I believe as there's no agreement between Malaysia / US as a Malaysian tax resident we're not actually able to get any o the WT back (not in any automated way, anyway)

The best approach really if you're after dividends is to use Ireland domiciled ETFs - eg. buy and hold VUSD vs SPY.

Hi Ramjade. So, by filling income tax I can have partial "refund" from the 30% dividend paid? How much of refund can it be? Is it 50% of the withholding tax as claimed in the first post?

Why would my life be more difficult?

I have heard about FATCA but not quite sure about its impact to us NRAs. Can you elaborate more on this?

This refund only applies if you’re tax resident of a country that has a tax treaty in place. It’s basically what’s happening behind the scenes between Ireland / US on ETFs domiciled there.

I need to update the initial post really - a bit misleading

Bro,.. since we are on this subject, there are certain interest incomes that are not taxed at 30%, and are tax-free to the Non-Resident Alien. We call these incomes as QIIs - Qualified Interest Incomes.

If we invest into these instruments, we would not need to pay US tax on such incomes,...

Hi all.

I have some questions with the concerns of messing up with the US government. I understand about the concern especially with the CRS (common reporting standards) being adopted in many countries these days.

As for tax no., I believe the US tax no. id officially called TIN or Tax Identification No. As far as I know, even a TIN is required when you fill up the W-8BEN form, which concerns with the 30% WHT. So, every NRA like us who invest directly in the NYSE (dividend-paying stocks or ETFs) will be required to fill up the W-8BEN form even if we don't ask for the "50% WHT refund".

So, is Ramjade trying to say that one should not even invest in the NYSE directly? (since you already need to file a tax form with a TIN on your W-8BEN)
Referring to the bolded part, pay the tax and try to claim it back? Isn't that what I am asking here and you are against it? Now you are advocating it here? Or a typo?

As for those who suggest to buy funds try UCITS, I am aware of the benefits.

Just one concern, most USD-denominated UCITS are traded on LSE and SIX. And their markets are less liquid than NYSE. Can anyone recommend brokers in Singapore or Malaysia who deal with the Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS on LSE or the iShares S&P 500 UCITS (Accumulating class, USD-denominated) on either LSE/SIX?

I am a long-term investor, so Interactive Broker is not suitable for me as I don't have 100k USD anytime soon, nor do I want to pay 10 USD per month for commission. I am looking for something similar to TD Ameritrade, one-off commission, and can last forever. It's kind of unfortunate that TD Ameritrade only offers trading in US markets.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

Now I have a clearer view.

Regarding Captrader and Tradestation, I am fine with both brokers and the fees seem low.

The thing is, I don't know how much is the commission charges for USD-denominated ETF on LSE and SIX?

The brokers only give GBP and euros for trade commissions in LSE and SIX respectively.

Does that mean that I need to pay the commissions in pounds or euros to buy USD-denominated UCITS?

Thanks for the help everyone.

Interactive Brokers are great

I use whitelabels to get around the monthly fee.

Base currency doesn't affect anything (to us Malaysians at least). It's more to reference your portfolio or report in your 'home currency'. But since MYR is not available, either USD or SGD will still look 'alien' to us anyways. You can change your base currency in account settings.

You're free to fund and convert to other currency outside your selected base currency as well.

About USD2/transaction.

A small fee - rate you get is within a pip or half of spot.

By default if you have USD and buy a stock in EUR you’ll have a negative USD balance which will get interest charged on it.

Mnaged to added SG currency after the 2nd tried.

one question about the inactivity fee.
TradeStation Global does apply an inactivity fee and it is $10 per month if you don't generate minimum $10 commission.

does it means i have to trade US stock at least 7 trade per month since the minimum rate is USD 1.50 per trade?

Please check below website: -

https://brokerchooser.com/broker-reviews/tr...-and-withdrawal

Greatm thanks for the advice
sorry, my bad

Will there be any liquidity issue if buy Ireland domiciled ETF? Sorry for the noob question.

Will there be any liquidity issue if buy Ireland domiciled ETF? Sorry for the noob question.