I'm just starting to do some research and wanted to see what I need to know regarding withholding, filing taxes, and any other implications of investing in foreign stocks. My primary account is with Tradeking, are there any benefits to investing in foreign stocks from other platforms?

I invest primarily for dividend growth. I currently have a base of healthy and consistent dividend payers that are all US companies, and it's time to diversify. I was reading about currency risk last night and opportunities in countries like Britain as the exchange rate can increase returns as Brexit concerns ease up and level out their economy. I've never thought about that, just trying to get any further insight.

Thanks in advance

I invested in ADRs of a couple pharmaceuticals and the dividends just show up on my Scottrade 1099-DIV. If I recall it is in a different box on the 1099-DIV

For diversification purposes they're great. You're right on with the currency risk, a lot of times foreign investments have an inverse relationship with the US dollar but that isn't always the case.

Nestle and Shell Oil are 2 great international companies I like right now, but as your post mentioned, foreign withholding on dividends and gains may apply.

The amount that you put into the int'l sector all depends on your risk tolerance and time horizon/goals