Osakeyhtiö (OY) investing in US and Canada stocks

[dan_72]

Hi there!

I've recently started to invest in both USA and Canadian stocks through my Osakeyhtiö with Nordea, and I had not nice suprises upon receiving dividends payments as I got taxed 30% for US stocks and 25% for Canadian stocks, which I believe are both wrong. Tried to get some help from Nordea customer support but got very vague (I should use a stronger term...) answers.

For US, I did back in August the required papers and declare my company as "Yhtiö harjoittaa aktiivista liiketoimintaa", however recent dividends payment still charged at 30%

For Canada, no need for paper, but the tax treaty between Finland and Canada published on http://www.finlex.fi/fi/sopimukset/sopi ... 070001.pdf tells clearly that

1. Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.
2. However, such dividends may also be taxed in the Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident,
and according to the laws of that State, but if the beneficial owner of the dividends is a resident of the other Contracting State, the tax so charged shall not exceed:

a) 5 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends if the beneficial owner is a company which owns at least 10 per cent of the
voting stock in the company paying the dividends;
b) 15 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends in all other cases.

=> so in my case it should be charged 15% for Canadian stocks

What's your experience in dividends taxation? As said, I'm not talking about individual investments, but stocks purchase made by own company.

Thanks for any help!

Daniele

[betelgeuse]

Hi there!

I've recently started to invest in both USA and Canadian stocks through my Osakeyhtiö with Nordea, and I had not nice suprises upon receiving dividends payments as I got taxed 30% for US stocks and 25% for Canadian stocks, which I believe are both wrong. Tried to get some help from Nordea customer support but got very vague (I should use a stronger term...) answers.

For US, I did back in August the required papers and declare my company as "Yhtiö harjoittaa aktiivista liiketoimintaa", however recent dividends payment still charged at 30%

For Canada, no need for paper, but the tax treaty between Finland and Canada published on http://www.finlex.fi/fi/sopimukset/sopi ... 070001.pdf tells clearly that

1. Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.
2. However, such dividends may also be taxed in the Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident,
and according to the laws of that State, but if the beneficial owner of the dividends is a resident of the other Contracting State, the tax so charged shall not exceed:

a) 5 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends if the beneficial owner is a company which owns at least 10 per cent of the
voting stock in the company paying the dividends;
b) 15 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends in all other cases.

=> so in my case it should be charged 15% for Canadian stocks

What's your experience in dividends taxation? As said, I'm not talking about individual investments, but stocks purchase made by own company.

Thanks for any help!

Daniele

No experience with US and Canadian tax authorities but generally countries have a process to claim back the extra withholding over the tax treaty rates.