My withholding is correct, I kinda did a W8-BEN (scanning it, there’s no process for it), but they were really confused and probably threw it away 
So if I were you I’d just check on the first dividend distribution and be done with it, I really think you don’t need to do anything special.
TY, I was sort of thinking the same, to fill in a W-8BEN form and upload it to PF. I will check withholding numbers if I get US dividend-paying assets (may not happen in the foreseeable future!).
Swissquote forgot to ask me about this form and sent the extra 15% to the Yankees instead of the Swiss. Do yourself a favor and open a ticket.
I just opened an account with Saxo, as they have eliminated custody fees, and will transfer some ETFs from IBKR.
Through this link, you’ll supposedly receive the eTax document for free:
The owners of Saxo are trying to sell them for over a year now; most promising talks are with Safra Sarasin.
Personally speaking, I avoid having accounts with financial institutions who are being sold.
But fee related Saxo is more interesting than Swissquote, indeed. But at what price?
Potentially they lure cuetomers now and the new owner raises prices …
As far as I read Saxo is considered a systematic important institution in Denmark.
I think their owners want to sell their stake because of the ownership structure & maybe they want to do something else. But I don’t think it’s because of profitability issues
Quite possibly.
On the other hand: I only have 1 position with Saxo (World ETF). If it gets expensive, I can simply transfer it to another broker. But at the moment it’s (probably?) the cheapest broker with a FINMA licence. So for me it’s a good way to diversify my broker choice, 50% IBKR and 50% Saxo. Going to Swissquote or others and paying hundreds of francs because Saxo might become more expensive in the future would also be crazy (The Poor Swiss has a great pricing comparison).
Note that Saxo only waived the custody fee in Switzerland. In the rest of Europe it can get waived if you enable stock lending, but otherwise and in the rest of the world it is 15 basis points, unless you trade a lot.
I am a bit puzzled with this as it is not like there is a ton of low cost competition in Switzerland …
Why pay this much? PF is 72 CHF per year max. (You can continue buying with IB and transfer once in a while)
Maybe they want to take market share away from Swissquote in CH
If you compare SWQ & Saxo, for larger transactions, ETF leaders trading fee at SWQ is not very different versus 0.08% (min 3) fees at Saxo.
So if they remove the custody fees, they become a very compelling Finma approved brokerage.
If they keep custody fees, then perhaps clients of SWQ don’t have enough incentive to jump the ship.
Saxo have higher assets versus SWQ but I wouldn’t be surprised if in Switzerland, SWQ is bigger than Saxo. To break into clients of SWQ, Saxo needs to offer better costs.
Agreed, I’m just like it is not like the rest of the world doesn’t have a lot of competition either, with brokers like Degiro, Tradegate in the EU and lots of near “free” brokers in the US.