Beginning January 1, 2017, new IRS regulations imposed U.S. withholding taxes on US dividend equivalent payments to non-US persons holding derivative positions on US equities. Previously, US withholding tax was not imposed on these payments. The regulations require intermediaries, such as us, to act as withholding agents and collect US tax on behalf of the IRS.
The regulation derives from Section 871(m) of the Internal Revenue Code and is intended to harmonize the US tax treatment imposed on non-U.S. persons with respect to dividends on U.S. stock and dividend equivalent payments paid on derivative contracts that replicate (to a high degree) ownership of such stock.
An example of this would be a total return swap having IBM as its underlying. A non-U.S. person holding an IBM stock position would be subject to a 30% US withholding tax (reduced by treaty) on dividend payments. On the other hand prior to the implementation of Section 871(m), a non-U.S. person holding long exposure to IBM on the swap could receive payments equivalent to the dividends without imposition of U.S. withholding tax. This was the case even though the payments replicated similar economic exposure. Section 871(m) now considers those ‘dividend equivalent payments’ subject to US withholding tax.