Bogleheads

[Barry Barnitz]

A brief monograph containing tax and accounting data for Vanguard International Index Funds, updated for FY 2007:

Vanguard International Index Fund Tax Attributes-FY 2007

regards

[edit to add FTSE-AllWorld ex-US Index]
_________________

blb
December Birthday Celebration: Ludwig van Beethoven

[Greenberry]

Hi Barry,

Thank you for these continued updates! I've found them to be quite helpful.

One question for you: any plans to include tax-managed international in the future, especially as it's now the basis for Europe Pacific ETF and seems to have a renewed emphasis on tracking the EAFE index? It may not technically be an index fund, but it quacks like one.

[Barry Barnitz]

[Arnie]

Barry,

This work is great! Very helpful.

A few questions:

Can you point me to where on Vanguard's site you actually get this data?

Also I noticed that many other postings refer to the FTSE having a lower dividend than the Total Intl (not true by your table) and also that the FTSE has a tax credit near 20bps (also not true by your table).

Were people just guessing before the data came out?

Any reason why the dividends are so different given that Canada seems the only major difference?

Also on the foreign tax credit - in Europe (.19) it is actually larger than the admiral or ETF fee of .12? How should I interpret this?

Thanks and sorry if I'm misreading the table

[Barry Barnitz]

All data is derived from the Annual Reports of the fund.

In the case of the FTSE index, FY 2007 marks the initial year of the fund's existence and the fund was not in existence for the full year. This may have effected the reporting of annualized ratios.

Keep in mind that the foreign tax credit is an independent cash flow separate from internal fund expenses, having no effect on the reported expense ratio. The government gives one a tax credit on one's personal income tax return for the tax paid on the fund's dividends, which either augments the individual's refund or lowers the tax due on the return.

I am putting the finishing touches on my Vanguard Index Fund Tax Attributes (FY 2007) report, which includes the US style box indexes. I should have it ready within the next few days. All data is derived from annual and semiannual reports.

regards,


regards,
_________________

blb
December Birthday Celebration: Ludwig van Beethoven

[House Blend]

Fantastic. A very thorough and useful report.

Staring at Table 1, I suspect that maybe there's a typo regarding the dividend yields, especially for Total.

A back of the envelope calculation says that it should be a weighted average of roughly 40% of the yield for Europe, 40% of Pacific, and 20% Emerging. That works out to about 2.5%, which also squares with the numbers on my 1099-DIV for VGTSX.

In fact, I would speculate that maybe the entries for Total and FTSE got switched.

[Barry Barnitz]

Hi:

The reporting of dividend yields is derived from the yields reported in the annual report and is accurate (unless Vanguard has made an error in reporting on the annual report.) Here are the reported yields of the Total International Index over the past five years as given in the FY 2007 annual report:

2007: 1.93%
2006: 1.71%
2005: 1.76%
2004: 1.54%
2003: 1.75%

Keep in mind that the fiscal year for Vanguard International Index Funds ends each October, and that an individual's tax year and distribution of dividends occurs on a calendar year, with the dividend distribution coming in December.

regards,
_________________

blb
December Birthday Celebration: Ludwig van Beethoven

[House Blend]

[mas]

[Barry Barnitz]

Hi:

The Vanguard International Index Funds' fiscal year ended on October 31, 2007. The reported realized dividend yield over the yearly period runs from October 31, 2006 to October 31, 2007. The dividend distribution in December 2007 comes two months after the end of the fiscal year.

regards,
_________________

blb
December Birthday Celebration: Ludwig van Beethoven

[baw703916]

[mas]

[mas]

[Barry Barnitz]

There are timing issues between reporting on a fiscal year basis and on the distribution timing. Here is the note from the annual report

[mas]

[Greenberry]

[Arnie]

Thanks all (was away for a bit). This is very helpful!