Tax Guides

A Hong Kong resident’s $400 US dividend keeps $280: the US withholds 30% with no treaty to cut it, and Hong Kong adds nothing. The China treaty’s 10% does not cover you.

A Singapore resident’s $400 US dividend keeps $280: the US withholds 30% with no treaty to cut it, and Singapore adds nothing on its side. No filing, no credit, no way back; the 30% is final.

A German resident’s $400 US dividend keeps $340 while the €1,000 saver’s allowance holds, $298 once it is spent. A German broker settles the tax automatically; at a foreign broker the same tax runs through Anlage KAP.

The US keeps 15% of a UK resident’s $400 US dividend, and the £500 allowance often takes the UK layer to zero — $340 kept, nothing to file. Above the allowance, the credit, your band and an ISA decide.

Japan’s default takes a $400 US dividend down to $287. Filing the foreign tax credit gets it to $319, and a NISA gets it to $360. The full math on a $10,000 position.

Spouse not a US citizen? The unlimited marital deduction disappears, and a number takes its place: $194,000 a year in 2026. Form 709 above it; both donor tracks covered.

The US keeps 10% of my dividends under the treaty. China then taxes the same dividends at 20%, credits the 10%, and asks for the difference. The full math on a $10,000 position.

Every dividend snowball chart you’ve seen is pre-tax. Mine rolls on 90-cent dollars; a Singapore investor’s on 70. Thirty years of what that actually costs.

Same stock, same dividend. A Singapore investor keeps 70 cents, a China investor keeps 90. One side has a US tax treaty, the other doesn’t, and the gap compounds.

The W-8BEN expires every three years. Mine died quietly, and my next dividend arrived 30% light. The fix, the refund math, and the reminder to set today.