Which year is dividend reported as income, 2023 or 2024? (The year the dividend is reported or the year it is paid, since they are different.)

[Questionasker]

If a stock dividend has a record date of December 29, 2023 and a payment date of February 8th, 2024, will the 1099-DIV be issued for 2023 or for 2024 for that dividend?   In other words, I'm looking to determine if that will be taxable income in 2023 or 2024.

[kellykero]

This type of dividend sounds like a "spillover" or " throwback" dividend. In these cases, the dividend would count as taxable income in the year that it was declared, not the year in which it was paid.  

[Questionasker]

Thank you. 

I found it interesting that according to this article at Investopedia ( https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/spillover_dividend.asp )   "Spillover dividends almost always apply to regulated investment companies (RICs), such as real estate investment trusts (REITs), unit investment trusts (UITs), or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).1"

However in this case this is for an individual publicly traded stock. (Deere & Co.)

[Questionasker]

I learned more about this situation.  I called the company that handles Deere & Co. stock (Broadridge) and asked if there would be a 1099-DIV for 2023 for the dividend with record date of December 29, 2023 and payment date of February 8, 2024. She explained (and said this was also confirmed by her supervisor) that the 1099-DIV would be for 2024, based on the payment date, not for 2023 based on the record date.  So for this situation it seems that this may not be a "spillover" or "throwback" dividend.  Or if it is, that is how they handle it.

[Critter-3 · Accepted solution]

The date in 2023 is to establish WHO owns the stock on that date so that they will get the dividend in 2024 when issued even if they no longer own the stock in 2024.  It is a 2024 income reported on a 2024 return.