Dividends received deduction

The dividends-received deduction (or "DRD"), under U.S. federal income tax law, is a tax deduction received by a corporation on the dividends it receives by other corporations in which it has an ownership stake.

This deduction is designed to reduce the consequences of triple taxation. Otherwise, corporate profits would be taxed to the corporation that earned them, then to the corporate shareholder, and then to the individual shareholder. While Congress allowed for double taxation on corporations, it did not intend a triple - and potentially infinitely-tiered - tax to apply to corporate profits at every level of their distribution. The dividends-received deduction complements the consolidated return regulations, which allow affiliated corporations to file a single consolidated return for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Generally, if a corporation receives dividends from another corporation, it is entitled to a deduction of 70 percent of the dividend it receives. If the corporation receiving the dividend owns 20 percent or more, however, then the amount of the deduction increases to 80 percent. If, on the other hand, the corporation receiving the dividend owns more than 80 percent of the distributing corporation, it is allowed to deduct 100 percent of the dividend it receives.

Note that in order for the deduction to apply, the corporation paying the dividend must also be liable for tax (i.e., it must be subject to the double taxation that the deduction is intended to prevent).

The Taxable Income Limitation - The dividends received deduction is limited with regard to the corporate shareholder’s taxable income. Per §246(b) of the IRC, a corporation with the rights to a seventy percent dividends received deduction, can deduct the dividend amount only up to seventy percent of the corporation’s taxable income. Furthermore, a corporation with the rights to an eighty percent dividends received deduction can deduct the dividend amount only up to eighty percent of the corporation’s taxable income. There are two exceptions to The Taxable Income Limitation. No taxable income restriction is placed on a corporation with a one-hundred percent dividends received deduction. Second, if the dividends received deduction increases or creates a net operating loss, the limitation does not apply.

For purposes of determining the appropriate dividends received deduction, a corporate shareholder’s taxable income should be computed without including net operating losses (NOL’s), capital loss carrybacks, and the dividends received deduction.

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