ETFs in Ireland?

T

TSR1000

Registered User
Messages
2
I'm a 23 year old looking to invest some quid to put towards a house in 10/12 years time. Having researched it seems that ETFs would be most suitable for me as I dont want to have to be playing around with something every couple of weeks and would rather put it into something and leave it there long term as it is only losing money if I put it in a savings account. Having done some research deemed disposal seems like an awful pain with revenue not shedding too much light on the tax headache that arises either! Any advice on the tax/process regarding ETFs or any alternative investments would be much appreciated
 
Not financial advice. But you can invest in US based ETFs without the tax headache. To do this, you can use First Trade in the US to open an international trading account and invest in some US domiciled ETFs that way (eg. the ARK ETFs)
 
audioflaps said:
Not financial advice. But you can invest in US based ETFs without the tax headache. To do this, you can use First Trade in the US to open an international trading account and invest in some US domiciled ETFs that way (eg. the ARK ETFs)
Click to expand...
Is this allowed?

I thought Irish investors were not allowed access to these since 2008 or so they stopped allowing Irish investors access to them?
 
Its not illegal. The company in the US shouldn't technically allow Irish citizens to sign up according to EU law, but that's on them, not you. Again, this is not financial advice
 
audioflaps said:
Its not illegal. The company in the US shouldn't technically allow Irish citizens to sign up according to EU law, but that's on them, not you. Again, this is not financial advice
Click to expand...
You would have to worry if they closed your positions on that basis, where would you transfer your shares? You would run into problems there so for that reason the average punter is probably better off in EU accumulating ETFS.
 
audioflaps said:
Not financial advice. But you can invest in US based ETFs without the tax headache. To do this, you can use First Trade in the US to open an international trading account and invest in some US domiciled ETFs that way (eg. the ARK ETFs)
Click to expand...
Have you managed to do this recently?
Etrade won't allow anyone with an EU address to do so...
 
Younginvestor93 said:
You would have to worry if they closed your positions on that basis, where would you transfer your shares?
Click to expand...
Why would they close your positions?

There’s nothing illegal about holding non-EU ETFs.

What’s been illegal since 2018 is offering certain investment products to retail investors without a KID.
 
The
Sarenco said:
Why would they close your positions?

There’s nothing illegal about holding non-EU ETFs.

What’s been illegal since 2018 is offering certain investment products to retail investors without a KID.
Click to expand...
The broker could very easily refuse to stop offering the shares to Irish investors. If they shouldn't technically allow it for Irish investors, if they tightened up and adhered to the rules like they should, where would you transfer them then? No other broker seems to offer them to Irish investors?
 
Sorry but I’ve no idea what you are talking about.

If you hold non-EU ETF shares today there is nothing in the PRIIPs Regulation that would prevent you from selling those shares.
 
So you can invest in US-Etfs with First Trade and there are no risks? If they stop offering it to you because your residence is Ireland, then you just sell up and take your money elsewhere with zero risk. Obviously moving is not an option because no other broker is going to take you.

Seems so strange, as was posted above they technically shouldn't allow you to do it and are breaking the law to let you. Seems very dodgy they let this happen and don't see how they as a company allow it if it is illegal.
 
“They” shouldn’t allow you to do what exactly?

Again, all that is prohibited is offering certain investment products to retail investors without a KID.

If you already hold a non-EU ETF there’s no need for you to sell up. You can continue to hold the shares for as long as you like.
 
If First Trade are in the US, they shouldn't open accounts for people without a US address. If they are in Europe, they shouldn't let investors invest in US domicile ETFs. The legislation is against the provider, not the customer.

Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
audioflaps said:
Opened a First Trade account three weeks ago with no issues
Click to expand...
Where you able to buy us Dom ETFs? I can see ireland is in the list of regions that allow accounts but didn’t want to set up the account if I still only have access to the same ETFs as Deiagro thanks
 
@Younginvestor93 even in the future if a us brokerage stopped people resident in Ireland buy these etfs they cannot force people to sell them, that would go against a fundamental property right, once you own an asset it is yours not the brokerages. Even degiro who are eu domiciled have not forced investors to divest the us domiciled etfs they bought previously, and I think they allow investors to sell them on the platform aswell.
 
This is seriously revolutionary then for Irish investors, they have access to cheap US domiciled ETF's taxed at 33%. It seems too good be true....what's the catch?
 
Younginvestor93 said:
This is seriously revolutionary then for Irish investors, they have access to cheap US domiciled ETF's taxed at 33%. It seems too good be true....what's the catch?
Click to expand...
Currency fluctuations between € and $ is my main one, it’s just another unknown element. Could easily see the difference between 41% and 33% disappear. For me it’s the deemed disposal at 8 years that’s the concern. I’d really rather just pay the tax when I sell them regardless of 41 or 33 %
 
Sarenco said:
US estate tax might be a concern
Click to expand...

In practice, how does this work does anybody know?

If I (a non-resident alien, in the jargon I believe) have investments in the form of directly held US shares, say $100,000 of Apple stock, with an Irish stockbroker, and I die and a spouse is the beneficiary:

- Is the US estate tax levied at 40% on the balance over the $60,000 exemption amount?

- Will the Irish stockbroker withhold this tax on the in-specie transfer of the asset to the account of the spouse (or on the sale of the shares) or is it a self-assessed tax with responsibility for payment by the estate's executor?

- If it is a self-assessed tax, will the broker have alerted the IRS via some channel to expect a forthcoming payment?

This must be an issue for high-earning Irish employees with sizeable holdings of US tech companies?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top