SCHD’s Holdings Incorporated Outside the United States

SCHD does not invest in foreign stock markets. It tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index, which selects only from U.S. companies, so every holding is a company that S&P Dow Jones Indices classifies as part of the U.S. market.

Some of those companies are nevertheless incorporated outside the United States. At the end of May 2026, Schwab’s holdings list included Accenture, incorporated in Ireland, and SLB, the oilfield services company formerly called Schlumberger, incorporated in Curaçao, which together made up around 5% of the fund.

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This guide is part of FRC’s complete guide to SCHD, which starts with what SCHD is and how it works. It covers which SCHD holdings have been incorporated abroad, why they qualify and what that means for investors.

SCHD Is a U.S. Stock Fund

SCHD’s index starts from the Dow Jones U.S. Broad Stock Market Index, which covers the U.S. stock market. Companies listed and based in other countries, such as European or Japanese companies trading on their home exchanges, are not part of that starting list.

That makes SCHD a U.S. equity fund. It holds no shares listed on foreign exchanges, no emerging-market companies and no foreign-currency investments.

Investors who want international dividend stocks need a different fund. Schwab offers one: the Schwab International Dividend Equity ETF, SCHY, which tracks a sister index, the Dow Jones International Dividend 100 Index, and had 103 holdings and an expense ratio of 0.08% at the end of August 2026, according to its SEC filing.

Why Some Holdings Are Incorporated Abroad

A company’s country of incorporation is not the same as its home market. Many large companies that are run from the United States, report in U.S. dollars and trade mainly on U.S. exchanges are legally incorporated in another country, often for tax or historical reasons.

Index providers generally decide a company’s country by looking at several factors, such as where its shares have their primary listing, where it is headquartered and where its assets, employees and revenues are concentrated, rather than incorporation alone. A company incorporated in Ireland or Bermuda can therefore still count as a U.S. company for index purposes, as long as its shares have their main listing on a U.S. exchange and its business is centred on the U.S. market.

Once it is in the eligible universe, such a company faces exactly the same tests as any other: ten consecutive years of dividends, size and trading minimums, the yield screen and the four-factor score. FRC’s guide to how SCHD chooses its stocks explains each of them.

What Every SCHD Investor Needs to Know

Most investors assume every SCHD holding is a U.S. company in every sense. Some are legally based in Ireland, Bermuda, Jersey or Curaçao, and few investors ever look.

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The Foreign-Incorporated Companies SCHD Holds Today

Accenture is the largest. The consulting and technology services company is incorporated in Ireland, rejoined SCHD at the 2026 reconstitution and made up around 2.9% of the fund at the end of May 2026, according to Schwab’s filing.

SLB is the second. Formerly known as Schlumberger, it is incorporated in Curaçao, joined SCHD at the 2025 reconstitution and made up around 2.1% of the fund at the end of May 2026.

Both are large, long-established dividend payers whose shares trade mainly in New York. To most SCHD investors, they behave exactly like U.S. companies.

Foreign-Incorporated Companies SCHD Has Held in the Past

SCHD’s holdings lists show many more examples over the years. Amcor, the packaging company incorporated in Jersey in the Channel Islands, was held from 2020 until it was removed at the 2026 reconstitution, and Janus Henderson, the asset manager also incorporated in Jersey, was held from 2018 until 2026.

LyondellBasell, the chemicals company incorporated in the Netherlands, was held from 2022 until 2026. Garmin, incorporated in Switzerland, was held from 2013 until 2020, and Lazard, the investment bank then incorporated in Bermuda, was held from 2016 until 2024.

Insurers and retailers incorporated in Bermuda have also appeared. PartnerRe was held from 2013 until its takeover in 2016, Everest Re was held in SCHD’s first months in 2012 and Signet Jewelers was held from 2025 until 2026.

Eaton: The Company That Moved While SCHD Owned It

Eaton, the industrial company, shows how a holding’s country of incorporation can change. It joined SCHD at the 2012 reconstitution as an Ohio company.

Later in 2012, Eaton completed its acquisition of Cooper Industries and reorganised as Eaton Corporation plc, incorporated in Ireland. By the time of Schwab’s February 2013 filing, it appeared in SCHD’s holdings under its new Irish name.

Nothing about SCHD’s position changed as a result. Eaton stayed in the fund until the 2021 reconstitution, showing that the index treats a change of incorporation as a corporate event, not a reason for removal.

How Much of SCHD Is Incorporated Abroad

The share has always been small. At the end of May 2026, Accenture and SLB together made up around 5% of SCHD, and the foreign-incorporated holdings have typically made up only a small share of the fund.

The rest of SCHD’s holdings are companies incorporated in the United States. They include its largest holdings at the end of May 2026, such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, UnitedHealth Group, Coca-Cola, Merck and Chevron.

