Your statements may show:
- amounts of franked and unfranked dividends
- amounts of franking credits
- tax file number (TFN) amounts withheld from unfranked dividends.
Franking credits are amounts of tax paid by the company that are allocated to your dividend or distribution. You include as assessable income both:
- the amount of your dividend or distribution, and
- the amount of the franking credits allocated to you.
You also receive a tax credit on your tax assessment for an amount equal to the franking credits.
You may not be entitled to claim the franking credits if:
- within 45 days of buying the shares (90 days for certain preference shares), you either sold them or entered into an arrangement to reduce the risk of making a loss on them
- you were under an obligation to make, or were likely to make, a related payment, or
- you received a dividend as a result of a dividend washing arrangement.
For more information, see Holding period rule, Related payments rule and Dividend washing integrity rule.
TFN amounts are amounts of tax withheld from dividends and some distributions by investment bodies because you did not provide your TFN or ABN to them. TFN amounts are shown on your dividend statement. These amounts must be included in the amount of unfranked dividends you write on your tax return.
If you had any shares in joint names, show only your proportion of the dividends. This would be half if you held the shares equally with one other person. Keep a record of how you worked out your proportion if you and the other joint owners did not own the shares equally.
See also