, what’s that?

11

Could be.

Yes. AHV is also TIN, tax identification number.

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12

Thank you. I’ve just updated my AHV number on that page. The review is pending now.

The client advisor from IBKR didn’t give a competent answer I’d think. He/She should tell me that I didn’t fill out the Tax ID :smiley: Let’s see if that makes any difference.

13

They are not client advisors, they are a support desk.

14

yea, of course. But that’s how they call themselves in the support email I received.

15

Sorry for offtopic and not that I care, but I don’t think they are actually (legally) allowed to call their support team “client advisors”.

16

Some financial advice or intermediary role may indeed be regulated and require registration. But as long as they’re not misleading consumers or using a protected term, they’re free to call them whatever they want. This (just from quick googling) suggests that not even “financial advice” is protected in the U.K.

17

Hey guys,
To test the withholding tax deduction, I bought some US ETF shares just to see what % IB is gonna deduct after getting my tax status verified.
However, I can’t find out where to look for the percentage of deduction on the IBKR page. IB seems to be the most unintuitive user interface I’ve ever come across :joy:
Can someone point out where I can extract that info? Thanks in advance.

18

Heavy on features, not unintuitive :wink: Keep at it.
Many ways to see this, one example is performance and reports → statements → for example YTD activity or others. Should have two sections - dividends and withholding tax. Withholding tax will show how much tax, a negative value, was kept from matching divident payment. Should equal to 15% for US ETFs.

19

I just checked. All good. 15% as expected. Thanks man for the help.
I still think it’s cumbersome to derive that number from the tedious statements, because you have to calculate it yourself. IB should just simply show that 15% somewhere :smile: like SQ does. LOL.