Dividend stripping is the practice of buying shares a short period before a dividend is declared, called cum-dividend, and then selling them when they go ex-dividend, when the previous owner is entitled to the dividend. On the day the company trades ex-dividend, theoretically the share price drops by the amount of the dividend.
This may be done either by an ordinary investor as an investment strategy, or by a company's owners or associates as a tax avoidance strategy.
For an investor, dividend stripping provides dividend income, and a capital loss when the shares fall in value (in normal circumstances) on going ex-dividend. This may be profitable if income is greater than the loss, or if the tax treatment of the two gives an advantage.
Different tax circumstances of different investors is a factor. A tax advantage available to everyone would be expected to show up in the ex-dividend price fall. But an advantage available only to a limited set of investors might not.
In any case, the amount of profit on such a transaction is usually small, meaning that it may not be worthwhile after brokerage fees, the risk of holding shares overnight, the market spread, or possible slippage if the market lacks liquidity.
Dividend stripping or cum-ex trading can be used as a tax avoidance strategy, [1] enabling a company to distribute profits to its owners as a capital sum, instead of a dividend, which offers tax benefits if the effective tax rate on capital gains is lower than for dividends. For example, consider a company called ProfCo wishing to distribute D, with the help of a stripper company called StripperCo.
The net effect for the owners is a capital gain of +D and a dividend distribution of -D. The net effect for StripperCo is nothing; the dividend it receives is income, and its loss on the share trading is a deduction. StripperCo might need to be in the business of share trading to get such a deduction (i.e. treating shares as merchandise instead of capital assets).
Many variations are possible:
The tax treatment for each party in an exercise like this will vary from country to country. The operation may well be caught at some point by tax laws, and/or provide no benefit.
In Australia, ordinary external investors are free to buy shares cum-dividend and sell them ex-dividend, and treat the dividend income and capital loss the same as for any other investment. But schemes involving a deliberate arrangement by a company's owners to avoid tax are addressed by anti-avoidance provisions of Part IVA the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936.
Dividend stripping by investors has the general advantages or disadvantages described above, but in addition in Australia there are franking credits attached to dividends under the dividend imputation system. Those credits can only be used by eligible investors (see the dividend imputation article), so there's a tension between different investors for the amount shares should fall when going ex-dividend. A rationally priced drop for one group is a bonus or trading opportunity for the other.
But the difference is not large. In a franked dividend, each $0.70 cash has $0.30 of franking attached (at the 30% company tax rate for 2005). To eligible investors it's worth $1.00, to others it's worth only $0.70 (of before-tax income in both cases). A typical half-yearly dividend (in 2005) of 2% of the share price would mean an extra 0.85% in franking credits, an amount which might easily be swamped by brokerage and the general risks noted above.
The kind of dividend stripping tax avoidance schemes described above presently fall under anti-avoidance provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act part IVA amendments introduced in 1981.
Part IVA is a set of general anti-avoidance measures addressing schemes with a dominant purpose of creating a tax benefit. Section 177E specifically covers dividend stripping. That section exists to avoid any difficulty that might arise from identifying exactly where a tax benefit arises in dividend stripping. Dividend stripping will generally result in money to owners being taxed as dividends, irrespective of interposed steps.
Section 177E also applies to related schemes which draw off profits from a company, benefitting its owners, not just to the formal payment of a dividend. For example,
Losses in the company for such related schemes may be recognised immediately in its accounts, or only booked progressively over future years, the latter being various "forward stripping" schemes. Both are caught by section 177E.
In the United States, dividends may qualify for a lower rate. However, among other things, the stock must be owned for more than 60 days out of a 121-day period around the ex-dividend date.
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex-dividend date, though more often than not it may open higher. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-invested in the business. The current year profit as well as the retained earnings of previous years are available for distribution; a corporation is usually prohibited from paying a dividend out of its capital. Distribution to shareholders may be in cash or, if the corporation has a dividend reinvestment plan, the amount can be paid by the issue of further shares or by share repurchase. In some cases, the distribution may be of assets.
A dividend tax is a tax imposed by a jurisdiction on dividends paid by a corporation to its shareholders (stockholders). The primary tax liability is that of the shareholder, though a tax obligation may also be imposed on the corporation in the form of a withholding tax. In some cases the withholding tax may be the extent of the tax liability in relation to the dividend. A dividend tax is in addition to any tax imposed directly on the corporation on its profits. Some jurisdictions do not tax dividends.
Capital gain is an economic concept defined as the profit earned on the sale of an asset which has increased in value over the holding period. An asset may include tangible property, a car, a business, or intangible property such as shares.
