The ETF Exchange has been granted distributing fund status by HM Revenue & Customs for the accounting period 15 July 2008 to 30 June 2009. The status has been granted to all 21 ETFs on the ETF Exchange. The ETF Exchange is the world's first 3rd generation ETF platform which is supported by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Citi, and Rabobank International who are participants on the platform.
Distribution fund status means that the tax on any gains by UK tax residents will be treated as a capital gain rather than income. This could make a huge difference for higher rate tax payers as the current rate of capital gains tax is 18% versus a 40% income tax rate which will increase to 50% from 6 April 2010 onwards.
Distributing fund status is also advantageous for UK authorised investment funds and investment trusts as they will be exempt from tax on any chargeable gain. In addition non UK investment funds who themselves seek distributor status (or are reporting funds) will not need to distribute/report any gain.
Mark Weeks, CEO of the ETFX Exchange commented:
"This is another step forward in providing UK investors a tax efficient way to gain exposure to a unique range of real asset and tactical asset allocation ETFs".
The ETF Exchange 3rd generation ETFs awarded distributing fund status:
ETFX WNA Global Nuclear Energy Fund |
ETFX Janney Global Water Fund |
ETFX S-Net ITG Global Agri Business Fund |
ETFX DAXglobal Coal Mining Fund* |
ETFX DAXglobal Gold Mining Fund* |
ETFX DAXglobal Steel Fund* |
ETFX DAXglobal Shipping Fund* |
ETFX Russell 1000 US Large Cap Fund |
ETFX Russell 2000 US Small Cap Fund |
ETFX DAXglobal Alternative Energy Fund |
ETFX Dow Jones STOXX 600 Basic Resources Fund |
ETFX Dow Jones STOXX 600 Oil & Gas Fund |
ETFX Dow Jones STOXX 600 Utilities Fund |
ETFX FTSE® 100 Leveraged (2x) Fund |
ETFX FTSE® 100 Super Short Strategy (2x) Fund |
ETFX Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Leveraged (2x) Fund |
ETFX Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Double Short (2x) Fund |
ETFX CAC 40 2x Long Fund |
ETFX CAC 40 2x Short Fund |
ETFX DAX® 2x Long Fund |
ETFX DAX® 2x Short Fund |
* Please note that at the end of the accounting period these funds tracked Russell Global indices which were changed to DAXgloblal indices on 13 January 2010 at which point the ETFs names were changed.