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Notes -
If they aren't fungible then they aren't the same shares.
They literally are the same thing, pay the same dividends, have same voting rights etc., the US version is just a depository receipt of the European share. The reason they aren't fungible is because of regulations, not because they are different. One just trades in the US and the other in Europe.
(Yes, we treat them as separate but highly related things at work due to the lack of interconversion but fundamentally they are the same thing).
The fact that the applicable regulations are different is what makes them different shares. Would you rather have one MSFT share in your IRA, or one MSFT share in your brokerage account? Both have the same nominal value on E*Trade, but they do not convey the same privileges. When Microsoft pays a dividend, I can use the proceeds from my brokerage MSFT share to buy a pack of gum at the convenience store. I can’t do that with my IRA MSFT share. On the other hand, I can sell my IRA MSFT share for a profit without paying capital gains tax. I also cannot trivially convert a brokerage MSFT share to an IRA MSFT share at no cost.
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