For sure I don’t want my assets in the US…as mentioned already many times…
So I will go with the UCITS ETFs:
S&P 500, MSCI USA & MSCI World from Invesco. All three ETFs have 0% US Witholding Tax deduction from the dividends and are for me by far the best option in the market with a fee of 0.05%…
I’m more interested in the WHY than IF.
That’s wrong. You don’t pay the tax, but your ETF pays them for you. I’m sorry but these are the basics…
That one is synthetic, so it could get close to us domiciled (that said they often target the net benchmark so worth checking what the actual perf is).
That’s very interesting. So they could theoretically not invest in US and still replicate its performance? I guess “synthetic” means that they just don’t hold all as prescribed in the index, but probably still do hold the right proportions of size/region etc. And yeah, if they target for the net benchmark, then even if you don’t pay the tax, you aim for the goal after the tax 
Here’s my final chart. Relative return of VOO vs VUSD. It’s nice to see how it fluctuates because of closing dates not being in sync. But you can see where the actual straight line is. Over 9 years since the inception of VUSD, it has lost over 3% to VOO. So the 30y estimate of 10% of @xorfish holds true, at least for S&P 500.
Please check Hire Act 871m since 2018 synthetic ETFs on S&P500, MSCI USA and MSCI World are tax exempt…
The Invesco ETFs mentioned track the gross index minus the Management fee of 5bps…
You really need to do your homework before telling people wrong information. Please make sure that you look at all parameters…
Physical vs synthetic and also the respective tax reforms. What you say was correct but unfortunately not since 3years…
In that case, apologies. I guess you never stop learning. Wasn’t aware that some ETFs are exempted from withholding tax, also don’t remember a mention of it in this forum. I added a strike-through line over my comment, not to confuse people 
Are you comfortable with holding synthetic ETFs though? Is it realistic that a synthetic ETF could do something wrong (like totally miss the benchmark) and run into trouble?
Edit: here I found some info:
I wonder why the last requirement is there. Otherwise most big index ETFs would fall into the exemption, which would be nice…
The Invesco S&P 500 UCITS ETF Acc aims to provide the performance of the S&P 500 Total Return (Net) Index.
The Invesco MSCI USA UCITS ETF Acc aims to provide the performance of the MSCI USA Total Return (Net) Index.
The Invesco MSCI World UCITS ETF Acc aims to provide the performance of the MSCI World Total Return (Net) Index.
I’m sure (at least I hope 
) they do better than their benchmark (esp. since iirc the net index counts 30% withholding, not even 15%), but that’s still their benchmark.
Yes they do outperform the Net Benchmark by approx 50bps after fees…
It was discussed either in Vanguard closes some European ETFs or Tax optimisation for ETF investing
Yes I am more than happy to invest in synthetic ETFs as they are even safer than most physical ETFs that do securities lending…it is all ownership rights and even if the counterpart or asset manager would default you have still the securities that the ETF invested in…
The Hire Act 871m treats futures and synthetic ETFs similar now…
Synthetic ETFs track the Benchmark even better and closer than Physical ETFs…there was never any default of a synthetic ETF either not even in 2007/2008…
Hi! Rookie here, I wouldn’t fully know how to define my portfolio analyzing the ETFs. So I’m going with VT. Because it’s what I learnt reading blogs and this forum.
I like the idea of assets not related to the US, at least not 100%. And I had no clue about those UCITS ETFs, why would you recommend them over VT?
Please, anyone can provide some data to compare both portfolio?
Thanks!
I think it’s a wrong place to start. But just read my first post to get the grasp of the difference. ETFs domiciled in the European Union are usually (or maybe are even required to be) UCITS.
UCITS funds are perceived as safe and well-regulated investments and are popular among many investors looking to invest across Europe
ETFs domiciled in Ireland (IE), like the ones from Vanguard or iShares, are UCITS. US ETFs, on the other hand, are not. I don’t know if UCITS actually provides some layer of security to the investor, or it’s just another bureaucratic obstacle that the guys in Brussels have come up with.
The question has been - indirectly - been answered today.
US stock brokers - including IBKR - are colluding in blocking retail investors from buying certain exchange-traded stocks as I am writing this.
Now, VT surely isn’t GME. Blocking access to VT will probably be the last thing they do or want to do. However, today serves as a reminder that given appropriate circumstances - however outlandish they may seem* - you can get screwed by US brokers and/or market participants.
* and if anything, these circumstances will be deemed unimaginable or unforeseen
Go VWRL, Go Swiss Broker!
This is unbelievable to watch… reconsidering my thoughts about US broker and VT
