Instructions on How to Access PTP Products are available below in this document.

What you need to know:

Amount of Withholding: 10% of sale or distribution proceeds.  This means 10% of the amount of funds that would settle resulting from any transaction or distribution, not just 10% on any calculated profit.

Example of PTP withholding:

Buy 200 shares @ 50. 
Transaction value = $10,000
Sell 200 shares @ 51. 
Transaction value = $10,200
Profit = $200. 
Withholding = $1020 USD

Assuming no tax reclaim requests, the loss in value to the investor would be $820

Affected Instruments: Please see the list at the end of this article.  The list is maintained on a best efforts basis and there may be some timing issues as information is refreshed.  Listed deliverable securities are in scope of the new regulation. Options and other derivative instruments with a PTP as the underlying security are not subject to withholding. However, if the option or derivative is converted into a PTP interest, a subsequent sale of such PTP security would be subject to withholding.

Special Exemptions: The IRS regulation provides issuers the ability to get an exemption from the PTP withholding requirement.  The exemption is valid for 92 days, and issuers are required to re-certify with the IRS to extend the duration of the exemption. IBKR will try, on a best-efforts basis, to publish which of the affected instruments have an operating exemption, but investors should ensure they are choosing products whose withholding conditions they fully understand.  The issuer document that provides for a withholding exemption is generally referred to as a "Qualified Notice"

What Investors are affected: All investors who are not considered ‘resident’ for U.S. tax purposes, i.e. investors who are not subject to U.S. taxation and tax reporting (and therefore doesn't file a W-9 IRS tax form).

Reporting: Withholding will be reported on the year-end Form 1042-S, Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding. 

How to Access PTP Products as a Non-US Taxpayer:  Please login to Client Portal and create a web ticket through the Message Center. The summary of the message should read "Access to PTP Products" and the body of the message should have a request to enable trading for PTP symbols. 

Additional Resources: For those interested in understanding additional information about the new regulation, please see the IRS website for IRC Sec. 1446(f): http://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/partnership-withholding

PTP Instruments

This list identifies PTP securities which may be subject to withholding under the IRS Regulation referenced above. The products are presented in 2 groups: those with a "Qualified Notice” exemption, and those "without Qualified Notice".  The lists are shown on a best-efforts basis for convenience only.  IBKR does not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information, and investors should independently verify that products in which they are invested in, or intend to invest, have the necessary exemptions to avoid punitive withholding outcomes.  Duration of the exemptions should also be monitored by position holders in the instruments.

PTP Securities with known Qualified Notice

PTP Securities without Qualified Notices

Please note withholding tax applies to all clients who are resident in Ireland, whether individuals (including partnerships) or companies. 

Withholding tax does not apply to clients who are companies in countries that are members of the European Union (excluding Ireland) or companies in countries that have a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with Ireland.  

For other clients in the EU (excluding Ireland) or if you are a non-resident of Ireland but tax resident in a country with a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with Ireland, you may complete Form 8-3-6, that will reduce or eliminate your withholding tax. In addition to providing your information, you will need to have the form completed by the tax authority in the country where you are a tax resident.

You will require the following information in order to complete Form 8-3-6.

 1.       Client name (please ensure this matches the name on your IBKR account).

 2.      Client address.

 3.       Tax reference number in country of residence.

 4.       The country in which the client is resident for tax.

 5.       The rate of withholding tax between the country of tax residence and Ireland (see below).

 6.       Signature.

 7.       Date.

On completion of the form, you should submit it to the local tax authority in the country of your residence.  The local tax authority must sign and stamp the form. As per below, Form 8-3-6 has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch.

Once you receive the completed form from your local tax authority, please email a PDF or JPEG copy of the fully signed form to tax-withholding@interactivebrokers.com.

Please note, the withholding tax rate depends on the DTA between Ireland and your country of tax residence which can be found on the Irish Revenue website https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tax-agreements/rates/index.aspx

For your convenience, we have prepared the forms to include items 3 to 5 above for all countries in the European Economic Area (“EEA”).  Clients will need to complete the other items in 1 to 7 above.

For clients outside the EEA please use this form when the withholding tax rate is 0% and this form in all other cases.

1.         EEA countries with 0% Withholding Tax.

2.       EEA countries with rates above 0% Withholding Tax.

3.              Other countries with a DTA with Ireland (* denotes where there is 0% withholding tax in all situations).

How to overcome the error message "Another user is running Tax Optimizer"?

• If you use Windows
• If you use Mac OS

If you use Windows

f. Once you have cleared your Java cache, log back into the Client Portal and try launching Tax Optimizer again. You should now be able to open the application. If you are still not able to launch the Tax Optimizer and you receive the same error as before (Another user is running Tax Optimizer), please perform the additional steps below:

g. Press the key combination Win(Windows Key) + E  and navigate to the directory: C:\Users\<your windows user>\ibto

 

h. Select all files in the ibto folder, right-click on the selection and choose Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder. The zipped file will be created in the same ibto directory

If you use Mac OS

e. Once you have cleared your Java cache, log back into the Client Portal and try launching Tax Optimizer again. You should now be able to open the application. If you are still not able to launch the Tax Optimizer and you receive the same error as before (Another user is running Tax Optimizer), please perform the additional steps below:

h. Compose a New Ticket in the Message Center, informing us of this issue. Please attach the Zip file you created at the previous step (g.) to your ticket

References:

• Tax Optimizer Users' Guide

The state of Connecticut imposes a sales and use tax which is applicable to online access to information including all data and access fees.

The tax rate as of 2017 is 1% and is applicable to clients with the state of legal residency of Connecticut or a Connecticut permanent/resident address.

The sales and use tax will be applied to all research and market data subscriptions as well as special connections such as VPN, IB Gateway, Extranet and Dedicated Leased Lines.

The sales and use tax will be passed through to client accounts at the time of the subscription billing. The tax is only applicable if a monthly fee is charged, therefore should an account receive a waiver the sales and use tax will similarly be waived.