Stock split tax implications for non-US shareholders

[avoigt]

The website with the contact details is:
Kontakt - Bundesfinanzministerium - Service

I used the email address under "Postanschrift", which is:
[email protected]

There is also a phone number and if you can manage it then they may forward you to a capital gains responsible. When I tried they weren't at office anymore and they asked me to write a mail.
I used a short mail introduction to ensure that a low skill secretary understands that she needs to forward the mail to the Kapitalertragsteuer responsible. After the one liner I wrote a quite specific mail about the tesla split situation.
The guy on the phone also mentioned that he received the same request already. So I really hope that they get a high number of requests already. Unfortunately most people will react and call them for sure after the split when they eventually face negative euro accounts.

I just wrote them a mail since we need a written confirmation and a verbal one won't help us at a later court case.

In my mail, I informed them to be in direct contact with Martin and a larger group of German investors hoping this triggers them to answer as requested before August 21st.

German Tax Authorities usually do not care if we have sleepless nights and I would not be surprised not to get an answer at all or after August 31st.

I did ask them two questions:

#1 If they can confirm this not be a not taxable event since there is no additional value given although called Dividend
#2 If they can assure that Depots do not deduct a preliminary tax which would cause harm to stockholders

 

[Mich]

I received a reply from the BMF (Federal Ministry of Finance in Germany):

zu Ihrer Anfrage vom 13. August 2020 betreffend die o. g. Kapitalmaßnahme kann ich Ihnen Folgendes mitteilen: Die Finanzverwaltung prüft nicht vorab jede stattfindende Kapitalmaßnahme. Jährlich finden eine Vielzahl solcher Maßnahmen statt. Die Finanzverwaltung kann nur allgemeine Kriterien benennen, nach denen Kapitalmaßnahmen auf ihre steuerliche Behandlung geprüft werden können. Die Kreditwirtschaft nimmt auf Grundlage dieser Kriterien eine Einstufung der jeweiligen Maßnahmen vor. Diese Regelungen finden Sie im BMF-Schreiben vom 18. Januar 2016 (BStBl I S. 85) „Einzelfragen zur Abgeltungsteuer“ in den Randziffern 100 bis 117 dargestellt:

Einzelfragen zur Abgeltungsteuer; Neuveröffentlichung des BMF-Schreibens - Bundesfinanzministerium - Service

I received a reply from the BMF (Federal Ministry of Finance in Germany):

zu Ihrer Anfrage vom 13. August 2020 betreffend die o. g. Kapitalmaßnahme kann ich Ihnen Folgendes mitteilen: Die Finanzverwaltung prüft nicht vorab jede stattfindende Kapitalmaßnahme. Jährlich finden eine Vielzahl solcher Maßnahmen statt. Die Finanzverwaltung kann nur allgemeine Kriterien benennen, nach denen Kapitalmaßnahmen auf ihre steuerliche Behandlung geprüft werden können. Die Kreditwirtschaft nimmt auf Grundlage dieser Kriterien eine Einstufung der jeweiligen Maßnahmen vor. Diese Regelungen finden Sie im BMF-Schreiben vom 18. Januar 2016 (BStBl I S. 85) „Einzelfragen zur Abgeltungsteuer“ in den Randziffern 100 bis 117 dargestellt:

Einzelfragen zur Abgeltungsteuer; Neuveröffentlichung des BMF-Schreibens - Bundesfinanzministerium - Service

Can you send me your German request via PM? I'd like to send the same question to the Austrian authority. I'm 24/7 with three small kids and I'm not able to concentrate to write myself on this complex topic..

 

[avoigt]

Can you send me your German request via PM? I'd like to send the same question to the Austrian authority. I'm 24/7 with three small kids and I'm not able to concentrate to write myself on this complex topic..

That's exactly what I expected from our Tax authorities. Doing nothing and keeping taxpayer in the dark and exposed to wrong treatment from e.g. Banks and Depots.

If you mend me about the mail I did send, send me a PM and I will copy it in the reply.

