international (incl. US) dividend stocks in reg/non reg?

[joncnca]

i keep basically everything in a combination of RRSP and TFSA, neither are maxed.

but it occurs to me that perhaps i should hold some international (even canadian) dividend payers in a non-registered account. aside from actually being able to use the money (i know you can withdraw from TFSA) if necessary, how would taxes affect how much after-tax money i actually get?

in a non reg account, i'd pay tax on dividends at the dividend rate, plus withholding tax, right? is this better than having it in an RRSP (unless retirement income is low)?

or should i try to put everything i'd put into a non-reg account into the TFSA until it's maxed, then look into non reg. how is witholding tax calculated, where can i get official info about it?

thanks!

[Cal]

Personally I hold US equities in the RRSP account.

http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/ch...thholding-tax/

[CanadianCapitalist]

If you have TFSA/RRSP room, IMO, you should be filling it up first. Holding investments in a non-registered account is like trying to fill up a leaky bucket. It prevents your money from truly compounding.

One knock against registered accounts used to be that you can't readily tap into it. Now that we have TFSAs that's not really a problem because you can withdraw from a TFSA at any time.

PS: Thanks Cal for referring to my blog post...

[FrugalTrader]

Personally I hold US equities in the RRSP account.

http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/ch...thholding-tax/

I do the same.

[CJOttawa]

Does the tax treaty on US holdings within an RRSP now extend to TFSAs?

http://www.moneysense.ca/2012/01/17/...s-differently/

[CanadianCapitalist]

Does the tax treaty on US holdings within an RRSP now extend to TFSAs?

Not to my knowledge.