How Are SMCY Dividends Taxed?
Built from SMCY's own payment record and published figures, as of 2026-08-18. We are not tax advisers and this is not tax advice; a professional who knows your situation is the right stop before decisions.
YieldMax SMCI Option Income Strategy ETF publishes an estimated return-of-capital share for every distribution it declares. Across the 32 recorded payments in our coverage window, the fund paid $3.1543 per share; weighted by payment size, 64.1% of that was estimated return of capital ($2.0207 per share), and $1.1336 per share was estimated income. 0 payments were marked 100% return of capital and 10 were marked 0%.
The Split, from the Fund's Own Figures
| Recorded payments | 32 |
| Total paid per share | $3.1543 |
| Estimated return of capital | $2.0207 (64.1%) |
| Estimated income portion | $1.1336 |
| Payments marked 100% ROC | 0 of 32 |
| Payments marked 0% ROC | 10 of 32 |
Weighted by payment size across the coverage window shown on the SMCY page, where every payment's ROC estimate is listed row by row with its source.
How the Estimate Moved Across SMCY's Record
A weighted average hides its own shape. Across the 32 SMCY payments we hold, the sponsor's return-of-capital estimate ran from 0.00% on the August 6, 2026 payment to 98.22% on June 4, 2026, with a median of 94.71%. The record spans 217 days, from January 8, 2026 to August 13, 2026.
Splitting that record in half by payment order, the older 16 payments carried a weighted 59.8% return of capital and the newer 16 carried 68.6%, a shift of 8.8 percentage points upward. These are the fund's own per-payment estimates, revised at year end, so a shift is as likely to reflect a change in what the strategy earned as a change in accounting.
In basis terms, each SMCY payment reduced a holder's cost basis by an average of $0.0631 per share on these estimates, or $2.0207 in total across the record. Basis reduction is deferral rather than exemption: once basis reaches zero, further return of capital is taxed as capital gain in the year it is received.
| Sponsor estimate for the payment | Payments | Cash per share |
|---|---|---|
| no return of capital | 10 | $0.9035 |
| under half | 2 | $0.1764 |
| half or more, short of all | 20 | $2.0744 |
Grouped from the per-payment estimates listed row by row on the SMCY page, as of 2026-08-18.
What SMCY's Own Payment Record Adds
Tax character is one half of the question and the payment record is the other. Our SMCY record holds 32 payments between January 8, 2026 and August 13, 2026, on a weekly schedule of 52 a year. The most recent was $0.0694 per share, ex-date August 13, 2026 and paid August 14, 2026. Nothing further is declared on our record.
Across trailing twelve months the payments ran from $0.0649 on July 23, 2026 to $0.1722 on June 4, 2026, a spread of 165%. A spread that wide matters at tax time as well as in a budget: the taxable amount for a year is the sum of what actually arrived, not twelve times a typical payment. Ex-dates landed in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug over the trailing two years, which is the schedule an estimated-tax calculation has to follow.
Our record cannot yet say whether SMCY's payout is rising or falling: Growth needs two complete calendar years of payouts, or two full years of coverage. Our SMCY record starts 2026-01-08 and holds no complete calendar year yet across 32 payments. On the record we hold, the rolling comparison can first be computed on January 8, 2028 and the calendar-year comparison on January 1, 2029, so this figure fills in around January 2028 as long as SMCY keeps distributing on its current schedule. No calendar year in our record is complete, so there is no annual total to set against a tax year yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SMCY's distribution taxed as dividend income?
Mostly not, on the fund's own estimates. Return of capital is not income when received: it reduces your cost basis instead, which defers tax until you sell (and can turn into capital gain then). The non-ROC portion of an option-income fund's payout is generally ordinary income, not qualified dividend income, because option premium is not a dividend. The exact split for your tax year arrives on the 1099-DIV and the fund's annual tax supplement, and it can differ from the per-payment estimates shown here.
Why does a high ROC share matter?
Two reasons. First, it means the headline distribution overstates what the fund earned in the period: part of the payment is your own capital coming back. Second, basis reduction is a deferral, not an exemption; once basis reaches zero, further ROC is taxed as capital gain immediately.
Where do these figures come from?
From the fund's own published per-payment estimates (Section 19(a) notices), which we record alongside every distribution on the SMCY page. They are estimates by design; the fund's year-end tax documents control.
Full payment record: SMCY distribution history. Other payers whose tax treatment we cover are on the dividend tax index, and the sourcing rules are on the methodology page. Free to cite with a link to dividendtable.com.