What I do know is you can claim a refund from the IRS, based on the US-CH tax treaty, if you meet the Limitation on Benefits provisos. Here is the treaty . Check out Articles 2, 4, 10, 22 and 23 in particular.
Most institutional fund investors avoid withholding on US source FDAP income by delivering the proper tax withholding certificates and withholding statements upfront, citing the tax treaty's relevant article and the relevant withholding exemptions codes. But when withholding has been imposed, the institutional investor usually seeks a refund from the IRS based on the treaty. The IRS has recently made it more difficult to do so but it is still an important method for institutional investors (and family offices, etc.). Of course, they have specialists handling these refund requests.
Many, if not all, of the global custody houses (who often did the withholding in the first place) offer tax refund services to these clients (and not just for US source income but many other countries' as well).
Here is the technical explanation of the treaty.
I thought it was the country of the fund (i.e. the stock market where it is sold), but then I read through this article and it seems you pay taxes to the country of the investor (obviously) and to the country of the assets backing the derivative, which are paid by the fund itself.
Two questions arise: How do I choose the stock market of an ETF when it is offered in multiple markets? The currency of the ETF is sometimes not even consistent with the currency of the stock market... I have heard that accumulating ETFs, European ETFs which do not distribute dividends but reinvest them automatically, might be a good idea for us “Quellenbesteuerte”, as the ETF should not pay any withholding tax to the country of the assets. Is this true?
Withholding tax is part of dual taxation treaties and is the result of international agreements in an effort to prevent tax evasion. The gain for the tax authorities is that they exchange information with foreign counter-parts about withholding tax, so they can spot irregularities. It also makes it harder to hide money abroad.
Ad1: Maybe someone will correct me, but I see a stock exchange like a shop. So each stock Exchange has their own fees, you can find them products traded in local currency (but not always), and they vary in availability of the product (when you place an order, you may wait a Long time before you close it).
As I am earning in CHF, it seems Logical to me to buy an ETF listed in CHF, because it saves me the currency Exchange fee. An example would be VUSA or VWRL which are both available in CHF.
The iShares ETFs are traded in London, Zurich, Milan etc. but in Zurich they are listed in USD. I don't know why. In this casee I guess the only difference is the fee. They are all anyway domiciled in Ireland.
Ad2: This is the question I have asked before and didn't get a straight answer. I guess we won't knowit until we buy a couple of ETFs and wait a year
I think I will also give priority to the Swiss stock market as it's the logical choice for us.
Just to go a tiny bit OT, I've recently started considering PostFinance funds. I have heard good things about them, together with Swisscanto funds. Moreover, the PostFinance website is embarrassingly clear and well structured on this matter: https://www.postfinance.ch/en/priv/p...vest/fund.html
Has anybody tried these products?
Why on earth would anyone buy something in Switzerland, that you can also buy on NYSE (like S&P 500 ETF)? Is it because of tax problems? Withholding tax maybe?
Stamp duties on Swiss shares (Swiss ISIN): 0.075% Stamp duties on foreign shares (non-Swiss ISIN): 0.15%
So on Corner Trader the costs of buying 1000 Shares @ 100 USD would be as follows: Swiss shares: 120 USD commision + 75 USD Stamp Duty = 195 USD Foreign shares: 20 USD commision + 150 USD Stamp Duty = 170 USD
I guess in any case the fee in much higher that the one by Interactive Brokers.
Would you know how it works if I want to send my CHF from a Swiss bank to IB? I read somewhere that IB gives you a CHF account number in UK, and that the bank will charge a commission.
Another thing I've been wondering about is security. At a bank you have an SMS code or a token Card for two factor authentication. At Corner Trader it Looks like there is just a Password... What does it look like at IB?
Yes, international CHF transfers unfortunately ain't free, unlike EUR-denominated SEPA transfers.
PostFinance charged me once 10-20 Fr or so. Don't remember exact amount, it was their own fee of 6 Fr plus a secret intermediary bank's fee. I've heard rumors from other peoples that PostFinance once admitted that they themselves were intermediary bank in such a transfer and if you'd complain hard enough they might out of courtesy lift the intermediate fee.
The cheapest way to do CH->UK CHF transfer that I've found so far is, incidentally, through Swissquote. Domestic CHF transfer is free and Swissquote charges you only 2 CHF for international transfers. No intermediary fees have been charged to me so far on a transfer to IB. Keeping a cash-only account with Swissquote is free.
Password plus second factor auth.
For higher valued customers, a credit card sized electronic otp calculator secured with a pin code.
For low value starter accounts they send you a paper card with codes, but I think you have also the option to request the calculator for a fee.
I found this interesting thread and would like to ask you if anyone knows how does it work for income from options trading. Do I have to declare them as normal income here in CH or do I have to declare in the US? And what about fees? May I deduct them from the income before declaring?
Thank you
If I understand it correctly, form 1042-S details the dividend income I had on my IB account, and how much the IRS taxed it. Then, I include this dividend income in my Swiss tax declaration; it is then considered as income and taxed at the standard income rate (18-22% ish ?). At that point, I've been double taxed (15% by IRS; income tax by CH). I then have to file a 1040NR form to the IRS to get that 15% back.
If this is correct, could someone let me know how the filing of the 1040NR form works? What kind of information do I need to send to the IRS? A completed 1040NR form + copy of the 1042-S form + some proof that I filed in CH?
I am indeed not a US citizen. Living in VD, CH.
What is the "DA-1" part? What action do I need to take to get this refund then, or does this go automatic? In that case, the CH tax office will need the 1042-S, no?
However, I have no clue how to fill this in. I got several US stocks, which pay monthly or quarterly dividends; and I buy and sell every now and then. So that becomes very complex to enter for each stock how much the value changed etc. Any advice on how to do that best? Easiest would be if I could just put one line that says how much I received as dividends in total, and how much taxes I already paid to IRS (basically, just putting the 1042-S).
Does the capital yield get taxed, or only dividends? Not easy to declare capital yields, given buy/sell and USD/CHF FX.