Australian ETF distribution components now available for FY19/20

Sharesight now has updated ETF distribution component information for the FY19/20 Australian tax year for all iShares (BlackRock), Russell Investments, ETF Securities and Vanguard ETFs from Computershare as well as updated distribution for Betashares and VanEck ETFs.

Sharesight has also manually loaded data for State Street's STW & DJRE.

This means that for the majority of ETFs in Australia, Sharesight users will not need to manually update their ETF distribution components from their AMMA statement using Sharesight’s pro-rata form to add this information to their portfolio.

What are ETF distribution components?

ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) are a type of unitised investment fund that can be bought and sold on stock exchanges. These funds pay distributions to shareholders throughout the financial year for any income earned by the fund.

In Australia, ETFs are structured as Attribution Managed Investment Trusts, which impact how the income earned (dividends, realised capital gains, interest, etc) is split across different categories for tax reporting purposes.

The distributions paid by ETFs structured as AMITs are composed of many different tax components that can only be provided by the ETF fund manager once the tax year is over and the fund knows the detail of all the income earned by the investments within the ETF.

Example AMMA tax statement components and their corresponding fields in Sharesight

Sharesight’s ETF distribution data

Sharesight receives estimates of the gross distribution values from the ASX when they are announced, however AMIT components are only finalised when fund managers know the breakdown of income earned by the trusts, and then they make these values available to unit holders by issuing year-end AMMA tax statements.

This means that the distribution values Sharesight receives from the ASX throughout the year do not contain AMIT component breakdowns. Sharesight has worked directly with the registries and fund managers involved to collect raw data for the majority of these AMIT trusts, which we then use to calculate the component values for individual ETF holdings.

For ETFs where Sharesight has data from Computershare or Betashares, users will be able to accept these values if they have not yet confirmed the distribution payment. Where users have already confirmed the payment or used the pro-rata form and want to return to the original values, clicking ‘reset this payout’ when editing the distribution will revert the data to the updated values we’ve received.

You can see how this process works in Sharesight by viewing the video below on how to confirm the ETF distribution components in Sharesight before running the Taxable Income Report to ensure the values match your AMMA statement.

Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/embed/em-2X8eOIxI

Note: Because each ETF fund manager uses slightly different calculations to determine unit holders’ AMMA tax statement values, we highly recommend double-checking the values in Sharesight against your AMMA statement, as while we expect these to be correct, it’s possible a particular ETF/manager uses a different calculation to Sharesight.

If you find values that don’t line up with your AMMA statement - please reach out via our help chat widget or email so we can ensure these are correct.

Sharesight helps Australians with their ETF tax admin

It has never been easier for Australian investors to ensure they aren't paying more tax than they need to on their investment returns. Built for the needs of Australian investors, with Sharesight you can:

• Easily share your Sharesight portfolios with accountants or financial professionals to make admin and tax compliance a breeze

• Track your investment performance with prices, dividends and currency fluctuations updated automatically

• Run powerful tax reports built for Australian investors, including capital gains tax, unrealised capital gains, and taxable income (dividend income)

Sign up for a free Sharesight account and get started tracking your SMSF investments today.

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FURTHER READING

• Help - How to handle AMIT tax components in Sharesight

• The tax admin trap for Australian ETF investors

• 5 ways Sharesight helps Australian investors at tax time

• Managed Investment Trusts - Australian Taxation Office