Why You Can’t Buy VOO or Other US ETFs in Europe (and What to Buy Instead)

The rule behind the block

Since 1 January 2018, the European Union’s PRIIPs regulation has required anyone selling packaged investment products to retail investors to provide a key information document, or KID: a short, standardised summary of costs, risks and performance scenarios in a format set by EU law. American ETF providers such as Vanguard, iShares US and State Street do not produce KIDs for their US-listed funds, because US rules do not require them and the European market is a small part of their business. Without a KID, an EU broker cannot let a retail client buy the fund. That is why searching for VOO, SPY or QQQ in a European app either finds nothing or shows the fund as unavailable. Investors who bought US ETFs before the rule, or before moving to Europe, can normally keep and sell them; the restriction is on new purchases.

What about the UK?

The UK copied the PRIIPs rules into its own law after Brexit and has now replaced them with a new regime for consumer composite investments, which began on 6 April 2026, with a transition period until 8 June 2027. Under it, firms must provide a UK product summary instead of the EU-style KID. In principle that could open the door to US ETFs, but only if someone produces the new summary, and as of September 2026 US-listed funds such as VOO were still not available to most UK retail investors. UK investors also face a tax point: most US ETFs lack UK reporting fund status, so gains on them outside an ISA or pension are taxed as income rather than as capital gains.

The legal ways round it, and why most people should not bother

• Professional client status: under MiFID II, you can ask to be treated as a professional client if you meet two of three tests: a portfolio of cash and financial instruments above €500,000, an average of ten significant trades a quarter over the previous four quarters, and at least a year of work in the financial sector in a role requiring knowledge of such investments. You give up some retail protections in exchange.
• Options: some brokers let retail clients trade US-listed options, and exercising a call or being assigned on a put leaves you holding the underlying US ETF. It works, but it is a complex, leveraged route to something a simple fund already provides.
• CFDs: some brokers offer CFDs on US ETFs. These are leveraged contracts on the price, not ownership, and most retail CFD accounts lose money.
• Existing holdings: if you already own US ETFs, you can usually keep them and sell them, and in some cases reinvest dividends, but not add new money.

What to buy instead

Every major US index has European-domiciled equivalents, almost always based in Ireland and authorised under the EU’s UCITS rules, which come with a KID and are sold freely to retail investors across Europe. For the S&P 500, the largest are:

• iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF: 0.07% a year, physical replication, accumulating; traded as CSPX in dollars in London and SXR8 in euros on Xetra.
• Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF: 0.07% a year, physical; distributing as VUSA, accumulating as VUAA, in euros and pounds on several exchanges.
• Invesco S&P 500 UCITS ETF: 0.05% a year, synthetic replication through swaps, accumulating.
• For the whole world rather than just the US: funds such as the Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF, whose accumulating version trades as VWCE in euros, or the iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF.

The cost difference is small. VOO charges 0.03% a year, so a UCITS version at 0.07% costs an extra €40 a year on €100,000. Tracking results are close too: the funds hold the same shares, and the differences come mostly from fees and how dividends are taxed inside the fund.

For a European investor, the Irish version of the fund is usually not the second-best option. It is the one designed for you.

The tax side: why UCITS often wins

Dividends from US companies are taxed at source. An Irish-domiciled fund pays 15% US withholding tax on them under the US–Ireland tax treaty, inside the fund, and nothing further is withheld when the fund pays out or reinvests. A European investor holding a US-listed ETF directly, with a W-8BEN form filed, usually pays 15% on its dividends too under their own country’s treaty, or 30% without one, but may be able to credit it against tax at home. The bigger difference is estate tax: the United States can levy estate tax on US assets owned by non-residents above $60,000 when they die, unless a treaty provides otherwise, and US-listed ETFs count as US assets while Irish funds do not. Accumulating UCITS share classes also reinvest dividends automatically, which in many European countries defers tax until you sell. Tax rules differ by country, so check how your own country treats accumulating funds before choosing.

The bottom line

If you live in Europe, you are not missing out by being unable to buy VOO. The Irish-domiciled S&P 500 and world ETFs offer the same exposure for a few hundredths of a percent more a year, with a standard key information document, no US estate tax exposure and, in many countries, a simpler tax position. The rule protects a format more than an investor, but the alternative it pushes you towards is a good one. This article is general education, not personal tax or investment advice.

This article is educational and general in nature. It isn’t personalized investment, tax, or legal advice — always weigh your own circumstances, or talk to a licensed professional, before making financial decisions.

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