What is a Capital Dividend?

A Capital Dividend is a dividend paid to shareholders of a corporation. The dividend funds come from the capital that was contributed to the company in exchange for an ownership interest. The funds do not come from profits or operational income. Distributing a dividend from a shareholders contributed capital means that, if specific conditions are met, the dividend is not taxable. The shareholder paid taxes on the contributed capital prior to the contribution. Thus, receiving a return of that capital is not a taxable event.

How Does a Capital Dividend Work?

The Capital Dividend Account (CDA), is a special account used by corporations for paying shareholders tax-free dividends. The Capital Dividend Account does not appear on a balance sheet. It is sometimes listed in the financial statements' reports, but nothing more. Even if this account stays confidential, shareholders have every interest in closely following it because it gives them an extraordinary tax advantage of being able to withdraw the company's money without paying any taxes. Hence, shareholders earn a non-tax dividend if their balance is positive. In Canada, CDAs are typical to help companies and shareholders in separating seed capital from profits. In addition, they allow shareholders to know which taxable dividends are not taxable. A central concept of taxation principle is strictly applied by the CDA. This concept requires every person to pay a fairly equal tax irrespective of whether their income is earned directly or via a company. Dividends are typically paid at lower wages because of this principle. A capital dividend is paid from the capital dividend account of a corporation which is a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) account that is tracked on the basis of information filed in the corporate tax return of that corporation.

Capital Dividend and Regular Dividend Payment

A dividend is the proportion of profit and profits that a company pays out to its shareholders and that earnings can be either returned or remitted to its shareholders as a dividend when the company earns profit and accumulates retained income. The distinction between a capital dividend and a conventional dividend is that a conventional dividend is usually paid out of the profits of a company. The most popular form of payment is cash dividends, and are paid in cash, usually through a transfer of electronic funds or printed paper cheque. It is the most common way in which the company's shareholders share the corporate profits in a conventional dividend payment method.

Capital Dividend and Shareholders Equity

Stockholders Equity (also known as Shareholders Equity) is an account that consists of share capital plus retained earnings on a company's balance sheet. It also reflects the residual value of assets minus liabilities. Capital dividends are usually extracted from the equity of a corporation. If all of the assets of the company were liquidated and all debts repaid, the equity of the shareholders would be the sum returned to the shareholders. It ensures that holders of bonds are compensated before holders of shares. Thus, the value of the equity beyond the general amount of capital is not of great interest to the debt holder to determine total solvency.