 

[jeewee3000]

Hi all,

My Belgian broker (Binck) released an official statement which they have added tot the FAQ part of their website. They also notified me by e-mail of this statement.

It reads:


Tesla - Stock Split

Het bedrijf Tesla heeft recent besloten tot een stock split over te gaan om het aandeel toegankelijker te maken voor particuliere beleggers.

Elke aandeelhouder die op 21 augustus 2020 aandelen Tesla bezit, zal per aandeel 5 nieuwe aandelen Tesla ontvangen. De eerste handelsdag van de nieuwe aandelen zal 31 augustus 2020 zijn.

Zodra wij de nieuwe aandelen van onze tegenpartij hebben ontvangen, worden ze gecrediteerd op de rekening en wordt de handelsmogelijkheid opnieuw geactiveerd. Let op: dit proces kan tot enkele werkdagen in beslag nemen.

De totale waarde van uw positie in Tesla aandelen zal in theorie niet wijzigen door de stock split. De prijs per aandeel gaat gedeeld door vijf en het aantal aandelen gaat maal vijf.

Taksen?
Een stock split brengt geen taksen met zich mee. U zal dus geen roerende voorheffing dienen te betalen bij een stock split.

Kosten?
BinckBank verwerkt een stock split helemaal gratis voor u.

TRANSLATION

Tesla - Stock Split

The company Tesla has recently decided to split its stock in order to make the share more accessible to private investors.

Each shareholder holding Tesla shares on 21 August 2020 will receive 5 new Tesla shares per share. The first trading day of the new shares will be 31 August 2020.

Once we have received the new shares from our counterparty, they will be credited to the account and the trading opportunity will be reactivated. Please note that this process can take up to a few working days.

The total value of your position in Tesla shares will in theory not change due to the stock split. The price per share is divided by five and the number of shares is multiplied by five.

Taxes?
A stock split does not involve any taxes. You will therefore not have to pay any withholding tax in case of a stock split.

Costs?
BinckBank processes a stock split completely free of charge for you.


So good news for the Belgian TMC-ers. The wording from my broker is confusing though, as they say per share we will receive 5 "new shares". Therefore they interpret the split as:
A) your 'old Tesla shares' dissapear
B) your 'new Tesla shares' appear, and you get 5 times as many.

When I read the Tesla SEC filing (I linked to it earlier), I read it as: per share you are awarded 4 extra shares (as "stock dvidend" as they termed it).

I am relieved of course, but am still not happy with the wording by Tesla. Compare it to AAPL stock split in 2014 and they did a much better job explaining what exactly was happening.

Good luck to all others that have not yet received confirmation.

 

[avoigt]

Hi all,

My Belgian broker (Binck) released an official statement which they have added tot the FAQ part of their website. They also notified me by e-mail of this statement.

It reads:


Tesla - Stock Split

Het bedrijf Tesla heeft recent besloten tot een stock split over te gaan om het aandeel toegankelijker te maken voor particuliere beleggers.

Elke aandeelhouder die op 21 augustus 2020 aandelen Tesla bezit, zal per aandeel 5 nieuwe aandelen Tesla ontvangen. De eerste handelsdag van de nieuwe aandelen zal 31 augustus 2020 zijn.

Zodra wij de nieuwe aandelen van onze tegenpartij hebben ontvangen, worden ze gecrediteerd op de rekening en wordt de handelsmogelijkheid opnieuw geactiveerd. Let op: dit proces kan tot enkele werkdagen in beslag nemen.

De totale waarde van uw positie in Tesla aandelen zal in theorie niet wijzigen door de stock split. De prijs per aandeel gaat gedeeld door vijf en het aantal aandelen gaat maal vijf.

Taksen?
Een stock split brengt geen taksen met zich mee. U zal dus geen roerende voorheffing dienen te betalen bij een stock split.

Kosten?
BinckBank verwerkt een stock split helemaal gratis voor u.

