Seems like a noob question, but what/where is the easiest way to figure out whether a company is in the habit of paying out part of their dividends as non-qualified.
Ideally there would be a site with a historical list showing the qualified and non-qualified portions?
Non-qualified dividends
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Dream of Freedom
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Re: Non-qualified dividends
Well, I don't have a great answer in that I don't know of the resource you speak of. There are some signs though that a company definately won't qualify such as they are a BDC, REIT, MLP, or trust.
From Wikipedia :
"To be taxed at the qualified dividend rate, the dividend must:
be paid after December 31, 2002
be paid by a U.S. corporation, by a corporation incorporated in a U.S. possession, by a foreign corporation located in a country that is eligible for benefits under a U.S. tax treaty that meets certain criteria, or on a foreign corporation’s stock that can be readily traded on an established U.S. stock market (e.g., an American Depositary Receipt or ADR), and
meet holding period requirements: You must have held the stock for more than 60 days during the 121-day period that begins 60 days before the ex-dividend date. The ex-dividend date is the first date following the declaration of a dividend on which the buyer of a stock is not entitled to receive the next dividend payment. For calculation purposes, the number of days of ownership includes the day of disposition but not the day of acquisition."
From Wikipedia :
"To be taxed at the qualified dividend rate, the dividend must:
be paid after December 31, 2002
be paid by a U.S. corporation, by a corporation incorporated in a U.S. possession, by a foreign corporation located in a country that is eligible for benefits under a U.S. tax treaty that meets certain criteria, or on a foreign corporation’s stock that can be readily traded on an established U.S. stock market (e.g., an American Depositary Receipt or ADR), and
meet holding period requirements: You must have held the stock for more than 60 days during the 121-day period that begins 60 days before the ex-dividend date. The ex-dividend date is the first date following the declaration of a dividend on which the buyer of a stock is not entitled to receive the next dividend payment. For calculation purposes, the number of days of ownership includes the day of disposition but not the day of acquisition."
Re: Non-qualified dividends
Quantum Online maintains a list of preferred stock that pay qualified dividends. Generally, if the issuing entity is organized as a corporation, their preferred also pays a qualified dividend.
I've not seen the common stock of an ordinary corporation pay out a regular dividend that was not qualified. So I would expect any that are non-qualified would be the exception.
As DoF mentioned, other company structures are more varied. REITS are generally non qualified. MLPs, ETFs, and CEFs can distribute several different forms of income, and it can vary year-to-year. This makes tax-planning a pain if you hold them in taxable accounts.
Timber REITS (WY,PCH,RYN) don't pay out qualified dividends, but the majority/all of their distributions count as LT cap gains, which has similar tax treatment to qualified dividends.
The only way to know for sure is to visit the investor relations section for each company to see how they describe their distribution taxation policy.
I've not seen the common stock of an ordinary corporation pay out a regular dividend that was not qualified. So I would expect any that are non-qualified would be the exception.
As DoF mentioned, other company structures are more varied. REITS are generally non qualified. MLPs, ETFs, and CEFs can distribute several different forms of income, and it can vary year-to-year. This makes tax-planning a pain if you hold them in taxable accounts.
Timber REITS (WY,PCH,RYN) don't pay out qualified dividends, but the majority/all of their distributions count as LT cap gains, which has similar tax treatment to qualified dividends.
The only way to know for sure is to visit the investor relations section for each company to see how they describe their distribution taxation policy.