Interactive Brokers’ process of paying dividends is fairly straightforward. However, if you have any dividend pay challenges or queries, you may have to deal with their not-so-user-friendly interface and not-so-great client service. 

For those new to trading, dividends refer to a portion of a company's earnings that's shared with its shareholders. Employing Interactive Brokers: here's an outline on how dividends are managed:

In certain situations, your collected dividend might be reduced or even cancelled. In this article, I'll illustrate some other factors that can slightly modify the procedure and amounts of dividend payouts, and I’ll offer guidance on monitoring these transactions. For instance, significant changes in a company’s profitability might impact dividends.

Factors that may affect your dividend payout 

1. On occasion, a company may choose to grant a special dividend, which is more than 25% of the stock's price. In this instance, amendments are made to the usual dividend timetable. Interestingly, the ex-dividend date, typically set prior, will be rearranged to occur after the record and the payment date.

2. Tax obligations may vary depending on which stock you invested in. 

For US citizens investing in overseas stocks, it's key to remember you may be subject to the tax statutes of the particular nation where the stock is situated.

For non-US people, dividend pay and dividend equivalent payments on US equities are subject to taxes. Interactive Brokers, therefore, acts as an agent for the IRS and withholds this tax. Dividend pay on some derivatives is also subject to this taxation as well, depending on various conditions listed on the Interactive Broker website.

For a better understanding, let's visualize: these tax contributions will be depicted plainly on your statement, subsequently reducing the size of your dividend payment.

3. Margin Account

When transacting a margin account, your dividends may be paid out as cash in lieu. If your shares are on loan at the time when the dividend is paid, Interactive Brokers will receive the dividend because they temporarily own the shares. In this case, the dividends will then be paid out to you in cash instead.

Where your account is set for reinvestment, and your margin account is in deficit, your dividend will not be reinvested.

How do I check my dividend statement on Interactive Brokers

Firstly, navigate to the Interactive Brokers website. Look for the 'Log-in' menu, further, proceed to 'account management'. In the 'account management' page, you can review your activity statement. For clarity, let's break it down step by step for you:

You can also view your statement from the tax forms by selecting Activity/Reports, Tax, followed by Tax forms.

Where dividends have been accrued but not yet paid out, you can check your statement by selecting Legacy full from the statement options. Here you’ll see the balance in the “Open Dividend Accruals” section.

Can You Reinvest Your Dividend?

For clientele from the US, Canada, and UK, the reinvestment of dividends is a viable possibility. You can activate this feature via your settings by enabling automatic Dividend Reinvestment. However, you should be aware, you can't select the specific stocks for reinvestment - once this option is chosen, reinvestment applies across the board to all your dividends. Here, we explore if reinvesting dividends is beneficial for you.

Verdict: interactive brokers where do dividends go

Dividends paid at Interactive Broker are complicated by the diversity of its products and the tax obligations that come with investing in different countries. To avoid any surprises, always do your research on the various aspects of the stock you have invested in.

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