TRANSLATION

Tesla - Stock Split

The company Tesla has recently decided to split its stock in order to make the share more accessible to private investors.

Each shareholder holding Tesla shares on 21 August 2020 will receive 5 new Tesla shares per share. The first trading day of the new shares will be 31 August 2020.

Once we have received the new shares from our counterparty, they will be credited to the account and the trading opportunity will be reactivated. Please note that this process can take up to a few working days.

The total value of your position in Tesla shares will in theory not change due to the stock split. The price per share is divided by five and the number of shares is multiplied by five.

Taxes?
A stock split does not involve any taxes. You will therefore not have to pay any withholding tax in case of a stock split.

Costs?
BinckBank processes a stock split completely free of charge for you.


So good news for the Belgian TMC-ers. The wording from my broker is confusing though, as they say per share we will receive 5 "new shares". Therefore they interpret the split as:
A) your 'old Tesla shares' dissapear
B) your 'new Tesla shares' appear, and you get 5 times as many.

When I read the Tesla SEC filing (I linked to it earlier), I read it as: per share you are awarded 4 extra shares (as "stock dvidend" as they termed it).

I am relieved of course, but am still not happy with the wording by Tesla. Compare it to AAPL stock split in 2014 and they did a much better job explaining what exactly was happening.

Good luck to all others that have not yet received confirmation.

Great news indeed and congrats.

More and more countries are officially confirming no tax event which is awesome and in line with what Martin stated.

 

[Amon]

Update from my side. I got the same standard reply from the BMF. It's just awful that Germany spends so much tax money on government entities and their staff, but is unable/ unwilling to do their job every tax payers pays them literally for.

Anyway doing that I have proof in case of legal actions that I tried to adress the issue to them in advance.

In regards to my Broker I have a verbal statement from my top trader contact and also from the standard customer service employees that they assume that the split is not tax relevant. But they refused a binding statement and didn't wrote anything my email. I guess to avoid later on accountability for wrong advise / statements.

In two different independent phone calls I got this above mentioned information. Once under consideration of the Netflix split which the broker handled as non taxable and assumes Tesla split will be the same. But no guarantee for that.
Another call without the mentioning of Netflix confirmed that it should be non taxable too. No guarantee too. They assume yhat they will first book on the Euro account and then do a cancelation afterwards leading to the same account balance like before. I guess that they might try to get overdraft interest if the Euro account is not covered with enough amount of Euros. But I guess that you can insist on not paying that because the booking ane cancelation is a necessity in their IT system.
Of course this is not a advise from my side, but how I understood their statement. You should check with your German brokers too and please comment here too.

In sum I think I won't sell before 21.08.20 as the chances look good right now. But I will definitely consider consequences about this poor job of the broker and may be transferring my stocks to another broker with more consulting power and knowledge. That is the most important thing I learned from this hell of a ride with dealing with them.

 

[junas]

Hi all,

My Belgian broker (Binck) released an official statement which they have added tot the FAQ part of their website. They also notified me by e-mail of this statement.

It reads:


Tesla - Stock Split

Het bedrijf Tesla heeft recent besloten tot een stock split over te gaan om het aandeel toegankelijker te maken voor particuliere beleggers.

Elke aandeelhouder die op 21 augustus 2020 aandelen Tesla bezit, zal per aandeel 5 nieuwe aandelen Tesla ontvangen. De eerste handelsdag van de nieuwe aandelen zal 31 augustus 2020 zijn.

Zodra wij de nieuwe aandelen van onze tegenpartij hebben ontvangen, worden ze gecrediteerd op de rekening en wordt de handelsmogelijkheid opnieuw geactiveerd. Let op: dit proces kan tot enkele werkdagen in beslag nemen.

De totale waarde van uw positie in Tesla aandelen zal in theorie niet wijzigen door de stock split. De prijs per aandeel gaat gedeeld door vijf en het aantal aandelen gaat maal vijf.

Taksen?
Een stock split brengt geen taksen met zich mee. U zal dus geen roerende voorheffing dienen te betalen bij een stock split.

