The ins and outs … of U.S. dividend withholding taxes

Article Excerpt

We’ve long advised holding 20% or more of your portfolio in U.S. stocks. We see exposure to U.S. stocks, and the U.S. dollar, as a valuable form of diversification. It also gives you a hedge against a drop in the Canadian dollar, especially if you hold your stocks in a U.S.-dollar brokerage account. Canadian shareholders pay a 15% withholding tax on dividends from U.S. stocks. In most cases, however, if you hold the stocks outside your RRSP, you can get a Canadian income-tax credit to offset that tax. If you hold the stocks in an RRSP, the withholding tax is not withheld, period. In constrast, if you hold those U.S. stocks in a TFSA, the tax is withheld and cannot be recouped. In general, investors looking to hang onto highyielding U.S. stocks should consider holding them in an RRSP account or a cash account instead of a TFSA. In contrast, U.S. stocks that pay very low dividends or no dividends at all can be…