RE: taxed dividends20 May 2016 10:31
Yes, I questioned this. Received the following reply...
Thank you for your email.
I can confirm that the dividend payment was 7.09 pence per share, however, this payment is made as a property income distribution (PID). PIDs are taxable as property letting income in the hands of tax-paying shareholders, but treated separately from any other property letting income which shareholders may receive.
Profits distributed as PID dividends are paid out of British Land's tax-exempt profits and therefore are potentially fully taxable in shareholders’ hands as property letting income. PID dividends are normally paid after deduction of withholding tax at the basic rate of income tax (20%), which the REIT pays to HMRC on behalf of the shareholder.
Therefore, as there was 20% tax applied to the dividend payment this reduced the dividend per share to 5.672 pence per share.