Set up a dividend payment (Companies)

To set up a new dividend payment please ensure the correct entity type is set up under the entities profile by reviewing your Issuer Profile.

1. From the menu, go to Payments and click on Payments.
2. Here you will see the list view of existing payments. On the top right click + Create new payment.

The setup of a payment is separated into the following sections:

Payment setup

• From the Select payment type dropdown, choose Dividend.
• Select the dividend type:
  • Dividend based on record date; or
  • Dividend based on investors' holdings during period
• Select one or multiple securities who are entitled to the dividend. Or, check the Include all securities box to pay a dividend on all securities.
• Include all investors (for the securities selected above) dropdown:
  • Click 'Yes, include all investors' to include all investors.
  • Click 'No, I want to exclude some investors from this payment' to exclude some investors.
  • Click 'No, I want to manually select who will be included in the payment' to include some investors.
• Enter an ABA payer name. This will appear in the transaction record in your payees’ bank account.
• Add a Payment description, e.g. “30 June 2020 dividend payment”.
• Select a Payment rounding option. See Additional Information below for details on rounding options.

Cash components

For a dividend based on record date

• Choose whether to enter cash payment instructions on a Cash per security basis or as Total cash across all securities (for example $0.10 per security or $100,000 in total). 

For all dividends

• Add dollar amounts for 
  • Unfranked dividend amount (non conduit foreign income).
  • Unfranked dividend amount (conduit foreign income).
  • Franked dividend amount.

Tax components

• Enter the company tax rate of the franked dividend amount eg: 25%
• Franking credit amount per security will be calculated (using the formula franked_dividend_amount / (1 - company_tax_rate) x company_tax_rate.

Withholding tax exempt threshold

For a dividend based on record date

Select Yes to Apply withholding tax to this payment. 

• If Yes is selected, the system will calculate and report on withholding tax for qualifying domestic and international investors (for example, where no tax identification number is provided).
  • Select Yes or No for Is this payment for a full financial year?.
    • if No, select the Company financial year end; and
    • the Payment period dates.

Dividend reinvestment plan participation (if available)

Select Yes to Allow DRP on this payment.

• Enter a DRP price per security. This value can be edited up until record date.
• Select a rounding option for units earned. See the Additional Information section below for further information on DRP unit rounding.

Payment to investors without bank account details

Choose if you will Allow cheque payments for investors without bank account details on record.

• If Yes, enter a cheque starting number. The system will record cheque numbers incrementally from this number. This feature is designed to assist with the reconciliation of cheque payments.
• If No, you may either:
  • Retain payment. When this alternative is selected no payment will be processed until after a bank account is provided by the investor; or
  • Force DRP. This option is available if you selected allow DRP on this payment. Where Force DRP is selected, any investor without bank details will receive their full dividend in DRP even if they have No Participation or Partial participation choices elected for the DRP.

Payment dates

For a dividend based on record date

• Enter a Record date. Securities must be owned on the record date for the investor to be eligible for payment.
  • Any updates to an investor’s payment preferences are not taken into account from record date onwards. (For example: if John is supposed to be paid with a cheque and then adds his bank account details, he will still be paid via cheque. His new payment preferences would only be applied to the next scheduled payment)
• Enter a Payment date. This is the date on which you agree to transfer funds to your investors.
• If DRP is allowed, enter a DRP allotment date. DRP transactions will display as 'processed' on this date.

For a dividend based on investors’ holdings during period

• Select the Payment period dates and Select a payment date. Securities must be owned during Payment period dates for the investor to be eligible for payment.
  • Any updates to an investor's payment preferences are not taken into account once the payment is set up. (For example: if John is supposed to be paid with a cheque and then adds his bank account details, he will still be paid via cheque. His new payment preferences would only be applied to the next scheduled payment).
  • Note that the $120 WHT threshold will not be calculated if the selected Payment period dates exceeds 365 days.
• Select Yes or No for Apply withholding tax to this payment. If Yes is selected, the system will calculate and report on withholding tax for qualifying domestic and international investors (for example, where no tax identification number is provided).

Notice of payment

Finally you can Attach a Notice of payment document to send to investors. Note, whether or not any notice is attached, the system will generate and distribute a standard dividend/payment statement for each investor.

Next

Click the Next button to review your payment and then schedule and notify investors. If you aren’t ready to notify you can leave the payment in draft mode and return to it later from the Payment list view.

Additional Information:

Rounding can be applied to dividend payments and to units earned in a DRP. Both scenarios offer three rounding options:

• Dividend payment rounding. The payment for each investor will be rounded:
  • To the nearest cent.
  • Up to nearest cent.
  • Down to nearest cent.
• DRP Units earned rounding. The DRP units earned for each investor will be rounded:
  • To the nearest unit.
  • Up to nearest unit.
  • Down to nearest unit.