Kosten?
BinckBank verwerkt een stock split helemaal gratis voor u.

TRANSLATION

Tesla - Stock Split

The company Tesla has recently decided to split its stock in order to make the share more accessible to private investors.

Each shareholder holding Tesla shares on 21 August 2020 will receive 5 new Tesla shares per share. The first trading day of the new shares will be 31 August 2020.

Once we have received the new shares from our counterparty, they will be credited to the account and the trading opportunity will be reactivated. Please note that this process can take up to a few working days.

The total value of your position in Tesla shares will in theory not change due to the stock split. The price per share is divided by five and the number of shares is multiplied by five.

Taxes?
A stock split does not involve any taxes. You will therefore not have to pay any withholding tax in case of a stock split.

Costs?
BinckBank processes a stock split completely free of charge for you.


So good news for the Belgian TMC-ers. The wording from my broker is confusing though, as they say per share we will receive 5 "new shares". Therefore they interpret the split as:
A) your 'old Tesla shares' dissapear
B) your 'new Tesla shares' appear, and you get 5 times as many.

When I read the Tesla SEC filing (I linked to it earlier), I read it as: per share you are awarded 4 extra shares (as "stock dvidend" as they termed it).

I am relieved of course, but am still not happy with the wording by Tesla. Compare it to AAPL stock split in 2014 and they did a much better job explaining what exactly was happening.

Good luck to all others that have not yet received confirmation.

This is great news. That Binck FAQ-page is the first official written confirmation from any EU broker AFAIK. Thank you!

• First, this is very important signal because all brokers in Belgium must execute the transaction in the same way.
• Second, they are using the term "stock split" instead of "stock dividend".
• Third, now it's confirmed that they are not going to deduct "US withholding tax" (Quellensteuer auf deutsch?) in Belgium. Correct me if wrong, but Belgians would normally pay "US withholding tax" from dividends? It sounds like a regular forward split.

Since Belgian, German and Finnish tax systems seem to be quite similar regarding stock dividends I'm not super-worried anymore. Still waiting for a local confirmation before pouring a case of beer.

 

[jeewee3000]

Third, now it's confirmed that they are not going to deduct "US withholding tax" (Quellensteuer auf deutsch?) in Belgium. Correct me if wrong, but Belgians would normally pay "US withholding tax" from dividends? It sounds like a regular forward split.

Taxation of foreign dividends in Belgium (called "roerende voorheffing" at 30% currently, used to be 25% for years) is indeed "double" for many states: you pay tax in the issuing country (not all countries) and in Belgium. Afterwards you can then recuperate the Belgian tax if you prove you've paid the tax on the dividend in the foreign country. (However, this process is tedious and requires paperwork so that many investors leave it as is if the amounts are not that high. Evil tax authority...)

For dividends from tax paradises (Cayman islands and the like) you don't pay dividend tax in the foreign country, that's why the Belgian brokers have to withold the tax either way. Afterwards you as an investor have to clean up the mess. With the current technology this should not exist anymore, but hey! Welcome to Belgium.

 

[avoigt]

Update from my side. I got the same standard reply from the BMF. It's just awful that Germany spends so much tax money on government entities and their staff, but is unable/ unwilling to do their job every tax payers pays them literally for.

Anyway doing that I have proof in case of legal actions that I tried to adress the issue to them in advance.

In regards to my Broker I have a verbal statement from my top trader contact and also from the standard customer service employees that they assume that the split is not tax relevant. But they refused a binding statement and didn't wrote anything my email. I guess to avoid later on accountability for wrong advise / statements.

In two different independent phone calls I got this above mentioned information. Once under consideration of the Netflix split which the broker handled as non taxable and assumes Tesla split will be the same. But no guarantee for that.
Another call without the mentioning of Netflix confirmed that it should be non taxable too. No guarantee too. They assume yhat they will first book on the Euro account and then do a cancelation afterwards leading to the same account balance like before. I guess that they might try to get overdraft interest if the Euro account is not covered with enough amount of Euros. But I guess that you can insist on not paying that because the booking ane cancelation is a necessity in their IT system.
Of course this is not a advise from my side, but how I understood their statement. You should check with your German brokers too and please comment here too.