The figure changes every year with the reconstitution. The 2026 review removed Amcor, Janus Henderson, LyondellBasell and Signet Jewelers while adding Accenture, so the list of foreign-incorporated holdings can look quite different from one year to the next. FRC’s guide to SCHD’s 2026 reconstitution covers every change made at that review.

If you’re putting your hard-earned money into SCHD without understanding how it works, you’re taking unnecessary financial risks. How to Invest in SCHD takes you inside the fund, its holdings, dividend strategy, performance and risks.

Why Companies Incorporate Outside the United States

Companies choose where to incorporate for many reasons. Some moved their legal home through a merger with a foreign company, as Eaton did with Cooper Industries, in deals often known as corporate inversions, while others, particularly insurers, have long used jurisdictions such as Bermuda.

In most cases, these companies remain U.S. businesses in practice. Their management, investors and main stock market listing are often in the United States, and they report their results in U.S. dollars.

They also tend to file the same reports with the SEC as U.S.-incorporated companies. Accenture and SLB, for example, file annual reports on Form 10-K, the form used by U.S. domestic companies, rather than the Form 20-F used by most foreign companies.

One real difference is corporate law. Shareholder rights, such as voting procedures and how certain corporate actions are approved, are governed by the law of the country of incorporation, such as Ireland or Jersey, rather than by a U.S. state such as Delaware.

How to Check Where a Holding Is Incorporated

The quickest way to check is the cover page of a company’s annual report on Form 10-K, which states the state or country in which it is incorporated. These reports are free to read on the SEC’s EDGAR website.

A company’s legal name is often a clue too. Names ending in plc, Ltd or N.V., as several of SCHD’s holdings have, usually point to incorporation in a country such as Ireland, Jersey, Bermuda, Switzerland, Curaçao or the Netherlands.

Schwab’s own holdings list shows each company’s legal name, so investors can spot these quickly. FRC’s guide to SCHD’s holdings history shows how the full list has changed since 2011.

Are the Dividends Paid in Dollars?

Yes. The foreign-incorporated companies SCHD holds trade in New York and pay their dividends in U.S. dollars, like the fund’s other holdings.

SCHD then pays its own distributions to shareholders in U.S. dollars, four times a year. Investors outside the United States receive dollars and bear the currency risk when converting them into their own currency.

SCHD Still Has Global Business Exposure

Holding only U.S. companies does not mean SCHD’s income comes only from the United States. Many of its largest holdings sell their products all over the world.

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble sell in most countries, and Qualcomm and Texas Instruments supply chips to manufacturers across Asia and Europe. A significant part of their revenue, and therefore of the dividends they pay SCHD, is earned abroad.

That gives SCHD some indirect exposure to the global economy and to currency movements. When the dollar strengthens, the overseas earnings of these companies are worth less in dollars, which can weigh on their results.

What Foreign Incorporation Means for Taxes

For U.S. investors, SCHD reports its distributions on Form 1099-DIV in the usual way, and the fund reports how much qualifies for the lower tax rate on qualified dividends. Dividends from foreign corporations whose shares are readily tradable on an established U.S. exchange can generally be treated as qualified, subject to the usual holding-period rules.

Some countries can withhold tax on dividends paid by companies incorporated there, depending on the country and the investor. Because foreign-incorporated companies make up only a small part of SCHD, any such effect on the fund’s overall income is limited.

Historically, most of SCHD’s dividends have been reported as qualified. Investors should check Schwab’s annual qualified dividend notice and their own Form 1099-DIV, and FRC’s guide to how SCHD dividends are taxed explains the rules in detail.

SCHD for Investors Outside the United States

The question of foreign stocks often comes from investors outside the United States. For them, the more important point is that SCHD itself is a U.S. fund, a series of Schwab Strategic Trust registered in the United States.

Non-U.S. investors are generally subject to 30% U.S. withholding tax on dividends, which can be reduced under a tax treaty by filing Form W-8BEN with their broker. IRS treaty tables list a 15% rate on portfolio dividends for residents of countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.

Access can also be limited. Many brokers in the UK and the European Union do not offer U.S.-listed ETFs to retail investors because those funds do not usually produce the product documents local rules require, although some brokers offer them to professional clients.

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How SCHD Compares With International Dividend Funds

SCHD’s sister index for international stocks follows the same basic approach. S&P Dow Jones Indices’ Dow Jones International Dividend 100 Index screens non-U.S. companies on similar measures and caps emerging markets at 15%.

S&P Dow Jones Indices’ figures show how different the result can be. At the end of June 2023, the international index had an indicated dividend yield of 5.27%, with the largest country weights in the United Kingdom at 16.9%, Australia at 13.4% and Japan at 12.3%.

