Every written statement made pursuant to section 19 by or on behalf of a management company shall be made on a separate paper and shall clearly indicate what portion of the payment per share is made from the following sources:

Net income for the current or preceding fiscal year, or accumulated undistributed net income, or both, not including in either case profits or losses from the sale of securities or other properties.

Accumulated undistributed net profits from the sale of securities or other properties (except that an open-end company may treat as a separate source its net profits from such sales during its current fiscal year).

Paid-in surplus or other capital source.

If the payment is made in whole or in part from a source specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section the written statement shall indicate, after giving effect to the part of such payment so specified, the deficit, if any, in the aggregate of (1) accumulated undistributed realized profits less losses on the sale of securities or other properties and (2) the net unrealized appreciation or depreciation of portfolio securities, all as of a date reasonably close to the end of the period as of which the dividend is paid. Any statement made pursuant to the preceding sentence shall specify the amount, if any, of such deficit which represents unrealized depreciation of portfolio securities.

Accumulated undistributed net income and accumulated undistributed net profits from the sale of securities or other properties shall be determined, at the option of the company, either (1) from the date of the organization of the company, (2) from the date of a reorganization, as defined in clause (A) or (B) of section 2(a)(33) of the Act (54 Stat. 790; 15 U.S.C. 80a-2(a)(33)), (3) from the date as of which a write-down of portfolio securities was made in connection with a corporate readjustment, approved by stockholders, of the type known as “quasi- reorganization,” or (4) from January 1, 1925, to the close of the period as of which the dividend is paid, without giving effect to such payment.

For the purpose of this section, open-end companies which upon the sale of their shares allocate to undistributed income or other similar account that portion of the consideration received which represents the approximate per share amount of undistributed net income included in the sales price, and make a corresponding deduction from undistributed net income upon the purchase or redemption of shares, need not treat the amounts so allocated as paid-in surplus or other capital source.

For the purpose of this section, the source or sources from which a dividend is paid shall be determined (or reasonably estimated) to the close of the period as of which it is paid without giving effect to such payment. If any such estimate is subsequently ascertained to be inaccurate in a significant amount, a correction thereof shall be made by a written statement pursuant to section 19(a) of the Act or in the first report to stockholders following discovery of the inaccuracy.

Insofar as a written statement made pursuant to section 19(a) of the Act relates to a dividend on preferred stock paid for a period of less than a year, a company may elect to indicate only that portion of the payment which is made from sources specified in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, and need not specify the sources from which the remainder was paid. Every company which in any fiscal year elects to make a statement pursuant to the preceding sentence shall transmit to the holders of such preferred stock, at a date reasonably near the end of the last dividend period in such fiscal year, a statement meeting the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section on an annual basis.

The purpose of this section, in the light of which it shall be construed, is to afford security holders adequate disclosure of the sources from which dividend payments are made. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the inclusion in any written statement of additional information in explanation of the information required by this section. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit a dividend payment in violation of any State law or to prevent compliance with any requirement of State law regarding dividends consistent with this rule.

For interpretative release applicable to § 270.19a-1, see No. 71 in tabulation, part 271 of this chapter.