Signal Lab

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.

AU / Treasury What-ifs

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

Corporate tax rate

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.

Email opens your mail client with the prompt in the body (mailto). No account required. Data stays in this browser (localStorage). Not tax advice.