Non US Resident With Brokerage Account in US

I have a relative who is a foreign citizen who wants to open a brokerage account in the US for investment. He would receive in this account multiple forms of income:

- interest income

- Schedule K-1 (from Master Limited Partnerships)

- capital gains (from stock sales held for at least one year)

Under the tax treaty with Peru, what amounts should be automatically withheld in this account by the broker?

Would a non resident need to file a US tax return for such income? What amount of US taxation would each of the three types of income I am identifying above receive?

Reply to
W
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The interest income would either be zero withholding or 30% withholding. There is no income tax treaty with Peru to reduce the withholding. If the partnerships are engaged in a U.S. trade or business, the partnership will be required to withhold taxes at the highest federal rate (35%), and your relative would need to file a U.S. federal tax return to report this partnership income. A state income tax return may also be required. Capital gains would not be subject to U.S. tax as long as your relative does not spend more than

183 days in the U.S. during the year.
Reply to
jmail7

What about dividends?

All dividends would be 30%, and there is no special qualified dividends rate for non citizens.

Why would it be 0% of 30%. From my reading, it should be 0% unless he spent over 183 days here.

Reply to
removeps-groups

I am not sure what you are reading, but you should read Code § 871(a) for the general rule that U.S. source interest income paid to non-U.S. persons is subject to a 30% tax. There are exceptions in Code 871(h) and (i) for bank interest and portfolio interest, among others.

Reply to
jmail7

Yes, bank interest is taxed at 0%. Is all interest bank or portfolio interest? Is there any other type of interest?

If the person in the original post were to open an account at one of the online brokerages, they would likely receive interest on any cash in their account. Would this interest be bank/portfolio interest? For a US citizen, the interest on the brokerage account is reported on the person's 1099-INT, so I'm guessing it is bank interest, and therefore subject to 0% tax. The other kind of interest I've seen is muni bond interest (you can invest the cash in your brokerage is a muni fund which saves US citizens from paying federal and state tax, maybe a good idea for people in high tax brackets). However, is this interest tax-free to the foreign account holder as well? I would imagine so.

Reply to
removeps-groups

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