Updated list of available products for new IBKR Japan accounts

[dee436]

@gracec No. From their FAQ:

Will IBKR provide tokutei (specific) accounts with this transition?

No, tokutei accounts are not available. All accounts will be ippan (general) accounts.

 

[gracec]

@dee436 Thanks. To anyone, am I correct that even in an ippan account dividend taxes are taken out?

 

[dee436]

@gracec Yes, all taxable accounts domestic to Japan should have Japan tax withheld for dividends. It is also covered in the same FAQ:

After transferring to IBSJ account, which taxes will be applied to the dividends from foreign stocks?

In general, U.S. stocks dividends will be subject to withholding tax in the U.S. at the rate of 10% based on the Japan-U.S. tax treaty, and an income tax of 15.315% (plus an additional 5% inhabitant tax for Japanese residents ) will be withheld in Japan on the remaining amount. With respect to foreign stocks other than U.S. stocks, taxes on dividends will be withheld locally at the maximum rate, and an income tax of 15.315% (plus an additional 5% inhabitant tax for Japanese residents ) will be withheld in Japan on the remaining amount.

 

[sadmamacat]

@dee436 So even US citizens will have 30% of the dividends withheld? I'm wondering in the US's eyes if these taxes are going to need to reported as foreign earned income or just dividend income.

 

[dee436]

@sadmamacat Income from dividends is never considered earned income, and its source is the location of the company (stock) paying the dividend.

So even US citizens will have 30% of the dividends withheld?

If you mean for US dividends, yes that is how the FAQ reads. But the FAQ doesn't make any specific mention of US citizens, who should not have US tax withheld from US dividends. I would say some confirmation on this point needs to be made. I plan to reach out to support once I've got an email from IB about the transition, but I'm not sure when that will be.

 

[sadmamacat]

@dee436 Ok, got it on the dividends reporting part. So the IBSJ account has to be reported on FBAR because it’s held in foreign currency, but dividends from US companies/ETFs will be reported just as we always do on the 1040

Yes I’m talking about US dividends. That 10 percent tax withholding is one of my biggest questions too

 

[jdharrison37]

@sadmamacat I can’t see VUAA in the list (accumulated VOO listed in the LSE)

 

[njn]

@sadmamacat Tons of products, but no US stock options . I'm out.

 

[jariel]

@sadmamacat I'm a little confused by this list. So are only the stocks listed under "Japan" the ones we will have access to? Since this is the Interactive Brokers.jp page I wasn't sure.

Or are the stocks listed under “America” and other countries also available to us?

 

[sadmamacat]

@jariel This list is what is available to residents of Japan. If you go to the American website of IBKR, the list of available products is completely different and includes options, shorting and many other things.

 

[jariel]

@sadmamacat Thank you for the clarification. Since I only buy EFTs and individual blue chips stocks, most of my stocks are there.

EDIT: after checking the list of US stocks, all my individual stocks (even some of my smaller speculative companies) are listed, as are all my ETFs except one.

So it seems like this transition will be a lot smoother (for me at least) than I thought. And since I’m only buying and holding (no options, shorting, etc) it looks like this will be ok for me.

Will have to see how this impacts doing taxes next year as an American.

 

[sadmamacat]

@jariel Sure, this is annoying and confusing for everyone. Especially for US expats. If we are allowed to use IBSJ in full then I’ll be happy. Have to figure out taxes for the US side next year sometime

 

[jariel]

@sadmamacat Yeah. Thinking about it it should make filing on the Japanese side easier. I won’t have to convert the exchange rate for each dividend paid out into yen. I assume since it will be the Japanese IB, they should have Al the proper tax forms available.

No idea about the US side. But is past experience is any indicator, I doubt it will be smooth sailing.

 

[fullofwonder78]

@sadmamacat Is anyone willing/able to post the PDF files for US Stock and Global ETF somewhere? I have been trying for days to download and open them, but the US Stock and Global ETF files will not open for me. Everything other file on that link seems to work just fine, but those two won't open for some reason.

 

[stevenjnr]

@fullofwonder78 do you still have an issue doing so?

 

[fullofwonder78]

@stevenjnr No issue now. I got it all sorted and my account has been moved over. Thanks though.