Declare Dividends
You can declare dividends in Company Details.
Before you start
You can only declare dividends on shares that have been allotted to shareholders. Refer to Allot Shares to a Shareholder to learn more.
If you want to declare dividends for shareholders with a particular payment type such as BACS electronic money transfer, make sure you record the dividend bank details for each shareholder. To do that, open the individual's record, go to Individual Details > Dividends and select Wizard > Edit Bank Details. Complete the wizard to enter the required details.
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Go to Company Details > Dividends.
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Select Wizards > Declare Dividend to open the Declare Dividend wizard.
- On the Dividend Type page of the wizard, select the type of dividend, then select Next.
- On the Share Class page, select the share class on which the dividends are declared, then select Next.
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On the Dividend Dates page, enter the date of the directors meeting where the dividends are approved, the end date of the accounting period the dividends apply to and the record date, then select Next.
The system determines the shareholders entitled to dividends based on the record date.
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On the Payment Options page, specify the payment details. Select Next.
Enter the date when the dividend is to be paid. If you want to declare a dividend only for shareholders with a particular payment type, for example, BACS/electronic money transfer or cheque, the dividend bank details must be set up prior to the declaration. You can also specify the electronic payment submission date.
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On the Ordinary Dividend page, enter the dividend details, then select Next.
Enter a basic rate of tax, if applicable. Select the units in which the dividend is being declared and enter the number of dividends per share. Select if the dividend is net or gross and select whether the dividend is final or interim.
Note
If you are declaring dividends for UK Companies, Diligent Entities automatically selects net. This cannot be changed.
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On the Select People page, you can review the shareholders, then select Next.
If you left the Only for shareholders with this payment type field empty on the Payment Options page, all the shareholders holding shares on the date entered as record date are listed on this page. If you want to remove any shareholders, select them, then select Waive. If you removed a shareholder by mistake, you can add them to the list again by choosing Rebuild.
Note
By default, dividends are paid to everyone in the list. Select Waive against the relevant shareholder to remove them from the list of shareholder to receive dividends.
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On the Notes page, enter any relevant notes and record whether the notes should appear on the statutory registers. Select Next.
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On the Action page, choose whether you want to save the event as pending or update all records immediately, then select Next.
In the Tracking section, you can assign the event to a specific user and add a reminder. Refer to Pending events to learn more.
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On the Documents page, select the documents you want to generate for the event and select Next.
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On the Finish page, wait while the event and the documents are processed. When the status shows as Completed, select Finish to close the wizard.
The dividend is listed on the Dividends Paid page. Select the downwards arrow icon against the dividend to expand and view further details. Select View Details to view the list of payees.
What's next?
You can generate a register of dividends if required. In the company record, go to Reports > Statutory Registers. Complete the wizard by selecting Dividends on the Registers page, entering a document date and specifying whether you want to include all dividends or dividends within a given timeframe.
