Ex-Dividend Dates on the ASX: Rules & Timing

Ex-dividend dates on the ASX fall one business day before the record date, and that single business day carries the whole entitlement. A holder on the share register at the record date receives the dividend. A buyer who trades on the ex-date does not, since the purchase settles one day too late. Australia then adds a layer that offshore timetables have no equivalent for: franking credits ride along with the dividend, and a separate holding period test decides whether a holder may claim them.

How ex-dividend dates on the ASX are set

Four dates govern every ASX dividend, and a listed company publishes all four in the notification it lodges with the exchange.

1. Announcement date. The board declares the dividend amount, the franking percentage, the record date and the payment date.
2. Ex-dividend date, usually shortened to the ex-date. From the opening of trade that day, the shares change hands without the declared dividend attached.
3. Record date. The company takes a snapshot of its share register at the end of this day. Every holder on that snapshot is entitled to the payment.
4. Payment date. Cash reaches holders, commonly a few weeks later.

The spacing is not the company's choice. Appendix 6A of the ASX Listing Rules carries the timetable for dividends and distributions, and it places the ex-date one business day before the record date. The company picks the record date and notifies the exchange in advance on the standard dividend notification form; the ex-date then follows from the timetable. Who sets the ex-dividend date covers that division of labour between company and exchange.

The one business day gap tracks the settlement cycle. ASX cash equity trades settle two business days after the trade, a convention written T+2, as of September 2026. A purchase on the last cum-dividend day settles on the record date itself, which puts the buyer on the register in time for the snapshot. A purchase on the ex-date settles the business day after the record date, and the seller stays the registered holder for that dividend.

Why the ex-date and the record date share a day in some markets

Readers who follow US listed companies often carry a different picture across, and they are reading their own market correctly. The United States moved to one business day settlement, T+1, in May 2024. Under that cycle the last cum-dividend trade is the business day before the record date, and the ex-date lands on the record date itself. The change is legible in US listed dividend records.

WITH deduped AS
(
    SELECT
        id,
        any(ex_dividend_date) AS ex_date,
        any(record_date)      AS rec_date
    FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
    WHERE ex_dividend_date >= toDate('2019-01-01')
      AND ex_dividend_date <  today()
      AND record_date >= ex_dividend_date
      AND dateDiff('day', ex_dividend_date, record_date) <= 7
    GROUP BY id
)
SELECT
    toYear(ex_date)                                        AS year,
    round(avg(dateDiff('day', ex_date, rec_date)), 2)      AS avg_days_ex_to_record,
    round(100 * countIf(rec_date = ex_date) / count(), 1)  AS same_day_pct,
    count()                                                AS dividends_counted
FROM deduped
GROUP BY year
ORDER BY year

In 2019, 0.1% of these records carried a matching ex-date and record date, with an average separation of 1.54 calendar days. By 2026 the matching-date share reads 98.2%, over the 8 years the panel covers. One company's own history shows the same change up close.

SELECT
    toString(ex_dividend_date)                               AS ex_date,
    max(dateDiff('day', declaration_date, ex_dividend_date)) AS notice_days,
    max(dateDiff('day', ex_dividend_date, record_date))      AS ex_to_record_days,
    max(dateDiff('day', ex_dividend_date, pay_date))         AS ex_to_payment_days
FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
WHERE ticker = 'KO'
  AND ex_dividend_date >= toDate('2023-01-01')
  AND ex_dividend_date <  today()
  AND declaration_date >= toDate('2000-01-01')
  AND record_date >= ex_dividend_date
  AND pay_date >= record_date
GROUP BY ex_dividend_date
ORDER BY ex_dividend_date

On the first payout in view, dated 2023-03-16, the ex-date and the record date sat 1 apart in calendar days. On the most recent one the same gap reads 0, the cash arrived 16 days after the ex-date, and the declaration came 62 days ahead of it. That is 15 quarterly cycles of the same four dates.

Nothing equivalent happened in Australia. With T+2 settlement in place, the ASX ex-date keeps its one business day of separation from the record date. Same arithmetic, different settlement cycle. Record date versus ex-dividend date sets out that general relationship.

What a cum-dividend buyer is actually acquiring

A share bought before the ex-date is cum-dividend, Latin shorthand for with the dividend. The buyer acquires the share and, attached to it, the right to a payment already declared at a known amount and a known franking percentage. From the ex-date that right no longer travels with the share, and the quoted price opens lower by roughly the dividend amount. Nothing is destroyed in that adjustment. Value moves out of the share price and into a payment the seller has already locked in. Why stocks drop on the ex-dividend date works through the adjustment with data, and the ex-dividend date explained covers the general case.

