Shareholder Choice and Tax impact Workout
- 01:34
Shareholder Choice and Tax impact Workout
Transcript
Okay, so we've got a series of statements here. We're gonna make a choice on whether or not they're true or false, and we'll also talk about the statements as we go through. So the first statement is, shareholders have a choice about receiving dividends that is untrue. Dividends must be paid to all shareholders on the register when the dividends are declared. The next statement, when a buyback is announced, all shareholders must participate. Shareholders can generally choose whether or not they want to participate, although there are some rare circumstances where they may be required to sell. The next statement, shareholders mostly prefer buybacks because the tax treatment versus the tax treatment on dividends. It's true. Although capital gains tax may be payable on the sale of shares, shareholders can generally choose whether or not they want to sell and therefore whether or not they want to suffer the capital gains tax. And that's not true of dividends. If the company's issuing dividends, then any registered shareholder at the declaration date will receive those dividends and therefore be subject to tax. It's not their choice. The next statement, dividends are normally taxed under income tax rules. That's true in most jurisdictions. That is the case. And finally, share buybacks are normally taxed under capital gains tax rules. That is also true, and again, true in most jurisdictions, although it's worth noting that capital gains tax is usually at lower levels of tax and there are higher tax free amounts than income tax.