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DSENX December dividends question

On 12/29 DSENX paid December dividends that will be posted on investors' accounts in 3-5 business days. December brokerage statement does not show these dividends. Do these dividends belong to 2017 or 2018 for accounting purposes and will 2017 year-end summary include them?

Comments

  • If by "accounting" you mean tax purposes, the dividends belong to 2017 and will appear on your 2017 1099-DIV forms.

    Year end summaries usually include dividends with pay dates before the end of the year. (I checked one of my 2016 YE statements to confirm that my brokerage does this.)
  • The payable date for DSENX is 12/29 so it doesn't matter when a broker gets around to posting it or anything else, its taxable in 2017 and it should/will be included on the 2017 1099. If a broker does things correctly it should be included on your year-end statement and any year-end summary they do but not all brokers, including one of mine, are able to make that happen.
  • Thank you, guys.
  • Even if the dividend were payable in January, so long as it was payable to shareholders of record in Oct, Nov, or Dec, it would be taxable in 2017. See Pub 550.
    https://taxmap.irs.gov/taxmap/pubs/p550-006.htm#en_us_publink100010073
  • @msf, WOW!! Never knew that. I guess it doesn't matter a whole lot because we report what's on our 1099 and while I do try to check accuracy you'd hope brokers and fund companies know what they need to include far better than I do. Thanks for the insight and education!!
  • Waited until today to sell PRFSX thinking any (slight) cap gains would be taxable in 2018. Should work. Right?
  • Yes. Whenever you generate gains (as opposed to the fund distributing cap gains divs), the tax year is going to be determined by your trade dates.

    (Well, unless you're getting mixed up in wash sales, in which case your purchase date may need adjusting. I mention this only because the blanket statement above can have corner cases, though not for the sale date AFAIK.)
  • edited January 2018
    @msf - Appreciate that. A minor matter - as it’s unlikely much was generated in the way of gains. But thank you.

    FWIW: Price is the only house I know of that lets you cancel a pending fund transaction anytime before 4 PM (at least if placed through their website).

    So, cancelling the sale of PRSFX was an option. Something I’ll bet a lot of folks reading this did not know.:)
  • ML and Fido also permit that (not sure about 3:59p, may be tricky), and I bet many or most others do too
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