From the record date to cash in hand

The record date fixes entitlement. It is not the day the money lands. Australian companies commonly pay twice a year, an interim dividend following the half year result and a final dividend following the full year result, and each payment trails its record date by a matter of weeks.

SELECT
    multiIf(freq = 1,  'Annual',
            freq = 2,  'Semiannual (interim and final)',
            freq = 4,  'Quarterly',
            freq = 12, 'Monthly',
                       'Other or unstated')          AS payment_cadence,
    count()                                          AS records_counted,
    round(avg(dateDiff('day', rec_date, pay_dt)), 1) AS avg_days_record_to_payment
FROM
(
    SELECT
        id,
        any(frequency)   AS freq,
        any(record_date) AS rec_date,
        any(pay_date)    AS pay_dt
    FROM global_markets.stocks_dividends
    WHERE ex_dividend_date >= today() - 730
      AND ex_dividend_date <  today()
      AND pay_date >= record_date
      AND dateDiff('day', record_date, pay_date) <= 120
    GROUP BY id
)
GROUP BY payment_cadence
ORDER BY payment_cadence

Grouped by the cadence each company declared, the Semiannual (interim and final) group waited an average of 30.8 days between the register snapshot and the payment, one of 5 cadence groups in the panel. The wait is registry and payment processing, and an ASX company states its own payment date in the same notification that set the record date.

Franking credits and the holding period test

A franking credit records Australian company tax already paid on the profits behind a dividend. A fully franked dividend arrives with credits covering the company tax on those profits in full; a partly franked one covers a portion. A resident shareholder adds the cash and the credit together as taxable income, then subtracts the credit from the tax owed, with any excess refundable for some holders. That is dividend imputation, and it gives an ASX ex-date a second dimension beyond the price adjustment.

The credit is conditional on holding. Under the holding period test in Division 207 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, shares must be held at risk for at least 45 days, counting neither the day of acquisition nor the day of disposal, within the qualification window around the ex-date. Preference shares carry a 90 day version of the same test. At risk is a technical term: a position hedged down to less than 30% of the ordinary risk of loss and opportunity for gain stops accruing qualifying days while the hedge is in place.

One carve out covers most individual holders. The small shareholder exemption sets the test aside where an individual's total franking credit entitlement for the income year does not exceed A$5,000, a threshold that has stood for many years and remains in force as of September 2026. Above that level, the 45 days apply.

Put the timetable and the test side by side and the effect on short-dated ex-date trading is visible. A position opened shortly before the ex-date and closed shortly after it collects the cash dividend, absorbs the price adjustment, and falls well short of 45 days at risk. For a holder above the small shareholder threshold the franking credit is denied, and what remains is a dividend net of the adjustment that took it out of the price. Dividend capture strategies work on thin margins in every market. The Australian holding period test narrows them further.

Foreign holders and franking credits

Franking credits are an offset against Australian tax. A non-resident holder generally has no Australian tax on the dividend to offset and cannot claim the credits as a refund. The franking percentage still reaches them through a different door: the franked portion of a dividend paid to a non-resident is generally exempt from Australian dividend withholding tax, while the unfranked portion is subject to withholding at a rate set by domestic law and any applicable treaty. For a foreign holder the franking percentage functions as a withholding indicator rather than a claimable credit. Dividend withholding tax for non US investors covers how cross-border rates and paperwork fit together, and treatment in the holder's home country is a separate question under local law.

FAQ

Is the ex-dividend date before or after the record date on the ASX?

Before. The ASX Listing Rules timetable places the ex-date one business day before the record date. To appear on the register at the record date, a buyer has to trade no later than the business day before the ex-date.

Can I sell ASX shares on the ex-dividend date and still get the dividend?

Yes. A sale on the ex-date settles two business days later, after the register snapshot, and the seller is still the registered holder when it is taken. The buyer trades ex, without the dividend attached. Selling on the ex-dividend date goes through the timing in detail.

How long do I have to hold shares to claim franking credits?

At least 45 days at risk, excluding the day of acquisition and the day of disposal, under the holding period test. Preference shares require 90 days. An individual whose total franking credit entitlement for the year stays at or below A$5,000 falls under the small shareholder exemption.

Do foreign investors receive franking credits on ASX dividends?

Generally no. The credits offset Australian tax, and a non-resident typically has none on the dividend to offset, with no refund available. The franked portion of the payment is generally exempt from Australian dividend withholding, while the unfranked portion is not.

Every panel here carries the exact SQL that produced it, open one and the counting is in plain view. Questions about ex-dates and payment lags can be asked in plain English on the Strasmore terminal.