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Gavster, read this ref withholding tax...
https://the-international-investor.com/investment-faq/reclaim-withholding-tax-foreign-dividends-isa-sipp
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Hi, this has been discussed many times, also check the link below;
https://the-international-investor.com/investment-faq/reclaim-withholding-tax-foreign-dividends-isa-sipp
Basically it says ; "You should also be aware that not all brokers will handle W-8BEN forms for dealing accounts and ISAs, some firms consider the cost and admininstration involved not worthwhile (examples include Halifax/iWeb/and iDealing). If you use one of these, your dividends will be paid net of 30% WHT, so you should take this tax cost into account when deciding which broker is most cost-effective for you.
Getting reduced WHT on US dividends usually works smoothly if your stock broker is a qualified intermediary. This means that they have an agreement with the IRS that allows them to receive dividends gross of tax, sort out what’s due and make the necessary payments. Most will ask you to complete the W-8BEN form when you initially open a general dealing account or ISA, and then pay US dividends to you net of only 15% WHT rather than 30%".
So assuming you have a current WBen form;
If you are using a true broker (aj bell, hargreaves etc), 15% withholding tax applies, as they are qualifying intermediaries.
If you are using a Bank associated broker such as Iweb, (part of Halifax/Lloyds) then 30% will be withheld, as they are non qualifying intermediaries.
If you have Dec in a Sipp then zero withholding tax will apply with ajbell/hargreaves, but not sure what Iweb will deduct in a sipp..
To keep it easy, if $ dividends are involved then give Halifax/Iweb a miss, its not worth the trouble ;-)
..
Hi oldbutnowisa,
If you are holding cash in your isa, try CSH2, overnight bank rate ETF paying around 5%
cheers
Hi all,
Just to add to the Iweb/lloyds chat about the 30% withholding tax...
Iweb play by different rules than most brokers, they make their own up and that means they look after their selves first.
As well as deducting the 30%, they also don't pay any interest at all on any cash in the account.
So ideally don't use Iweb to hold Dec shares, but if you do and you start to accumulate cash from the dividends, then they will sting you again by not paying you any interest.
I don't use Iweb to hold Dec, but I do have cash sitting in my Iweb account. When you can get 4% and more if that cash was in a current account (Marcus etc) then the loss of interest is annoying.
I have found a way by using a etf (no stamp duty) that is reasonably secure and is paying over 3% https://www.google.com/search?q=csh2&oq=csh2&aqs=chrome..69i57.3517j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
It may not suit everyone but it works for me.
Hi, this has been discussed many times, also check the link below;
https://the-international-investor.com/investment-faq/reclaim-withholding-tax-foreign-dividends-isa-sipp
Basically it says ; "You should also be aware that not all brokers will handle W-8BEN forms for dealing accounts and ISAs, some firms consider the cost and admininstration involved not worthwhile (examples include Halifax/iWeb/Motley Fool and iDealing). If you use one of these, your dividends will be paid net of 30% WHT, so you should take this tax cost into account when deciding which broker is most cost-effective for you.
Getting reduced WHT on US dividends usually works smoothly if your stock broker is a qualified intermediary. This means that they have an agreement with the IRS that allows them to receive dividends gross of tax, sort out what’s due and make the necessary payments. Most will ask you to complete the W-8BEN form when you initially open a general dealing account or ISA, and then pay US dividends to you net of only 15% WHT rather than 30%".
So assuming you have a current WBen form;
If you are using a true broker (aj bell, hargreaves etc), 15% withholding tax applies, as they are qualifying intermediaries.
If you are using a Bank associated broker such as Iweb, (part of Halifax/Lloyds) then 30% will be withheld, as they are non qualifying intermediaries.
If you have Dec in a Sipp then zero withholding tax will apply with ajbell/hargreaves, but not sure what Iweb will deduct in a sipp..
To keep it easy, if $ dividends are involved then give Iweb a miss, its not worth the trouble ;-)
Hi,
As well as the usual business events that affect the sp, to some extent the sp follows the gbp/usd exchange rate (oil/gas priced in $)
https://www.google.com/finance/quote/GBP-USD?comparison=LON%3ADEC&window=1M
From the link it shows that ;
1year gbp/usd -7.5% Dec +6.7%
6months gbp/usd +1.7% Dec -3.7%
1month gbp/usd +2.9% Dec -3.8%
Basically if gbp/usd rises then Dec falls and vice versa. Current rate is ~ 1.24.
