January 14, 2019

At year-end, mutual fund companies often distribute gains to shareholders in the form of capital gains distributions. Even if the fund is down for the year, shareholders may have a tax liability in their taxable accounts. These distributions are sent to investors via check, automatically deposited as cash to their brokerage account, or reinvested into the issuing mutual fund.  For those investors receiving the cash distributions, many see them as welcome arrivals - year-end bonuses, if you will.  It's not quite that simple.