Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter - I've gotten some more info re my question yesterday on the subject of the 'phantom distribution',

TDAM confirmed that the Notional distribution will increase the book value and that the distribution is a capital gain.

To me this means that I must dispose of all the shares in order to realize the capital loss and can only apply it to the 2025 tax year. Is this correct? And since only 50% of capital gains/losses are taxed, then for a USD 10,000 Notional distribution the benefit is really only USD 5,000 that can be applied as a capital loss. Is this correct? And if I was to claim a capital loss, I'd have to wait 30 days before I could repurchase TDB2915. Is this correct?

I should be grateful for the unexpected distribution, but overall it looks more like a 'poor man's' dividend to me.

Many thanks again for your much appreciated views.

Q: Hi again Peter
Re this money market fund, if i sell it all, can i purchase another one of a different series at the same institution before the 30 days are up? That is if i can find one without a trailing fee for a short ownership period.

Thank you again

Q: Hi Peter
We would very much appreciate your view on this situation, which seems quite unfair to us.
We invested in the TD USD money market fund, TDB2915. At the end of 2024 we received our regular monthly drip and the quantity of units rose accordingly. We also saw a transaction for a much larger drip but there were no numbers put in the quantity column. TD told us that the fund had a Special Distribution. But instead of paying the Special Distribution as cash into our account, the fund instead reduced the cost basis of our shares. TD said that they could either pay out the Special Distribution or reduce the cost basis, and that they chose the latter. TDB2915 has a fixed price of USD 10 per share. Our understanding of what we were told is below by way of an example:
Initial Investment: USD $10,000 with a purchase 1,000 shares of TDB2915 at USD $10 per share.
Special Distribution: USD $2 per share
Instead of receiving USD $2,000 as cash, the fund reduces the cost basis by USD $2 per share
So the Adjusted Cost Basis after the Special Distribution is USD $10 minus USD $2 = USD $8 per share, and so for 1,000 shares the ACB = USD $8,000
When the shares are sold there is a gain of USD $2,000 to report because of the now lower ACB. But we didn’t receive any additional shares.
Putting the tax issues aside, the example shows that the shareholder is no further ahead having not receive the additional USD $2,000 Special Distribution.
Are we missing something? Is this legal?
Many, many thanks for sharing your respected views.