Hope I’ve posted this in the proper chat and not sure if anyone has covered this before but my knowledge of withholding tax is not too hot. Can any more experienced experts shed some colour on the following:
We all have to fill in the W-8BEN when we sign up and I get that the double-taxation agreement between the UK and US allows the reduction from 30% to 15% but as someone who is insanely cheap and wanting to be tax-efficient, can I claim the 15% back? I have all three accounts (GIA, ISA, and SIPP) and hold a mix of UK/US stocks in all.
Dividends from US shares held within a SIPP should be free of withholding tax. I don’t have a Freetrade SIPP so not sure if FT adhere to this principle.
I have my SIPP with interactive investor and there is no withholding tax on US shares however this is not the case with the ISA account where a 15% withholding tax is charged.
Earlier in the year someone posted quite a bit of detail on it and seems FT are missing a huge benefit for its SIPP customers. The long term value would be pretty darn big as well.
Glad to see that I am not the only one completely baffled by this. I mean, I have a fairly moderate portfolio at the moment but my intention is to continue for the long-term and these dollars and pounds here and there, could be huge in the future!
I have messaged the team a few times but they can’t advise on tax queries which has left me holding the straw. Feels a bit silly to call a tax expert right now and pay more for their time than what I have been taxed haha!
- Freetrade Community