Investors who want both U.S. and international dividend stocks therefore need more than SCHD alone. Combining a U.S. fund with an international one, such as SCHD with SCHY, is a common way to spread dividend income across countries.

For investors in the UK and Europe who cannot buy U.S.-listed ETFs, funds domiciled in Ireland or Germany that follow other U.S. dividend indexes are available. None tracks the same index as SCHD, so their holdings and rules differ.

SCHD Is Not as Diversified as Its 100 Holdings Suggest

A separate point often overlooked is overlap. SCHD weights its holdings by size, so its ten largest companies made up around 44% of the fund at the end of May 2026, and investors who already own some of those companies directly can end up more concentrated than they realise.

Procter & Gamble is a good example. It made up around 4.3% of SCHD in early November 2026, according to Schwab’s published list, so an investor who also owns P&G shares directly has a larger stake in that one company than either holding suggests.

The same applies to the foreign-incorporated holdings. Investors who own Accenture shares and SCHD hold more Accenture than they may think. FRC’s guide to how to check ETF overlap explains how to measure it.

Common Mistakes About SCHD and Foreign Stocks

Assuming SCHD holds international companies. It holds only companies classified as part of the U.S. market.

Assuming every SCHD holding is incorporated in the United States. Accenture is incorporated in Ireland and SLB in Curaçao, among others over the years.

Assuming foreign incorporation affects whether a company can be removed. Eaton changed its incorporation to Ireland while in SCHD and stayed for years afterwards.

Assuming SCHD’s income comes only from the U.S. economy. Many of its holdings earn a large share of their revenue overseas.

Assuming foreign incorporation means foreign currency. The foreign-incorporated companies SCHD holds trade in New York and pay their dividends in U.S. dollars.

Common Questions

Does SCHD hold foreign stocks? No. SCHD invests only in companies classified as part of the U.S. stock market, although a few of them are incorporated outside the United States.

Which SCHD holdings are incorporated outside the U.S.? At the end of May 2026, Schwab’s list included Accenture, incorporated in Ireland, and SLB, incorporated in Curaçao.

Why can a company incorporated abroad be in SCHD? Index providers generally classify companies by factors such as headquarters, main listing and where they do business, not incorporation alone.

Does SCHD have international exposure? Indirectly. SCHD holds U.S. companies, but many of them, such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Qualcomm, earn a large share of their revenue abroad.

Does SCHD hold Irish companies? Accenture, incorporated in Ireland, was in SCHD at the end of May 2026, and Eaton, also incorporated in Ireland, was held until 2021.

How can I check where an SCHD holding is incorporated? The cover page of the company’s Form 10-K, available free on the SEC’s EDGAR website, states where it is incorporated.

Is there an international version of SCHD? Schwab’s International Dividend Equity ETF, SCHY, tracks the Dow Jones International Dividend 100 Index, a sister index to SCHD’s.

Are dividends from foreign-incorporated holdings qualified? Dividends from foreign corporations whose shares are readily tradable on an established U.S. exchange can generally be qualified, subject to holding-period rules. Check Schwab’s annual notice and your Form 1099-DIV.

Are dividends from SCHD’s foreign-incorporated holdings paid in dollars? Yes. They trade in New York and pay dividends in U.S. dollars, and SCHD pays its own distributions in dollars too.

How many companies are in SCHD? The index targets 100 companies, and Schwab’s fund page showed 102 holdings in early November 2026.

Is Visa in SCHD? Visa does not appear in any of SCHD’s holdings lists in Schwab’s filings from 2012 to 2026. Its dividend yield has been well below the level SCHD’s index selects from.

What do 1,000 shares of SCHD pay in dividends? Based on the $1.0541 a share paid in the twelve months to September 2026, around $1,054 a year before tax, although each quarterly payment varies.

Can non-U.S. investors buy SCHD? It depends on the country and broker. Non-U.S. investors are generally subject to U.S. withholding tax on dividends, often reduced to 15% under a tax treaty, and many UK and EU brokers do not offer U.S.-listed ETFs to retail investors.

Your Portfolio Deserves an Educated Investor

SCHD is a U.S. stock fund, but not every holding is incorporated in the United States. Accenture and SLB made up around 5% of the fund at the end of May 2026, and companies incorporated in Ireland, Bermuda, Jersey, Switzerland and the Netherlands have all appeared over the years.

Before buying another few shares of SCHD, consider investing in understanding the fund itself. How to Invest in SCHD examines its selection methodology, holdings history, dividend taxation and investment strategies, while FRC’s three progressive ETF programmes take you from how ETFs work to managing risk across everything you own. FRC’s programmes and memberships are open to everyone, whether you are investing $500 or $500,000.

Your money is already working in the market. Now make sure your knowledge is working just as hard, and know exactly where the companies you own are based.