What is a refund of franking credits?
What are franking credits?
When you own shares or non-share equity interests in a company or when you invest in a managed fund, you might receive dividend distributions.
Dividends paid to you by Australian companies and some New Zealand companies are taxed under a system known as imputation. The tax paid by the company is allocated (or imputed) to you as franking credits attached to the dividends you receive.
When are franking credits refunded to you?
If the franking credits you receive exceed the tax you have to pay, you can claim this difference back as a tax refund. We call this a refund of excess franking credits.
You may be entitled to a refund of the full amount of franking credits received, even if you don't normally lodge a tax return.
Who can use this form?
As long as you meet the eligibility criteria, you can use this online form to claim a refund of your franking credits.
If you do not meet the eligibility criteria, you will need to lodge a tax return to claim a refund of your franking credits.
For more information on who can use this form and how to use it, see Frequently asked questions.
Managed fund distributions
Based on your statements from managed funds, we will pre-fill the following amount fields in the Managed fund distributions section:
- 13U. Total non-primary production income
- 13C. Total franked distribution
- 13Q. Total franking credits
- 13R. Total TFN amounts withheld
- 20M. Total other foreign income
- 20F. Total Australian credits from a NZ franking company
Your statements may show other amounts that are not pre-filled in this section. If this is the case, you may need to lodge a tax return instead.
Completing this form
You will need your statements from each Australian company that paid you dividends or made distributions to you between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018 inclusive.
Do not include dividends or a distribution on which family trust distribution tax has been paid.
We have pre-filled your form with dividend and managed fund distribution information that has been provided to us by share registries and other third party providers. If you had a spouse in 2016–17, we may have also pre-filled your spouse details.
- To review pre-filled information or to add new records, select Add/Edit next to 'Dividends' or 'Managed fund distributions'.
- For each dividend record that has not been pre-filled in your form:
- select Add and enter information into corresponding fields (if your statement does not show a breakdown of the franked and unfranked portions of the dividend, enter the total dividend amount at Total franked amount)
- select Save.
- For each managed fund distribution record that has not been pre-filled in your form:
- select Add and enter information into corresponding fields
- select Save.
- When all your dividend and managed fund distribution records have been entered, select Save and continue to return to the 'Prepare form' screen.
- If you had a spouse at any time between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2018 and your spouse details have not been pre-filled:
- select Add/Edit next to 'Spouse details' and enter your spouse details.