myTax 2019 Applying for a refund of franking credits

If you have franking credits and you meet the eligibility criteria, you may be able to apply for a refund online via your myGov account linked to the ATO.

Once logged in to myGov, select 'Australian Taxation Office'.

From the menu at the top of the ATO Online screen select 'Tax', then 'Lodgments' then 'Refund of franking credits'.

Essentials

What are franking credits?

When you own shares or non-share equity interests in a company or when you invest in a managed fund, you might receive dividend distributions.

Dividends paid to you by Australian companies and some New Zealand companies are taxed under a system known as imputation. The tax paid by the company is allocated (or imputed) to you as franking credits attached to the dividends you receive.

When are franking credits refunded to you?

You can claim a tax refund if the franking credits you receive exceed the tax you have to pay. This is a refund of excess franking credits.

You may receive a refund of the full amount of franking credits received even if you don't usually lodge a tax return.

Who can use this form?

All the following criteria must apply for you to be able to use this online form to claim a refund of your franking credits. All the statements below relate to the income year 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.

• You were an Australian resident for tax purposes for the whole income year. Need help? Use the are you a resident? tool.
• You do not have to lodge a tax return. Need help? Use the do I need to lodge a tax return? tool.
• Your total dividend income was either:  
  • $18,200 or less
  • $416 or less if you were under 18 years old on 30 June 2019
• You received dividends from shares (or non-share equity interests) in an Australian or New Zealand company, or you were entitled to distributions from investments in a managed fund.
• Your dividend or distribution statement showed franking credits, or you had amounts withheld from your dividends because you did not provide your tax file number (TFN). Statements from New Zealand companies must show Australian franking credits (New Zealand imputation credits do not qualify).

You will need to lodge a tax return to claim the benefits of these credits if you have franking credits but all the eligibility criteria did not apply.

For more information on who can use this form and how to use it, see Frequently asked questions.

Completing this form

You will need your statements from each Australian company that paid you dividends or made distributions to you between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019 inclusive.

Do not include dividends or a distribution on which family trust distribution tax has been paid.

We pre-fill your form with dividend and managed fund distribution information provided to us by share registries and other third party providers. If you had a spouse in 2017–18, we may have also pre-filled your spouse details.

Check for dividend and managed fund distributions that are not pre-filled and ensure you add them.

1. To review pre-filled dividend information or to add new records, select Add/Edit at Dividends.
2. For each dividend record that has not been pre-filled in your form, select Add and enter information into corresponding fields.  
   • Joint accounts
     If you had shares in joint names, show the number of account holders and the total amount of dividends, credits and tax withheld. We will divide amounts equally between the number of account holders.
     You may alter your share of the amount of dividends, credits and tax withheld if the shares are owned in unequal proportions. If you do, keep a record of how you worked out your share.
   • If your statement does not show a breakdown of the franked and unfranked portions of the dividend, enter the total dividend amount at Total franked amount.
   • Select Save.
   • Select Save and continue when all your dividend records have been entered. This will return you to the Prepare form screen.
3. To review pre-filled managed funds distribution information or to add new records, select Add/Edit at Managed fund distributions.
4. For each managed fund distribution record that has not been pre-filled in your form, select Add and enter information into corresponding fields.  
   • Joint accounts
     If you had a joint account, show the number of account holders and the total amounts. We will divide the amounts equally between the number of account holders.
     You may alter your share of the amounts. If you do, keep a record of how you worked out your share.
   • Select Save.
   • Select Save and continue when all your managed fund distribution records have been entered. This will return you to the Prepare form screen.
5. If you had a spouse at any time between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019, review any pre-filled spouse details or:       
   • select Add/Edit at Spouse details and enter/edit your spouse details.

Managed fund distributions

Based on your statements from managed funds, we will pre-fill the following amount fields in the Managed fund distributions section:

• 13U. Total non-primary production income
• 13C. Total franked distribution
• 13Q. Total franking credits
• 13R. Total TFN amounts withheld
• 20M. Total other foreign income
• 20F. Total Australian credits from a NZ franking company

Your statements may show other amounts that are not pre-filled in this section. If this is the case, you may need to lodge a tax return instead.

These instructions are about completing a 2019 refund of franking credits application through ATO Online Services.