Setting up IB account for a trust

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Has anyone successfully waded through the mire of applying for an IB account to trade within a discretionary trust?

I’ve got to the point where its asking me to fill out form W-8BEN-E from the US Dept of IRS, and in particular what my FATCA status is.

I don’t know what the facta they’re talking about. :S Anyone fluent in IRS-speak?

It pretty much forces me to describe it as a Complex Trust, but I have no idea on the next section.

Alternatively, is there an online broker others have successfully (and easily) set up an account with to trade through as a discretionary trust?

Any insights welcome
Regards
Drew

[Stephen James]

Drew

I had a google when I did it and found our big banks have guides that helped me.

e.g. Macquarie

[MichaelRodwell]

Hi Drew,

I have successfully got through the process.

Where abouts are you based? Different rules for different countries but being Aussie provides a fair few barriers. The good news is once its set up you don’t need to go through to many changes in the future (hopefully).

As much as it will be painful, using the help line from IB can have results. Just expect to make a lot of calls. In my experience not all the staff know whats going on either.

Most of what you see in your screenshot is US Govt Gobble-de-gook/ anti fraud/ anti corruption stuff which they should be able to guide you through.

Good luck!

[Nick Radge]

It should be a simple trust for a start. I have some instructions from IB that I’ll forward to you.

[Anonymous]

For the FATCA part, I have set up company account (with discretionary trust as the shareholder of the company) three times now with IB, TradeStation and Charles Schwab and on all three the option “Passive NFFE” was used.

[Anonymous]

Craig, Nick, Michael and Matthew – thank you all for your replies, and Nick thanks for going the extra mile and making enquiries on my behalf. I used Craig’s link (and a similarly useful document from HSBC) for initial research. Took Michael’s advice to call the rep Nick put me in touch with, which all confirmed Matthew’s suggestion!
When you have an Australian discretionary (family) trust with an individual trustee(s), your Chapter 3 status is ‘Complex Trust’, and your Chapter 4 (FATCA) status is ‘Passive NFFE’.
Thanks all – really appreciate the advice.
Regards
Drew

[Author]

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