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Why Future Dividends Appear in Your Income Return

Navexa records dividends at the ex-date, so income shows before payment — here’s why and how it appears in your reports.

Tom Wilson avatar
Written by Tom Wilson
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Ex-Date vs Payment Date

When you see a dividend in your portfolio before the payment date, that’s expected behaviour. Navexa records dividends on the ex-dividend date. This is when your entitlement to the dividend is locked in. If you own the shares on that date, you’re entitled to the upcoming payment.

How It Shows in Navexa

Because the entitlement is established at the ex-date, Navexa includes the dividend in your Income Return from that point forward. You may notice your income return increase ahead of the cash being paid.

Why Navexa Uses the Ex-Date

The ex-date reflects when the income is effectively earned, even though the payment transfer happens later. Using this date keeps your performance reporting consistent with when you became entitled to the dividend.

Confirming the Payment

Once the payment date arrives and you receive the cash or shares (if DRP is enabled), you can click 'Confirm' in the Income tab. This step won’t change your totals — those were already included from the ex-date — but it ensures your records are locked so no other changes can take place.

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