Franking & Dividend Capacity
An Australian franking-account capacity model for dividend planning.
It measures the maximum frankable dividend from surplus without over-franking.
Use it to size a distribution that uses franking credits cleanly before you declare.
Signal Lab · Model
Franking & Dividend Capacity
Max frankable dividend from your franking account surplus — without over-franking. Franking (AU imputation credits) attaches company tax already paid to a cash dividend for shareholders. ATO allocation maths.
Not tax advice. Illustrative AU corporate franking model until you enter actuals. Confirm with your tax adviser / ATO guidance before any distribution.
Surplus, tax rate, and proposed dividend
Persist locally · Jump to capacity
Franking capacity
Max fully franked dividend, credits on proposed, franking %, residual surplus.
Equations (ATO allocation style)
- Max credits on a distribution = Dist × (t ÷ (1 − t))
- Max fully franked dividend from surplus = Surplus × ((1 − t) ÷ t)
- Credits on proposed = min(Proposed × t/(1−t), Surplus)
- Franking % = credits attached ÷ max credits for that div × 100
- Residual surplus = Surplus − credits attached
How this is calculated
- Franking account — company memorandum of franking credits available to attach to distributions
- Franking credits attachable to a distribution scale with the corporate tax rate t as Dist × t/(1−t)
- If proposed needs more credits than surplus → over-frank risk (partial frank or reduce dividend)
- Residual surplus after max attach = unused FULL franking capacity (this model never under-franks)
Not tax advice. Illustrative ATO-style imputation maths only.
What-if dividend
Slide the proposed cash dividend — live franking % and residual.
Proposed dividend dial
Surplus and tax rate stay fixed. Dial overrides the form proposed for the what-if readout.
Take it with you
Download a prompt, export the Excel workbook, or email yourself.
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