AMMA & distributions
Your AMMA statement, explained
An AMMA statement is the annual tax statement most Australian ETFs send their investors. It is written for a tax return rather than for a reader.
What an AMMA statement is
AMMA stands for Attribution Managed Investment Trust Member Annual Statement. Most Australian ETFs are attribution managed investment trusts, so the annual statement they send is an AMMA statement rather than the older-style annual tax statement.
It reports what the fund attributed to you for the income year — income by type, capital gains, tax credits and an adjustment to the cost base of your units. Attribution is a tax concept, not a cash one: the figures on the statement are what you are taxed on, and they can differ from the cash that reached your account.
When it arrives
Distributions are paid through the year, but the tax detail behind them is not final until after 30 June, once the fund knows what it earned and what it realised. Issuers generally publish AMMA statements from late July through September, which is why the paperwork lands months after the last payment.
For individuals lodging their own return, the ATO's deadline is 31 October. Lodging through a registered tax agent generally allows a later date, provided the agent is engaged before the October deadline.
What is on it, component by component
The wording differs between issuers; the components do not.
- Franked distribution — income paid out of Australian company profits that have already been taxed at the company level.
- Share of franking credit — the company tax already paid on that income, attributed to you and claimable as a credit.
- Non-primary production income — the fund's ordinary income that is not a franked distribution, foreign income or a capital gain. Australian interest usually sits inside this total.
- Capital gains by method — discount, indexation and other-method gains arising from disposals inside the fund during the year.
- Assessable foreign source income and foreign income tax offsets — income earned outside Australia and the foreign tax already paid on it.
- AMIT cost base net amount — an adjustment to the cost base of your units, shown as an excess or a shortfall. It is not income.
- Tax file number amounts withheld — tax withheld where a tax file number was not quoted, claimable as a credit.
Where each component goes on a tax return
Each component maps to a specific label. This is the mapping for an individual return:
| Statement component | Label | What the label is |
|---|---|---|
| Franked distributions | 13C | Franked distributions from trusts |
| Non-primary production income | 13U | Non-primary production — distribution from trusts |
| Share of franking credits | 13R | Share of franking credit from franked distributions |
| Total current year capital gains | 18A | Total current year capital gains |
| Net capital gain | 18H | Net capital gain |
| Assessable foreign source income | 20E | Assessable foreign source income |
| Foreign income tax offset | 20O | Foreign income tax offset |
Label codes are those published in the ATO's individual tax return instructions and can change between income years — the instructions for the year being lodged are the authority. Issuers also report these figures to the ATO, so some of them appear in a prefilled return later in the year.
Why the cash and the statement disagree
An attribution managed investment trust attributes taxable amounts to you; the cash it pays is a separate flow, and the two rarely match to the dollar.
The AMIT cost base net amount is how the difference is settled. Where the fund attributed more than it paid, a shortfall increases the cost base of your units. Where it paid more than it attributed, an excess decreases it.
That adjustment matters at disposal rather than now, because the cost base is what a capital gain or loss is measured against. It also accumulates: each year's excess or shortfall applies on top of the last.
The words on the page
- AMIT
- Attribution managed investment trust — the tax regime most Australian ETFs are taxed under.
- Attribution
- The amounts a fund allocates to you for tax, which can differ from the cash paid.
- Cost base
- What a capital gain or loss is measured against when units are disposed of.
- Income year
- 1 July to 30 June.
What this can't tell you
- An AMMA statement covers one fund for one income year. Nothing on it accounts for the rest of a portfolio.
- Component wording and the order of the lines differ between issuers, and label codes differ between income years.
- Cost base adjustments accumulate across years; one statement shows one year of a running total.
- Underly organises a statement against the labels. The figures on a lodged return are yours to confirm with a registered tax agent.
Where to go next
Source: ATO individual tax return instructions (Australian Taxation Office) · How we source our data
Written and signed by a named author, dated the day it was last looked at. How we source our data · Editorial policy