In sum I think I won't sell before 21.08.20 as the chances look good right now. But I will definitely consider consequences about this poor job of the broker and may be transferring my stocks to another broker with more consulting power and knowledge. That is the most important thing I learned from this hell of a ride with dealing with them.

Its indeed a shame how the German Tax Authorities tried us but even worse its their duty to inform us and if for whatever reason the situation turns into a tax deduction from deports even if reversed later the damage done to all of us is significant.

German tax payers are within the highest tax rates in Europe and authorities still do not feel it's required to inform us which is indeed unacceptable. I am not sure if we should blame our brokers as they do not know as well and don't get a feedback from BFM.

Good that you have at least feedback in writing. Please keep that as we may need to use it at a later point in time.

I won't sell any share too hoping German Authorities are doing what most if not all other EU tax authorities have confirmed to their citizens.

 

[Alexzobe]

Tesla performs a stock split 1:5 in the form of stock dividend. We already know stock dividend doesn't create a taxable event for US-based shareholders.

Unfortunately in several European countries stock dividends are taxed in the same way as cash dividends. So far we've very limited confirmed information. All EU-countries have their own tax laws.

Please share here if you have any country-specific information. In addition, any answers given by popular EU brokers (Degiro, Lynx, IB, Saxo, Nordnet, etc.) are highly valuable.

FOR BELGIUM RESIDENT, There is still no confirmation from neither banks or Tax authorities that we will not need to pay 30% of tax on the dividend Split... and there is no way we can deduct it from taxes afterward except a very small ridiculous amount (in the range of 650€) There is an article published on the echo.be here :
La division de l'action Tesla ne devrait pas être taxée en Belgique

if you can't access the article, here is the most critical piece of the article.

"Interrogée sur la possibilité de voir l'action Tesla subir le même sort, l'administration fiscale se montre prudente: dans ce cas-ci, "le précompte mobilier pourrait ne pas être dû", indique Florence Angelici, porte-parole du SPF Finances. Mais "sur base du communiqué, il n’est pas possible pour l’administration de prendre position sur l’opération Tesla", nuance-t-elle. "L’évolution et la composition des fonds propres de Tesla est un élément qui doit être analysé.""
This check can only happen at the next results publication somewhere in October (next Quarter results)

I will personnally not take the risk and sell to buy back after the split happen on 31st. I see no other choice unless an official confirmation happen befopre Aug 21...
Strange world.... pfff..

 

[MrQc]

Hi all,

My Belgian broker (Binck) released an official statement which they have added tot the FAQ part of their website. They also notified me by e-mail of this statement.

It reads:


Tesla - Stock Split

Het bedrijf Tesla heeft recent besloten tot een stock split over te gaan om het aandeel toegankelijker te maken voor particuliere beleggers.

Elke aandeelhouder die op 21 augustus 2020 aandelen Tesla bezit, zal per aandeel 5 nieuwe aandelen Tesla ontvangen. De eerste handelsdag van de nieuwe aandelen zal 31 augustus 2020 zijn.

Zodra wij de nieuwe aandelen van onze tegenpartij hebben ontvangen, worden ze gecrediteerd op de rekening en wordt de handelsmogelijkheid opnieuw geactiveerd. Let op: dit proces kan tot enkele werkdagen in beslag nemen.

De totale waarde van uw positie in Tesla aandelen zal in theorie niet wijzigen door de stock split. De prijs per aandeel gaat gedeeld door vijf en het aantal aandelen gaat maal vijf.

Taksen?
Een stock split brengt geen taksen met zich mee. U zal dus geen roerende voorheffing dienen te betalen bij een stock split.

Kosten?
BinckBank verwerkt een stock split helemaal gratis voor u.

