Neither a Dealer Nor a Lender Nor a Promoter Be*

This article explores the scope of the effective exemption from U.S. net income taxation generally applicable to foreign investment funds and other foreign investors that invest or trade in stock and securities from the United States. In particular, the article considers various scenarios where a foreign person who effects transactions in stock and securities from the United States might be treated as engaged in a U.S. trade or business, even though such person is not a dealer.

*For title inspiration, see Sheppard, “Neither a Dealer Nor a Lender Be: Collateralized Debt Obligations Raise New
Questions,” 22 Tax Notes Int'l 2685 (May 2001). See also Hamlet Act 1, scene 3, 75–77 (“Neither a borrower nor a
lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry”).