Post by anitya on Apr 23, 2021 23:54:43 GMT
I bought ADRs of Roche, a Swiss company, that paid dividends into my Vanguard brokerage account. If you have experience buying foreign company ADRs, you may be interested in the following and also please share your experience with me.
Vanguard had two entries in the transaction history: a credit for gross dividend amount and a debit for the tax withheld. They withheld at 35% tax rate; while the US-SWISS income tax treaty only requires a 15% withholding tax. To my enquiry about a week ago re the discrepancy, first Vanguard said the amount of withholding is correct and that I am calculating it wrong. When I escalated it to Vanguard tax department and told them I have dealt with income tax treaty matters for nearly 30 years, they asked me to send them a written dispute including my sources of information. I did that, including sending them a copy of the US-Swiss income tax treaty and citation. Today, after a week, I received the following douchebag reply from Vanguard:
"Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
These taxes were withheld at the source by Roche Holding Limited Sponsored
ADR (RHHBY). Please contact them for additional information.
Sincerely,
Srinidhi Nambirajan
Tax Resolution"
The following is my reply to Vanguard:
"It is very unprofessional of Vanguard to ask me to send a message explaining why I think the withholding rate applied was wrong and then when I did the same with the treaty information to turn around and ask me to contact Roche ADR. Your tax department could have given the same advice when the Vanguard representative contacted them with my dispute. Why did they first claim that the tax applied was correct and then waste my time asking me to send a written message to Vanguard with my dispute?
This is not the Vanguard I am used to and am very disappointed.
Please confirm that you had informed the remitter of the dividend that I am a US tax resident.
Please let me know the telephone number of who remitted the dividend and the withholding amount information to Vanguard so I may contact them."
Vanguard had two entries in the transaction history: a credit for gross dividend amount and a debit for the tax withheld. They withheld at 35% tax rate; while the US-SWISS income tax treaty only requires a 15% withholding tax. To my enquiry about a week ago re the discrepancy, first Vanguard said the amount of withholding is correct and that I am calculating it wrong. When I escalated it to Vanguard tax department and told them I have dealt with income tax treaty matters for nearly 30 years, they asked me to send them a written dispute including my sources of information. I did that, including sending them a copy of the US-Swiss income tax treaty and citation. Today, after a week, I received the following douchebag reply from Vanguard:
"Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
These taxes were withheld at the source by Roche Holding Limited Sponsored
ADR (RHHBY). Please contact them for additional information.
Sincerely,
Srinidhi Nambirajan
Tax Resolution"
The following is my reply to Vanguard:
"It is very unprofessional of Vanguard to ask me to send a message explaining why I think the withholding rate applied was wrong and then when I did the same with the treaty information to turn around and ask me to contact Roche ADR. Your tax department could have given the same advice when the Vanguard representative contacted them with my dispute. Why did they first claim that the tax applied was correct and then waste my time asking me to send a written message to Vanguard with my dispute?
This is not the Vanguard I am used to and am very disappointed.
Please confirm that you had informed the remitter of the dividend that I am a US tax resident.
Please let me know the telephone number of who remitted the dividend and the withholding amount information to Vanguard so I may contact them."