A real estate investment trust is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hospitals, shopping centers, hotels and commercial forests. Some REITs engage in financing real estate. REITs act as a bridge between the worlds of housing and urban development on one hand, and institutional investors and financial markets on the other. They are typically categorized into commercial REITs (C-REITs) and residential REITs (R-REITs), with the latter focusing on housing assets such as apartments and single-family homes.
Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdictions that facilitate reduced taxes. Tax avoidance should not be confused with tax evasion, which is illegal. Both tax evasion and tax avoidance can be viewed as forms of tax noncompliance, as they describe a range of activities that intend to subvert a state's tax system.
A capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax on profits realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals, real estate, and property.
A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax, is a type of direct tax levied on the income or capital of corporations and other similar legal entities. The tax is usually imposed at the national level, but it may also be imposed at state or local levels in some countries. Corporate taxes may be referred to as income tax or capital tax, depending on the nature of the tax.
Double taxation is the levying of tax by two or more jurisdictions on the same income, asset, or financial transaction.
Dividend imputation is a corporate tax system in which some or all of the tax paid by a company may be attributed, or imputed, to the shareholders by way of a tax credit to reduce the income tax payable on a distribution. In comparison to the classical system, it reduces or eliminates the tax disadvantages of distributing dividends to shareholders by only requiring them to pay the difference between the corporate rate and their marginal tax rate. The imputation system effectively taxes distributed company profit at the shareholders' average tax rates.
Passive income is a type of unearned income that is acquired with little to no labor to earn or maintain. It is often combined with another source of income, such as regular employment or a side job. Passive income, as an acquired income, is taxable.
The Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia. It is one of the main statutes under which income tax is calculated. The Act is gradually being rewritten into the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, and new matters are generally now added to the 1997 Act.
Capital gains tax (CGT), in the context of the Australian taxation system, is a tax applied to the capital gain made on the disposal of any asset, with a number of specific exemptions, the most significant one being the family home. Rollover provisions apply to some disposals, one of the most significant of which are transfers to beneficiaries on death, so that the CGT is not a quasi estate tax.
Bottom of the harbour tax avoidance was a form of tax avoidance used in Australia in the 1970s. Legislation made it a criminal offence in 1980. The practice came to symbolise the worst of variously contrived tax strategies from those times.
Tax consolidation, or combined reporting, is a regime adopted in the tax or revenue legislation of a number of countries which treats a group of wholly owned or majority-owned companies and other entities as a single entity for tax purposes. This generally means that the head entity of the group is responsible for all or most of the group's tax obligations. Consolidation is usually an all-or-nothing event: once the decision to consolidate has been made, companies are irrevocably bound. Only by having less than a 100% interest in a subsidiary can that subsidiary be left out of the consolidation.
Mullens v Federal Commissioner of Taxation, was a 1976 High Court of Australia tax case concerning arrangements where stockbrokers Mullens & Co accessed tax deductions for monies subscribed to a petroleum exploration company. The Australian Taxation Office held the scheme was tax avoidance, but the court found for the taxpayer.
Superannuation in Australia is taxed by the Australian taxation system at three points: on contributions received by a superannuation fund, on investment income earned by the fund, and on benefits paid by the fund.
Slutzkin v Federal Commissioner of Taxation, was a High Court of Australia case concerning the tax position of company owners who sold to a dividend stripping operation. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) claimed the proceeds should be treated as dividends, but the Court held they were a capital sum like an ordinary investment asset sale.
Federal Commissioner of Taxation v Peabody was a 1994 High Court of Australia tax case concerning certain transactions made by the Peabody family business. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) sought to apply the Part IVA general anti-avoidance provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936.
In the United States, individuals and corporations pay a tax on the net total of all their capital gains. The tax rate depends on both the investor's tax bracket and the amount of time the investment was held. Short-term capital gains are taxed at the investor's ordinary income tax rate and are defined as investments held for a year or less before being sold. Long-term capital gains, on dispositions of assets held for more than one year, are taxed at a lower rate.
The Australian dividend imputation system is a corporate tax system in which some or all of the tax paid by a company may be attributed, or imputed, to the shareholders by way of a tax credit to reduce the income tax payable on a distribution. In comparison to the classical system, dividend imputation reduces or eliminates the tax disadvantages of distributing dividends to shareholders by only requiring them to pay the difference between the corporate rate and their marginal rate. If the individual’s average tax rate is lower than the corporate rate, the individual receives a tax refund.