Hi If someone is deriving dividend income from US based stocks, can they claim any tax benefit. Asking for SMSF as well as individual account as a lot of big corporations are US based and if you buy their shares they withheld roughly 30% of the dividend. I know there is tax treaty between Australia and US and wanted to understand if under the treaty we can get reduce the witholding tax.
Got the most relevant answer on Macquarie Guide to completing W-8BEN-E Individual US tax forms. If you are looking to open account for security trading please refer that for corporate, SMSF, Trusts, individual
You (or SMSF) cannot claim a franking credit for the tax withheld by the US company.
The income is classified as foreign income and Australian tax must be paid on it.
However, the foreign tax paid can be used to offset the Australian tax on the foreign income. See rules for Foreign Income Tax Offset
There may be variations of which I'm not aware, but I would expect the rate to be 15% for an Australian-only individual who has completed an IRS form W-8 BEN, @RDB2 . As @MACH notes, you can generally claim this on your ATO return.
Got the most relevant answer on Macquarie Guide to completing W-8BEN-E Individual US tax forms. If you are looking to open account for security trading please refer that for corporate, SMSF, Trusts, individual
15 Apr 2026 · 8 min read time
4 Dec 2023 · 9 min read time
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