Hi all:
For many years I've owned the closed-end fund "DNP Select Income Fund" (DNP). The fund pays dividends monthly and in most years the dividend paid in January 'X1 gets reported on the 'X0 tax return and the dividend paid January 'X2 gets reported on the 'X1 tax return.
However, occasionally, like this year, that pattern of the January dividend being reported in the prior year isn't followed. This year the January 2010 dividend will actually show up on the 2010 tax return, not the 2009 tax return. Here's the info for the January 2010 and January 2009 dividends:
Declaration date Record date Payable
12/15/2008 12/31/2008 1/12/2009 < Reported in 2008 11/05/2009 12/31/2009 1/11/2010 < Reported in 2010The only real difference here is the 1/11/2010 dividend was declared earlier in the prior year than the 1/12/2009 dividend was, yet it's somehow sliding into 2010.
So, what governs the tax year a dividend gets lodged in?
Tom Young