FAQs

Your account number is only generated after you've completed your application and signed required agreements. You can get your account number by logging in to your account and going to the Account Centre, then Statement section. Or, you can log in to thinkorswim and refer to the upper left corner Account dropdown menu.

To request for a wire from your TD Ameritrade Singapore account, scroll to the top of the page and click on log in at the top right hand corner. From there click on Account Centre, then Withdrawal on the left hand panel and expand on Wire Transfers.

You need to talk to the receiving Broker Dealer that you are transferring your account to for their ACAT form. They will then forward your instructions to our Clearing Firm for processing. 

Note: Regretfully full ACAT transfers out of TD Ameritrade Singapore are charged USD$75 and will result in account closure.

Please refer to our Margin Handbook to find out more information.

"Net liquidity" is the current value of an account, consisting of cash in the account and the current fair market value of any open positions.

"Negative buying power" occurs in an account when the requirements of existing positions exceed the available equity in the account. If an account has negative buying power, this indicates a deficiency in equity with regards to fulfilling the account margin obligations. For example, one of the causes of negative buying power could be a margin call.

When an account is negative buying power, the thinkorswim trading platform will not accept any order that would require additional buying power or add risk. If a client encounters negative buying power in their account, you should immediately call our office at +65 6823 2250  or access live chat from the Support/Chat button within the thinkorswim platform.

"Negative net liquidity" occurs when the fair market value of positions currently being held in the account have depreciated to a point where the equity is below zero. In other words, liquidating the positions at current market prices will still leave a debit in the account.

When an account is negative net liquidity, the thinkorswim trading platform will not accept any order that would require additional buying power or add risk. If you encounter negative liquidity in your account, you should immediately call our office at +65 6823 2250  or access live chat from the Support/Chat button within the thinkorswim platform.

"Negative unsecured buying power" is a term used to describe a situation where an account has BOTH negative buying power AND negative net liquidity. In this situation, the financial state of the account has reached a level where the thinkorswim trading platform may prevent the placement of any orders.

If you encounter negative liquidity in your account, you should immediately call our office at +65 6823 2250  or access live chat from the Support/Chat button within the thinkorswim platform.

To update your email address, please log in and under Account Centre click Change email.

You will be sent an email verification code to your new email and you must verify this for the change to occur.

To update your address, please log in. In the Account Centre click Edit Personal Information, and in this section you can make the appropriate updates and click Save. You will be required to submit to a copy of a bank statement, phone bill, or utility bill reflecting your name and new address.

For account services support, call +65 6823 2250 or +65 6021 8070, 24 hours a day, 5 days a week from 9 a.m Monday to 5 a.m. Saturday (SGT.)

Account statements will be provided to you in the Account Centre, in the Statement & Confirmation Centre. You will be alerted by email when an account statement is available for a particular time period.

Customers may access their account statements through the Account Statements tab on the trading application or on our website by logging in to our secure website.

Yes. Customers of TD Ameritrade Singapore may access past account statements for up to 13 months at our secure website. Simply log in and go to Account Centre tab and click Statement & Confirmation Centre on left menu. Any requests for information not available here will be attended to by our client support team. For such requests, please email help@tdameritrade.com.sg.

No. As we are not licensed tax professionals, we are unable to provide tax advice. Please contact your tax advisor for information regarding your personal taxes. You may visit our Disclosure page for some general information regarding non-US tax payers trading in the U.S. markets.

No investment or trading advice is provided, as TD Ameritrade Singapore is not a financial advisor. Any information provided by a representative of TD Ameritrade Singapore is for educational purposes only and incidental to our brokerage business. We will be happy to provide you with information regarding the characteristics of options, equities, and ETFs. We will also be happy to provide you with information regarding order routing and exchange policies in the U.S.

Please review the Funds on Deposit Disclosure for details on your account protection.

All customers in Singapore are entitled to receive contract notes (trade confirmations) which are accessible at our secure website after signing in. You may also choose to receive them via postal mail for USD$20.00 a month.

Yes, TD Ameritrade Singapore charges GST on applicable commissions and fees at the prevailing rate.

These guidelines cannot be considered to be, and are not tax or legal advice, so please consult your tax advisor to determine the U.S. tax consequences of investing in the U.S. TD Ameritrade Singapore Pte. Ltd. (TD Ameritrade Singapore) does not provide tax advice. Investors who are not U.S. tax payers are generally not required to file a U.S. tax return. TD Ameritrade Singapore will withhold the required amount of U.S. taxes, as applicable. (Please also refer to Foreign Investors and U.S. Taxes Disclosure)

Form W-8BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for U.S. Tax Withholding, is a U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) form that is required to be completed by a nonresident alien, who is not subject to U.S. tax reporting or backup withholding.

This form must be completed and signed when you open a non-resident account with TD Ameritrade and must be renewed every three years. A separate form is needed for each account holder on joint accounts and accounts with multiple account holders.

Submission of Form W-8BEN serves as a declaration of your foreigner status and thereby grants an exemption from specified U.S. information return reporting and backup withholding regulations.

Your completed W-8BEN will be valid for the year in which it is signed plus three years.

For example: If you opened an account and signed a W-8BEN form on July 30, 2019, the form will be valid until Dec. 31, 2022.

If any change in your circumstances that causes any information on the form to be no longer correct or valid, you will need to complete a new W-8BEN form with updated information. 

