Interactive Brokers: Brexit account migration = insurance drops from 500k USD to 20k EUR

That is why it’s not meant to avoid the tax, but to diversify/minimize IB’s risk.

Yep, for 10’000 it’s 30 + VAT + Stamp Duty and for 10’001 it’s 55 + VAT + Stamp Duty. I did say I simplified somewhat. :blush:

I understand your motive (avoid some risk at IB), and didn’t want to suggest tax avoidance is your aim, I just wonder if this isn’t a “problem” to transfer positions from IB to Swiss brokers, as Swiss Stamp Duty is a national tax, which brings in a few Billion CHF p.a. I guess if it’s 0.00000001% of Swiss trade volumes, no-one will care.

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I know you weren’t accusing me, no worries. I just meant that I didn’t calculate that part at all. I’m more worried about the cost of transferring things.

…so is using every other foreign broker and keeping shares there.

…or buy via Swissquote outright.

While I can imagine transferring large positions for tax reasons or change of broker, I would never plan on doing it on a regular, recurring basis. After all, it’s a one-time cost.

To anyone buying US assets via CornerTrader, SwissQuote, PostFinance:

  • what CHF-USD exchange rate do you get?
  • how big is the withholding tax? 15 or 30%?
  • were you able to reclaim it successfully?
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Again? We had this all before… recently, no?
I can only speak for Sq and Pf.
Fx - see attachment (Sq & Pf are the same)
30%
Yes, of course. - 15% wht (is a credit for your Swiss tax, DTA) + 15% rückbehalt USA (gets refunded)

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Sorry, I know we talked about it, but all the stuff kind of blends in my head, so I wasn’t sure. Plus, Moneyland says this about SQ, which confuses me:

0.95% is bad. And if you buy ETFs on SIX in CHF, you potentially lose 0.3% annually (15% * 2%), being unable to reclaim withholding tax. I wonder how much is really “leaking” from VWRL relative to VT.

Btw I guess it does not matter that much if 30% or 15% is withheld, right? You’re able to reclaim both.

No worries :blush:
“Keine Gebühren, ausser spreads”… seriously? :rage: :roll_eyes:
Wht - If one were to buy VT at Sq, you’ll be able to reclaim all, yes. It’ll be essentially equivalent to owning VT on IB.
One tends to buy VWRL on Sq though, there one loses the 0.3% that the IE fund loses to the US.

0.3% every year, compared to 0.95% once at purchase, and maybe the second time when selling? anyway, after 6 years you’re in the same spot, and you’re supposed to be holding for longer.

That’s confusing, because at IB there is no difference. You make a forex trade and then you use this new currency to trade on the stock exchange. I miss this flexibility at other brokers.

I’ve been following this for a while now. So far I haven’t received any communication from IBKR so I’m unsure if my account would be moved. I started it while living in Switzerland and I’m a Swiss resident and supposedly only EU domiciled accounts (or entity accounts formed in the EU) are affected.

The current cash and securities protection scheme has been quite generous and far above what I have with my European brokers so losing it does not faze me too much.

As the next Mustachian, I’m mostly concerned about trading US ETFs. The FAQ page does say that the trading permissions stay the same after the move - let’s hope it means ETF trading as well.

Finally, I will definitely keep my IBKR account because I’m also investing in US shares and I occasionally trade US options. I don’t see a better alternative for those.

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I’ve found an interesting article from a Swiss resident perspective. I’ll follow this topic…

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Dear fellow Mustachians,

I’ve contacted IB regarding this issue, and finally got an answer in my message center:

Thank you for your message.

Since Switzerland is not part of the European Union we do not plan that your account will be affected. This is the reason why you have not received a specific communication.

Please let us know if there are any other questions.

Best regards,

Nick
IBKR Client Services

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Thank you.
As expected, vs. all the “panic” which ensued in the thread.
But I am not surprised that even their own customer facing support is not 100% knowledgeable on all things, with differing answers from different sources.

Yeah considering that I got a completely opposite response from them. But there seems to be hope!

This seems to be in line with their current registration process. If you select a country from the EU, they will show this warning:

But the warning will not be shown if you select Switzerland:

Sorry for the separate reply, but the platform doesn’t allow new users to upload 2 images in a post.

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Thanks for the test! This is not a proof, but still a good sign :slight_smile:

“News” from IB about IBCE & their Budapest office.

…oh and really impressive y/y growth of users (>50%), and it’s not like IB is a new start-up & was “small” a year ago. Their system hasn’t always been 100% stable in 2020, but let’s hope part of that has been due to all those new users.

As a comparison, Swissquote, which also reported being over-run with new clients during the first lockdown/crash, increased client numbers by 50’000 Jan to June 2020, from about 350’000 at year-end 2019.

Interactive Brokers expands Central European operations
Dec. 14, 2020

  • Interactive Brokers Central Europe Zrt., (IBCE) opening of an office in Budapest.
  • With this addition, the bank will now serve 1M+ client accounts in more than 220 countries and territories.
  • “We plan to make Budapest the center of our operations for Central Europe to keep pace with account growth, which has been rapid in both Western and Eastern Europe and around the world,” chairman Thomas Peterffy commented.
  • As of Nov. 30th, client accounts worldwide had grown 52% Y/Y with over 80% of the expansion coming from outside of the U.S

Source Interactive Brokers expands Central European operations https://seekingalpha.com/news/3644154-interactive-brokers-expands-central-european-operations

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Has anyone residing in CH received a request to migrate at all? Not me, so I contacted the support and got the confirmation that if you live in Switzerland you can stay with IB UK and thus continue to benefit from the 500k of the SIPC (which anyway only becomes relevant if IB really messes up - keyword segregated accounts).

IB Support (German):

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