XTB Clients' shares are registered in an omnibus account maintained by the Depositary. In the case of dividend payments, the withholding tax is paid by the bank designated for a given market by the XTB Depositary.
🚩 The tax payer does not have knowledge of the identity of XTB's clients (beneficial owners), and therefore their tax residence . For jurisdictions where appropriate double tax treaties could apply, the tax payer, unable to identify the tax residence of the share owner, cannot apply the provisions of these double tax treaties.
In such a case, the payer is obliged to apply the highest withholding tax rate provided for by local regulations (e.g. 30% for shares listed in the US, 35% for shares listed in the Czech Republic, 35% for shares listed in Portugal).
What does an omnibus account mean?
An omnibus account is a method of storing shares in which all client securities are placed in a single joint account with a custodian, and the broker is listed on the omnibus account as the formal holder . In practice, this doesn't change anything for the investor, as the broker keeps accurate records and knows how many shares each person owns. For the user, everything works normally – they still own their securities, receive dividends, can vote at general meetings, and freely transfer shares between brokers.