I got my first dividend payout today, and I saw that Trading212 cuts the amount by 15% withholding tax! I’m a tax resident in Thailand and I don’t think I need to pay tax unless any new income/gains is transferred into Thailand. So why the withholding tax, and how can I set it up so that Trading212 doesn’t charge 15% every time I get a dividend payout?
You cannot avoid this tax
Apparently, it’s a tax imposed by Trumpland and it’s unavoidable.
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You can actually swerve this on US shares by holding them in a Sipp though not all brokers facilitate it.
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It’s not Trading212 withholding the tax, it’s tax deducted at source by the respective foreign government.
For example, I am a UK citizen and I mainly invest through my tax-free savings account (ISA). But most of my foreign (non-UK) dividend-generating investments incur withholding tax:
US investments - 15%
German - 26.375%
Canadian - 15%
Chinese - 10.002%
Dutch - 15%
etc.
Hope this helps.
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Hi Topher, SIPP isn’t only for UK-residents? Due that OP is a tax-resident in Thailand:
Btw, I didn’t know that T212 is available in Thailand. Because Asian countries have different financial regulatory constraints than in Europe.
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That .002% is an extra tax added to the 10% or a typo?
I only found in Google, mentions to 10% withholding tax.
You moving to China?
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@RLX - it’s an additional two thousandths of a pecentage point on top of the ten percent. That’s how it shows in my dividend history for Agricultural Bank of China.
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I missed that OP was based in Thailand. It’s useful for UK residents to know you can get 0% on US stocks at least.
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Please say yes. We’ll all miss you… honest.
From Google AI (take it with a pinch of salt) :
→ H-Shares
→ ADR:
A direct question:
A “rate of 10% (often rounded to 10.002%” is the first time that I see the rounding in the inverse order, it’s a 10% rate but rounded is 10.002%. 
Thanks I learned something new today, if the Google isn’t hallucinating! 
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Thanks! I’m a Dutch citizen but living in Thailand. I also pay my income tax in Thailand. The only Dutch tax I’ve ever paid is inheritance tax ( 
) and regional Water Authority Tax. (That last one I didn’t mind paying. )
Anyway I sold the VanEck ETF (based in the Netherlands) that paid the dividend; I’ll focus on accumulating ETFs.
Thanks all!!
Note that virtually all accumulating ETFs receive dividends (albeit you do not see them because they are added to the price).
In the UK you must include those hidden dividends in any Dividend Tax calculation as part of your annual Tax Return (obviously when not in a SIPP or ISA). It is possible that the same applies in Thailand and/or The Netherlands. Many people choose a Distributing ETF so that the Dividend Tax calculation is easy.
For the obligatory S&P 500 ETF in my portfolio I picked a swap-based one to avoid the withholding tax issue.
Although Swap-based ETFs had some bad reputation (not entirely justified), those can be beneficial in the fiscal side, in US underlying stocks, those don’t withhold taxes, in UK and some European countries, they don’t have Stamp Duty and Financial Transaction Taxes:
Btw, there is an European ETF that is a hybrid replicator, Swap in US and illiquid market stocks and Physical in the rest of the index, Scalable MSCI AC World Xtrackers UCITS ETF 1C (ISIN LU2903252349).
