Is there any tax benefits for an investor from stock dividends?

Answer 1

Yes, dividends from U.S. Companies called "qualified dividends" are only subject to a 10% or a 15% tax rate rather than the higher rates that can apply to other income.

Answer 2

It depends -- is the investor a corporation or an individual?

For corporations, there is a tax break on dividends making them a more desirable method for raising cash than selling shares.

For individuals, dividends have historically had a tax disadvantage. Dividends were taxed at the ordinary income level -- which was 39.6% for wealthy individuals. The alternative for someone who wants cash from their stock is to sell a few shares. This was taxed at the long term capital tax rate of 20% (if held long term). But the entire proceeds were not taxed -- just the profits. This meant there was a huge tax advantage to selling shares over getting dividends. This is why companies like Microsoft and Intel held off so long to initiate dividends. They would repurchase shares instead of issuing a dividend.

The tax change a couple of years ago changed all of that. It set the long term capital gains rate to 15% -- but also set the dividends tax rate to 15%. When you include the transaction costs associated with selling shares, this puts dividends and repurchases on nearly equal footing.

This answer applies to the US and may be different in other countries.

Answer 3

you get the benifit in mutual funds

Answer 4

no [e-mail]