Declaration Date

• The declaration date is the day that the company tells the public that it is going to pay a dividend. The company tells how much it will pay per share. On this day, the company adjusts its financial records to show that it has a responsibility to pay the dividend in the future. The total liability is determined by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the dividend per share. On this date, the company also announces the date of record, ex-dividend date and payment date.
  
  

Ex-Dividend Date

• For investors, this is the significant date because it is the last date on which you can buy the stock and be able to receive the dividend. After this date, the stock price will usually drop because when the company pays out a dividend the total value of the company decreases by the amount paid out.
  
  

Date of Record

• This is the date on which the company records the names of all of the shareholders and the number of shares that they own for the purposes of paying the dividend. The date of record is usually 2 or 3 days after the ex-dividend date because of the time it takes for the company to register all stock owners.
  
  

Payment Date

• The payment date is the date that the company pays the dividend to those who held shares on the ex-dividend date. Even if the investors no longer own the stock on the payment date, if they owned it at the ex-dividend date they will still receive the dividend payment. The payment date determines what year the dividends are taxable in.