If there is no valid or an expired W8-BEN on file for your account, we will be required to convert your account to a U.S. Taxpayer account, and our clearing firm will be required by the U.S.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to withhold 24% of all interest, dividends, proceeds from options transactions, and sales proceeds until we receive the necessary documentation.

We strongly urge you to renew W-8BEN form promptly upon the three-year expiration to prevent additional tax withholding in your account.   

The FTIN is the tax identification number you use to file taxes in your country of residence. It is similar to a Social Security Number in the United States. Please provide your foreign tax identification number (FTIN) or an explanation of why you don’t have one.

Completing the electronic W-8BEN online is the quickest way to submit your documentation. This process is located by following this path after your login at our website: Account Centre > Forms and Documents > Account Forms > W8 > Click here to submit electronic W8.

Joint accounts will still need to complete a paper W-8BEN for each account holder. If you like to complete a paper W-8BEN form, please download the W-8BEN form.

As a non-U.S. investor, you will be sent a Form 1042-S by mid-March for the preceding tax year if you have reportable activity. Any U.S. withholding that occurred, along with the income it is attributed to, will be reported on Form 1042-S. This form is available online and is also mailed to your current mailing address on record. In addition, the form is sent to the U.S. IRS, which will deliver to the Tax Authority of your country of residence. Typically, no U.S. tax filing is necessary, however you may be required to report certain income earnings to your country. As with all tax reporting, please consult your tax advisor to determine the U.S. tax consequences of investing in the U.S.

Generally, TD Ameritrade will withhold an applicable percentage of dividend and interest income from U.S. securities at the time of payment and reported on Form 1042-S, so no additional tax is due after the year ends. The statutory withholding rate is 30% unless you have claimed an active treaty for your account, in which case it may be lower. Treaty claims are made through the IRS Form W-8BEN. For more information on tax treaties for international investors, please visit the IRS web site for Tax Treaty Tables. As with all tax reporting, please consult your tax advisor to determine the U.S. tax consequences of investing in the U.S.

Gains earned from trading activity are typically not subject to U.S. withholding or taxation, however your country of residence may require reporting of activity done in the U.S. markets. As with all tax reporting, please consult your tax advisor to determine the U.S. tax consequences of investing in the U.S.

Backup withholding is a form of tax withholding that all brokerage firms including TD Ameritrade, are required to make on income from stock sales, along with interest income, dividends, or other kinds of payments that are reported on the various types of Form 1099. If you have not completed and filed Form W-8BEN with the brokerage firm, the current rate of backup withholding is 24% as required by IRS. This rate is determined by the IRS and subject to change.

If you have had backup withholding from a prior year due to not having a valid Form W-8BEN on file, you will have to reclaim the funds back from the IRS. You will need to file a 1040-NR for the applicable tax year to the IRS in order to begin the reclamation process.  If you do not currently have a U.S. tax ID number, you will need to complete a W-7 along with your filing of the 1040-NR.  These forms and their instructions are available on the IRS website (http://www.irs.gov/).  You are able to use the Consolidated Forms 1099 generated as verification of the backup withholding that was done. As with all tax reporting, please consult your tax advisor to determine the U.S. tax consequences of investing in the U.S.

In a response to concerns that non-U.S. investors were able to avoid dividend withholding by using equity swaps, the U.S. Congress enacted a new withholding regime titled Section 871m as of January 1, 2017. This has an impact on investors outside the U.S. with “dividend equivalent payments” in the options market. Dividends paid by a U.S. security, held by a non-U.S. person, have been subject to NRA (Non-Resident Alien) withholding. Section 871m is treating a dividend received on the underlying security of an option as a “deemed dividend” to the option holder, and therefore as U.S. source income subject to withholding if certain qualifications are met. As of now, options are the only product TD Ameritrade Singapore offers that will be affected but this is subject to change. More information regarding dividend equivalent payments is available on the IRS website.

Corporate actions that qualify as a deemed redemption or tender offer under section 368(a) of the Internal Revenue Code are initially subject to withholding by non-U.S. investors. As a withholding agent, the firm is required to withhold a percentage of the value for this distribution; up to 30% of the distribution if a reduced withholding treaty was not claimed or applicable.  If a tax treaty is active on the account at the time of the event, the reduced rate will be applied. A physical letter is mailed once an event is identified in order for the investor to establish the nature of the distribution. If you have determined the event to be a substantially disproportionate redemption or a complete termination of interest within 60 days of the event, the withholding is returned. In addition to the letter announcing the event, you will receive an Election Certificate and instructions to help you make this determination.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have introduced new regulations under Internal Revenue Code, Section 1446(f) regarding publicly traded partnership (PTP) securities held by foreign persons (individuals or entities). The withholding requirements under the new regulations will go into effect on January 1, 2023 and could impact clients in the following ways:

• Beginning on January 1, 2023 we will withhold 10% of gross proceeds from sales of PTP securities and certain distributions by PTPs.

• The transactions and related withholding tax will also be reported on Form 1042-S, Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding.

• This new PTP withholding tax is separate from the existing 37% withholding for individuals and 21% withholding for entity accounts on payments of U.S. source income related to PTP securities.

• For more detail regarding Section 1446(f) regulations, please review the information available online on the IRS website: www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/partnership-withholding.