TRANSLATION

Tesla - Stock Split

The company Tesla has recently decided to split its stock in order to make the share more accessible to private investors.

Each shareholder holding Tesla shares on 21 August 2020 will receive 5 new Tesla shares per share. The first trading day of the new shares will be 31 August 2020.

Once we have received the new shares from our counterparty, they will be credited to the account and the trading opportunity will be reactivated. Please note that this process can take up to a few working days.

The total value of your position in Tesla shares will in theory not change due to the stock split. The price per share is divided by five and the number of shares is multiplied by five.

Taxes?
A stock split does not involve any taxes. You will therefore not have to pay any withholding tax in case of a stock split.

Costs?
BinckBank processes a stock split completely free of charge for you.


So good news for the Belgian TMC-ers. The wording from my broker is confusing though, as they say per share we will receive 5 "new shares". Therefore they interpret the split as:
A) your 'old Tesla shares' dissapear
B) your 'new Tesla shares' appear, and you get 5 times as many.

When I read the Tesla SEC filing (I linked to it earlier), I read it as: per share you are awarded 4 extra shares (as "stock dvidend" as they termed it).

I am relieved of course, but am still not happy with the wording by Tesla. Compare it to AAPL stock split in 2014 and they did a much better job explaining what exactly was happening.

Good luck to all others that have not yet received confirmation.

Just to confirm, after contacting Binck again they sent me the exact same email.

 

[Alexzobe]

It's a fixed fee of 19.95 at Keytrade, so won't change much for me. But I'll appreciate having 20 contracts per strike rather than 4, makes for a lot more flexibility.

Plus I'm sure the psychologically lower strikes will encourage interest.

Going to be crazy, mind you, isn't it ever?

I guess as Binck confirmed it will be treated as a split, the others will follow soon. Will be interesting if we get different info from other brokers

I called Binck here in Belgium and they could NOT confirm... Do you have their confirmation in written ?
Thanks

 

[Alexzobe]

FOR BELGIUM RESIDENT, There is still no confirmation from neither banks or Tax authorities that we will not need to pay 30% of tax on the dividend Split... and there is no way we can deduct it from taxes afterward except a very small ridiculous amount (in the range of 650€) There is an article published on the echo.be here :
La division de l'action Tesla ne devrait pas être taxée en Belgique

if you can't access the article, here is the most critical piece of the article.

"Interrogée sur la possibilité de voir l'action Tesla subir le même sort, l'administration fiscale se montre prudente: dans ce cas-ci, "le précompte mobilier pourrait ne pas être dû", indique Florence Angelici, porte-parole du SPF Finances. Mais "sur base du communiqué, il n’est pas possible pour l’administration de prendre position sur l’opération Tesla", nuance-t-elle. "L’évolution et la composition des fonds propres de Tesla est un élément qui doit être analysé.""
This check can only happen at the next results publication somewhere in October (next Quarter results)

I will personnally not take the risk and sell to buy back after the split happen on 31st. I see no other choice unless an official confirmation happen befopre Aug 21...
Strange world.... pfff..

and This is also an important part :
"Mais, avertit encore Pierre-Philippe Hendrickx, "la confirmation viendra cependant de l’analyse des comptes de Tesla. Si les fonds propres de la société restent inchangés à la suite de l’opération, cela voudra dire qu’il s’agissait bien d’une simple division de l’action existante, sans attribution d’un dividende taxable. Le problème est qu’on n’aura cette confirmation que lors de la publication des prochains comptes de Tesla. La question est dès lors de savoir quelle sera la position du SPF Finances dans l’intervalle." D'où, certainement, la prudence observée, à ce stade, par l'administration fiscale."

 

[MrQc]

I called Binck here in Belgium and they could NOT confirm... Do you have their confirmation in written ?
Thanks

Got confirmation by email yes...

 

[jeewee3000]

I called Binck here in Belgium and they could NOT confirm... Do you have their confirmation in written ?
Thanks

Check the FAQ when logged in. It should show up there if you haven't been notified by e-mail personally.

