Corporation : Constructive Dividend System

The dividend policy has grown over the years. This may be so that the company projects itself as a less risky share and thus also gaining investors faith. The investors buy its shares and thus increase its demand. This helps to gives positive signals to the investors signalling that the company is stable and can generate earnings steadily. This hypothesis is gains standing from the dividend hypothesis theory.

* However, if these payments are unreasonable, then distribution is considered a ‘constructive dividend’ and is no longer deductible

[LO 1] Augustana received $10,000 of qualified dividends this year. Under what circumstances would all $10,000 be taxed at the same rate? Under what circumstances might the entire $10,000 of income not be taxed at the same rate?

* Taxes are paid through the corporation on a corporate tax return. It is separate from the owner’s income taxes, commonly referred to as shareholders. Shareholders also include income or losses on stocks sold or dividends earned on their yearly individual tax return.

Income Taxes: The Corporation pays both state and federal taxes on its earnings. Excess earnings may be shared with stockholders in the form of dividends, on which the stockholder then pays taxes.

When a company decides to pay dividends, it has to be careful on how much it will be given to the shareholders. It is of no use to pay shareholders dividends

1. All distributions (excluding reasonable salary) to Paula and Mary will be taxed as dividends to them. And the corporation could not deduct this part of distribution.

Dividends should be made cumulative and issuable upon a liquidation event or an IPO. Such dividends may be converted, if the holder desires, to common shares. This will encourage management to seek a quicker exit.

Since the emergence of the so-called irrelevance theorem by Miller and Modigliani (1961), many corporations are puzzled about why some firms pay dividends while others do not. They were the first to study the effect of dividend policy on the market value of firms by assuming that there are no market imperfections. Miller and Modigliani (1961) proposed that divided policy chosen by a firm has no significant relationship in as far as the market valuation of the firm is concerned. They went further to explain that; the shareholders wealth remains unchanged irrespective of how the firm distributes it income because the firms’ value is rather determined by their investment policies and the earning power of its assets. They further stated that the opportunity to earn abnormal returns in the market does not exist, that is, owners are entitled to the normal market returns adjusted for risk.

In practice, dividend policy will be affected by taxes as tax rates for different categories of investors will differ. Also, a firm’s dividend policy is perceived by the financial markets to be a signaling mechanism. A cut back in dividends may signify that the firm perceives tough

It has the option to distribute the cash in the form of dividends. Shareholders were taxed on cash dividends at ordinary income rates whereas gains realized on shares that were repurchased received capital gains treatment.

The fact that shareholders are taxed twice through this repayment methodology infers that dividends are not their repayment technique of choice. Furthermore, paying out cash reserves through dividends also has the effect of both reducing the company’s assets and also inhibited the company’s ability to fund future growth as Dividends reduce the company’s retained earnings.

Dividends are subjected to higher tax rate compare to capital gain increased due to share buy-back. This discourages shareholders from desire to receive high dividends in place of higher capital gain as share values increase. A comparison is made below between the proposed capital structure and dividend policy.

A dividend is a usually distributed in cash form to stock holders of a corporation approved by the board of director. It may also include stock dividend or other forms of payment. A stock dividend represents a distribution of additional shares to common stockholders. Dividends are only cash payments regularly made by corporations to their stockholders.

A dividend tax is an income tax paid on the earnings from a corporation that is distributed to its shareholders. Dividend payments are treated as ordinary income, and they are taxed as if the taxpayer had earned income through active work. Presently, there is much controversy surrounding dividend tax. The government taxes dividends twice: It first taxes corporate income, then taxes the same income again when shareholders receive dividends paid out of corporate income. The double taxation raises the questions of whether the tax should be eliminated, and which taxes should be cut.