Stock split tax implications for non-US shareholders

[jeewee3000]

Too late to decide on a game plan, but for Belgian stock holders I read this comforting article:

Banken niet van plan taks te innen bij splitsing Tesla en Apple

For non Belgians: "De Tijd" is a financial newspaper in Belgium.

Key points:
- BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC, ING, Belfius, BinckBank and Keytrade told "De Tijd" that they are not planning on withholding tax on the shares created by the split. However, some of these banks/brokers stress the fact that this is a temporary decision based on the information currently available to them;
- in order for the "stock dividend" to be classified as a (taxable) dividend, one condition is that the issuing company (TSLA) must be impoverished by the dividend payout. This will not be the case in this stock split.

So basically confirmation of what we assumed.

 

[Ecyrd]

Lol, that's truly poor customer care.

I assume it is the cheapest broker you can find for you to tolerate that attitude?

Yeah, they're pretty cheap for a DCA strategy (and they have been my broker since I was seven or something so I have a sizable long-term portfolio there). I use others for trading, but TSLA has been a very long-term investment from the beginning.

 

[avoigt]

Too late to decide on a game plan, but for Belgian stock holders I read this comforting article:

Banken niet van plan taks te innen bij splitsing Tesla en Apple

For non Belgians: "De Tijd" is a financial newspaper in Belgium.

Key points:
- BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC, ING, Belfius, BinckBank and Keytrade told "De Tijd" that they are not planning on withholding tax on the shares created by the split. However, some of these banks/brokers stress the fact that this is a temporary decision based on the information currently available to them;
- in order for the "stock dividend" to be classified as a (taxable) dividend, one condition is that the issuing company (TSLA) must be impoverished by the dividend payout. This will not be the case in this stock split.

So basically confirmation of what we assumed.

True but good to know anyway. In German BNP emphasized at my call with them that this is an as of now evaluation but it may change later. They said they had situations where it changed later which I valued as a protective statement.

The interesting part is the sentence that Telsa would need to be impoverished. Funny language because it puts the prove on Tesla for having given something instead of the shareholder to have received something (Dividend).

Do we have any countries left where how it's handled is still unclear?

 

[st_lopes]

Questrade showing this as a split, rather than a dividend, on their events calendar. Still silence from “Alfred” on walking back his comments that this was taxable. I’m still in the camp that this is not a taxable event and that nothing will be withheld to Canadians.

I won’t be doing anything going in to the split (other than MAYBE rolling a 1015c Jan 2022 to a round strike price).

 

[st_lopes]

Questrade showing this as a split, rather than a dividend, on their events calendar. Still silence from “Alfred” on walking back his comments that this was taxable. I’m still in the camp that this is not a taxable event and that nothing will be withheld to Canadians.

I won’t be doing anything going in to the split (other than MAYBE rolling a 1015c Jan 2022 to a round strike price).

Success! Response from Questrade today.

“Thanks for contacting Questrade. My name is Alfred and I’ll be happy to help you.

I apologize for the late response as I wanted to confirm the details of Tesla's upcoming stock split with our management.

I can confirm and assure you that no withholding taxes will be applied and the security will be treated as a regular stock split.“

@Tes La Ferrari

 

[Kpls]

Stock splits completed in my Nordnet account. This morning the amount of shares was updated with the closing price of yesterday looking pretty nice. Value now updated as well, so seems all went well.

 

[Tslynk67]

Nothing changed yet in my Belgian Keytrade account...

Also, not a single bit of information from them on the process - only the email about the tax situation, which was in response to us asking them the question.

 

[MrQc]

No change on BinckBank yet...any other users of BinckBank? Noticed the price per share is 2212.6 USD? While MarketWatch has 2213.4 USD? Anyone else seeing this?

EDIT: Is this because they do not offer realtime prices at Binck? I.e., is the closing price they show just the delayed price still showing?

 

[Matias]

I also received new comments today from a senior tax advisor. He kind of confirmed my feeling that the decision is not up to tax authorities. He said stock dividends are taxable and splits are non-taxable events (nothing new here). Seems like only thing what matters is how brokers execute the transaction.

——-

IMO the hot question is: Who makes the decision how brokers handle this event?

Nordnet replied (my own translation) “we report it forward based on how our sub-custodian reports it”.

 

[avoigt]

No change with BNP Paribas/Cortal Consors in Germany. Looks like banks are working very much heterogenous.

 

[stef]

No changes yet with both Postfinance and Swissquote in Switzerland either ...

 

[jeewee3000]

No change on BinckBank yet...any other users of BinckBank? Noticed the price per share is 2212.6 USD? While MarketWatch has 2213.4 USD? Anyone else seeing this?

EDIT: Is this because they do not offer realtime prices at Binck? I.e., is the closing price they show just the delayed price still showing?

Binck user here. Closing price you see is price 15min before close since you do not have a subscription for live US market quotes.

About the split : Binck told me it could take up to three trading days for them to update amount/value of TSLA shares and options in our accounts and that -in the meantime- trading of these assets is halted. Might be in relation to options only but i'm not expecting to be able to trade this week.

 

[MrQc]

Binck user here. Closing price you see is price 15min before close since you do not have a subscription for live US market quotes.

About the split : Binck told me it could take up to three trading days for them to update amount/value of TSLA shares and options in our accounts and that -in the meantime- trading of these assets is halted. Might be in relation to options only but i'm not expecting to be able to trade this week.

Yes, as I thought. Never realised they didn't update it until the final closing price. And thanks for the extra info from Binck about the three trading days. Hadn't been informed about that. Not that I would trade, I just hold.

EDIT: Just went back to the mail they had sent me, and indeed, they do inform that it might take a few business days.

Must say I am bit curious to see what happens next. Tesla/TSLA/Musk, never a dull moment!

 

[stef]

No changes yet with both Postfinance and Swissquote in Switzerland either ...

My EU shares have been converted and price adjusted, so all good for EU trading.
My US shares/options still showing pre-split values and numbers.

 

[Kpls]

Saturday a bit after feeling rich for a little bit (shares split and non-split price) the rest of the information was updated as well. Sunday came the updates of my average purchase price however nothing yet in the transactions log. When checking this morning I noticed the transactions now include entries for split deposit of the new shares (5) and split withdrawal for the old share (1), so no naming of dividend in the transaction log, identical terms to the Apple share split.

 

[Tslynk67]

Now this morning the SP is updated in my app, but not the number of shares, no change to calls (which normally update around 14:00 on Mondays anyway, so that's kind of expected).

So I'm $1m short for the moment

 

[BobSapp]

Hi all, I've been following this thread for a couple of weeks as I was in a similar situation (Tesla and Apple shares, bought in Germany). 2 points:
I use Postbank and all my shares now show the 'after-split' volumes, and no tax deductions. At least not yet... ;-)
Secondly, thank you all for being so open and sharing your experiences - it certainly reassured me in terms of the upcoming split(s). In these times, no matter where you look, it's hard to find such examples of friendly cooperation - it was very refreshing to see in this forum.
Thanks!

 

[aubreymcfato]

Nothing changed in the number of shares... but the amount of the portfolio has been divided! :S
Like the number of shares has a new value but they didn't grant me the new ones...
Hopefully that will change today

 

[Mich]

The fun thing is that a 100 bugs move within an hour feels normal these days.

 

[MrQc]

Binck updated my account...all as it should be!