Could be an idea as well as checking how the company is performing, to hold off buying until the rate is > 1.30 (£ stronger, Dec cheaper)
Then sell when rate is < 1.15 (£ weaker, Dec dearer).....
Cheers
Hi all,
Have held pfc for several years, think it was Paddy that first raised my interest.
However I sold at 108p as it just didn't seem to sit right...
The bit not sitting right is that the sfo caught petrofac offering bribes and after 5 years, pfc was fined, reorganised itself and is now squeaky clean.
Now if pfc's main business was in the uk, where corruption and bribery are not too blatant, then being squeaky clean is a good thing..
However pfc's main business is not in the UK... I can only see pfc's share of new contracts diminishing, there is definitely no way it will increase.
The sfo have hung petrofac up to dry unfortunately, maybe the sfo did the right thing moral wise, but there will be a consequence.
In other jurisdictions the sfo will be seen as a non-entity, and London's influence no longer carries much weight .
Morals are great when applied to moral countries but some countries are less moral than others, always have been and always will be, we are all different people with different cultures, one man's good deed is another man's bad deed etc.
I hope I am wrong and no doubt time will tell.. but good luck to all holders.
Even if WBen form is signed, and if in or out of ISA, bank based brokers like Halifax or Iweb will still deduct 30%, proper brokers like AJ Bell, HL etc will deduct 15%.
If use AJ Bell & poss others?, then within a sipp there will be zero withholding tax..
Not sure if this link will work...just remove the #'s
https://uk.a#d#v#f#n.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=48362353&from=1016
Thanks for the replies, I have been digging around and found this website;
https://the-international-investor.com/investment-faq/reclaim-withholding-tax-foreign-dividends-isa-sipp
Basically it says ; "You should also be aware that not all brokers will handle W-8BEN forms for dealing accounts and ISAs, some firms consider the cost and admininstration involved not worthwhile (examples include Halifax/iWeb/Motley Fool and iDealing). If you use one of these, your dividends will be paid net of 30% WHT, so you should take this tax cost into account when deciding which broker is most cost-effective for you.
Getting reduced WHT on US dividends usually works smoothly if your stock broker is a qualified intermediary. This means that they have an agreement with the IRS that allows them to receive dividends gross of tax, sort out what’s due and make the necessary payments. Most will ask you to complete the W-8BEN form when you initially open a general dealing account or ISA, and then pay US dividends to you net of only 15% WHT rather than 30%."
From that, it looks as though IWeb don't find it worthwhile, aren't a qualified intermediary and take the easy way out by deducting the full 30% withholding tax.
It would be nice if they were transparent and explained that rather than making a c**k and bull story up about IRS rules, at the same time as having a party with the £$ exchange rate, but you live and learn...I can see a little flurry of emails in the not too distant future..
Cheers, winthrop
Hi Trek,
Just going back to the divi..
If you got £1679.36 for 50000 shares then you got 3.36p per share ( I think exchange rate of 1.07 was used and you had 15% withheld)
My account is with IWeb and I got 2.56p per share (Wben form submitted)
They used exchange rate of 1.16 and withheld 30%, which means you got almost 24% more dividend per share than me...
Something isn't quite right here and I suspect Iweb have ****ed it up, here is a chat transcript;
"Thanks for waiting. So my colleague looked into it today. So US shares are held on two different systems on the exchange - Intesa or CREST. Most of the US stock is held on Intesa's side, and as per the IRS rules, a W8BEN would lower the witholding tax to 15%. However, this does not ally to US CREST stocks, which is what DEC is, so that's why it was subject to US witholding tax of 30%"
Now either Iweb is right or Interactive Investor is right they both can't be right.
I am sending a complaint in through Financial Services and no doubt they will come up with some jargon and maybe make a decision, so in the future, either I will get more or you will get less if the ruling gets applied generally..
The other route is suffer the loss, move out of Iweb and use Aj Bell but I would rather stay with Iweb (less fees etc) so bit of a quandary really...
I think Roofer is with Iweb, his input would be great
cheers
Hi, all the info is in the rns above...
I'm not sure we will be any better off, seems a bit like rearranging the deckchairs, same deckchairs but in a different position...