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How do I receive dividends?

You’re eligible for a dividend if you own a company’s shares through its ex-divdend date (including fractional shares). The ex-dividend date of a stock is the day which the stock begins trading without the subsequent dividend value. If you purchase shares on or after the ex-dividend date, you will not be entitled to the dividend. 

Any dividends you are eligible to receive will be credited into your Stake USD account, usually within 1-2 business days after the payment date. This may take longer from DTCC or Issuer processing. These payments are viewable in the ‘Transactions’ section of the app.

You are eligible to receive dividends on your fractional shares on a pro-rata basis. The dividend amount will be proportional to your holding. For example, if a company pays a dividend of US$10 per share and you hold 1.34 shares in that company, your dividend will be US$13.40 (minus any applicable withholding tax). 

If your fractional share pays a dividend, the dividend payable to your position must be greater than or equal to $0.01 to be credited to your account. 

Withholding tax

There is a 30% withholding tax on dividend payments in the U.S. This can be reduced to 15% after the completion of a W-8BEN form on U.S.-domiciled securities, which Stake arranges on your behalf when you make your first deposit on Stake Wall St. You can read more about W-8BEN forms here.

Some companies that pay dividends may have different withholding amounts. You can view all the relevant information by going to More > Funds and Balances, under Transactions.

Please note that due to the complexities involved with tax, we recommend you obtain independent & professional advice which takes into account your own set of facts and circumstances.

Dividend Reinvestment Programs (DRIPs)

At this time, Stake doesn’t offer a dividend reinvestment program. However, thanks to fractional shares,  you can use the cash received from the dividend distribution to then manually reinvest your dividend cash payments back into the underlying stock or ETF (minimum trade size US$10).

How do I track my dividends?

You can view all dividend payments by going to More > Funds and Balances, under Transactions. To only view dividend payments, use the filter and select Dividends. A record of your dividends can also be found in Account > Tax & Documents > Account Statements.

Dividend updates & reversals

Sometimes a dividend rate is adjusted after shareholders have already been paid. This is particularly common with American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), with FX rates or changes in foreign tax rates and regulations (for example, due to a regulatory ruling). 

In these circumstances, we’ll adjust your dividend payment: you’ll see a new payment that reflects the updated amount. In some extreme cases the entire dividend could be reversed, but this is rare.

You can read more about dividends here.