You can only realize the tax if the stock owners sell the stock (vs. giving them a dividend which triggers the tax on payment). It is more of a tax delay but since many people who bought these stocks have more money than they need, they no longer need to sell and they don't need the dividends much. So a buyback is just injecting that money back into their shares tax-free.
> There's no "trick" involved
Well we can argue on the meaning of trick I guess.
Share buybacks are essentially a way to achieve the same effect as dividends, but in a non-obvious way, which has the benefit of avoiding taxation. That's a "trick" in my book, but I guess terminology doesn't matter that much.
> They'll still pay tax on it when they sell it.
Not but it's not _equivalent_. The tax paid on capital gains is not the same as the withholding tax. And paying tax _after_ compounding is not the same as paying it _before_.
Share buybacks are _effectively_ a trick to circumvent withholding tax for investors not willing to divest.
> which has the benefit of avoiding taxation. That's a "trick" in my book
But why? Minimising tax legally is...legal, and not a trick. That's all tax avoidance is.
> The tax paid on capital gains is not the same as the withholding tax.
That seems totally fine - if the rules are different then that's up to the people who write the rules. It's not a trick to choose to be paid via one method or another.
> But why? Minimising tax legally is...legal, and not a trick. That's all tax avoidance is.
I think we are lost in translation here. I am not a native English speaker, so there may be a subtle implication in "trick" that you see and I don't.
I meant "trick" as in "trick of the trade", a clever/crafty way of achieving something that may not be obvious for less experienced individuals.
Re-phrasing my original comment for clarity: "Share buybacks are just a technique to lower WH tax, why do you see this as anything related to round tripping as related in this article?".
Yes, that's sort of what I thought must be happening. There's no "trick" involved. It's like saying salaries are a "trick" to avoid dividend tax. They'll still pay tax on it when they sell it.