Tax implications for non-us citizen/resident trading through US-Based LLC

Discussion in 'Taxes and Accounting' started by QuantTraderX, May 1, 2014.

  1. Hello all,

    I am a Belgian resident/citizen. I was planning to open an IB account through a US located Delaware LLC for which I will become the only owner. My main intention for doing this is to cut commissions/transaction costs since they seem to be a lot cheaper for us citizens/entities.

    I was wondering what the tax implications are. From what I read, an LLC makes use of "pass-through taxation", implying that the income-tax will be payed by the owner of the LLC in his home country (Belgium and the US have a tax treaty in effect).

    However, Afterwards, I read some confusing stuff about the fact that when the income is derived in the US there will be US income taxes on this income? With the setup that I have in mind, will the income actually be "derived" in the US or not? Can someone shed some light on the details?

    thank you.
     
  2. You are correct - no US corporate or income tax applicable for you.
     
  3. Nonresident aliens don't owe capital gains taxes unless they are in the US over 183 days. See http://greencompany.com/EducationCenter/Trader-Tax-Center/Non-Resident-Alien.shtml

    Nonresidents are subject to tax withholding on dividends.

    If you have a US entity it complicates things. The entity has a US tax ID number and the broker will treat it as a US taxpayer without doing dividend tax withholding.

    While entities in the US generally have effectively connected income that is taxed, a trading company organized with a pass-through structure still passes through non-ECI income.

    You need a good accountant to help you with the entity tax returns.