Seeking Alpha

Paulo Santos'  Instablog

Paulo Santos
3,247 Followers
51 Following
Send Message
Paulo Santos is a Portuguese independent trader, analyst and algorithmic trading expert, having worked for both sell side (brokerage) and buy side (fund management) institutions. Paulo has been trading professionally for about 16 years and also launched www.thinkfn.com in 2004. Thinkfn (Think... More
My company:
Arquiconsult
My blog:
Think Finance
  • Socialists At The Gates 3 comments
    Aug 2, 2012 2:48 PM | about stocks: FTE, IBKR

    If you're trading French stocks directly (through Euronext Paris or another ECN that does the French market and settles in France), be aware that from today (August 1) the fabled transaction tax is in effect. This tax is 0.20% of the notional value purchased.

    Here's Interactive Brokers' (IBKR) announcement:

    Interactive Brokers would like to inform clients of the French Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) enacted in March 2012 and which comes into force 1 August 2012. Key information regarding the tax is provided below:

    Tax Rate: The rate is currently set at 0.20%

    Tax Base: The tax is assessed on the purchase of certain French equities. The French Ministry of Finance has released a list of 109 French companies whose securities are subject to the FTT. The tax is due on the net position delivered on settlement date, as such purchases and sales which settle at a common depository will be eligible to be netted for determination of the tax.

    Effective Date: The FTT is applicable to trades of August 1, 2012.

    I said "Socialists" in the title, but the measure already comes from right-wing Sarkozy's government. Still, it's a socialist measure anyway.

    Anyway, what matters is that any direct trading on French equities should take this new tax into account. It is possible to avoid the tax by dealing in CFDs or ADRs of French stocks traded in foreign markets, such as France Telecom (FTE) in the U.S.

    Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

    Themes: market-outlook Stocks: FTE, IBKR
Back To Paulo Santos' Instablog HomePage »

Instablogs are blogs which are instantly set up and networked within the Seeking Alpha community. Instablog posts are not selected, edited or screened by Seeking Alpha editors, in contrast to contributors' articles.

This post has 3 comments:

Track new comments on this article
  •  
    This is good information, I think this should be disseminated a little more.
    2 Aug 2012, 03:24 PM Reply Like
  •  
    "Pigs at the Trough" would have been a better title.
    2 Aug 2012, 04:56 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Hmmmm, didn't think they would actually get the transaction tax done, but seems they did.
    2 Aug 2012, 06:48 PM Reply Like
Full index of posts »
Latest Followers

StockTalks

  • Check out the low on Anadarko (APC)! $0.01 http://yhoo.it/13tPTSw
    about 19 hours ago
  • Something bugs me in this artificial bubble: how can AAPL go down while it happens?
    about 20 hours ago
  • MSFT is going Zimbabwe.
    about 20 hours ago
More »

Latest Comments


Most Commented
Posts by Themes
bonds, cigarettes, closed-end-funds, commodities, Commodities, Consumer goods, Demographics, demographics, dividend-ideas, dividend-quick-picks-lists, earnings, economy, Economy, etf-analysis, etf-long-short-ideas, Forex, forex, gold-and-precious-metals, Inflation, insider-ownership, ipo-analysis, Long and Short, Long and short ideas, Long ideas, long ideas, long short ideas, long-ideas, Macro View, market outlook, Market outlook, Market Outlook, Market Timing, market-outlook, non-GAAP, portfolio-strategy-asset-allocation, quick-picks-lists, retail, Semiconductors, Services, short idea, short ideas, Short ideas, Short Ideas, short-ideas, Tax Selling, Technology, technology, tobacco, United States , Valuation,
Instablogs are Seeking Alpha's free blogging platform customized for finance, with instant set up and exposure to millions of readers interested in the financial markets. Publish your own instablog in minutes.