 

[Amon]

FOR BELGIUM RESIDENT, There is still no confirmation from neither banks or Tax authorities that we will not need to pay 30% of tax on the dividend Split... and there is no way we can deduct it from taxes afterward except a very small ridiculous amount (in the range of 650€) There is an article published on the echo.be here :
La division de l'action Tesla ne devrait pas être taxée en Belgique

if you can't access the article, here is the most critical piece of the article.

"Interrogée sur la possibilité de voir l'action Tesla subir le même sort, l'administration fiscale se montre prudente: dans ce cas-ci, "le précompte mobilier pourrait ne pas être dû", indique Florence Angelici, porte-parole du SPF Finances. Mais "sur base du communiqué, il n’est pas possible pour l’administration de prendre position sur l’opération Tesla", nuance-t-elle. "L’évolution et la composition des fonds propres de Tesla est un élément qui doit être analysé.""
This check can only happen at the next results publication somewhere in October (next Quarter results)

I will personnally not take the risk and sell to buy back after the split happen on 31st. I see no other choice unless an official confirmation happen befopre Aug 21...
Strange world.... pfff..

Dear Alexzobe, right now I'm confused by your statement. I thought that there is no capital gains tax in Belgium, but only a 0,15% tax on stock accounts over 500K Euro. If that is true, then why you should be effected by this split or any real dividend?

In Germany we had 0% prior to the year 2009, if you hold onto your stock at least 12 months. But dividends stil caused tax qith your own personal tax percentage based on your income which rises progressively up to the maximum of 42%.
Maybe you have a similar taxation rule in Belgiu, otherwise I don't understand how what you are writing fits to what I have read. And I have read about the Belgium taxation on the official website of the tax authority in my native language German as it is one of the 3 offical Government languages in Belgium. In East Belgium the people speak German.
Of course this is no advise or official statement from my side, but just what I had understood when studying the Belgium tax system. My understanding could be flawed or plain wrong.

 

[adewinne]

I do not believe there are any tax implications around stock splits in Canada since the stocks are not realized as a sell.

 

[avoigt]

Dear Alexzobe, right now I'm confused by your statement. I thought that there is no capital gains tax in Belgium, but only a 0,15% tax on stock accounts over 500K Euro. If that is true, then why you should be effected by this split or any real dividend?

In Germany we had 0% prior to the year 2009, if you hold onto your stock at least 12 months. But dividends stil caused tax qith your own personal tax percentage based on your income which rises progressively up to the maximum of 42%.
Maybe you have a similar taxation rule in Belgiu, otherwise I don't understand how what you are writing fits to what I have read. And I have read about the Belgium taxation on the official website of the tax authority in my native language German as it is one of the 3 offical Government languages in Belgium. In East Belgium the people speak German.
Of course this is no advise or official statement from my side, but just what I had understood when studying the Belgium tax system. My understanding could be flawed or plain wrong.

Amon, Dividends in Germany are taxed based on Abgeltungssteuer with is 25% plus Solidaritätszuschlag and not your personal tax percentage.

 

[Amon]

Amon, Dividends in Germany are taxed based on Abgeltungssteuer with is 25% plus Solidaritätszuschlag and not your personal tax percentage.

I meant back then until 2009.

 

[elliott82]

Hi all,

I got a call from my german broker (comdirect). He said he doesn't know how exactly things will unfold and that very often they get all the infos they need "when the process has already started", whatever that means. From his perspective he sounded rather pessimistic and could imagine that the split would indeed be considered a taxable event. He also mentioned the Google split a few years ago, where they issued new c-class stock or whatever with a different WKN/ISIN number. If true that would be pretty disastrous to many stockholders. I sure hope he's wrong...

My tax advisor will get back to me on monday hopefully. I will let you know what she had to say.

@Todesbuckler Could you kindly send me your letter to the BMF so I can bug them as well? Thank you very much!