Dividend payments are firm events on a recurring and predictable basis. High returns in the period between announcement-date and ex-dividend date are the main driver for the so-called dividend month premium, which are positive abnormal returns in months in which corporations are predicted to...

This paper explores withholding-tax non-compliance in the context of dividend taxation. It focuses on a specific type of stock-market transactions around ex-dividend dates, so-called “cum-ex” trades, which caused considerable revenue losses due to illegitimate tax refunds in Germany and...

The paper explores the effect of cum-ex trading on the stock market on ex-dividend days. A loophole in the German withholding tax system until 2011 enabled cum-ex traders to achieve the issuance of cash-equivalent withholding-tax certificates without previous tax payment. The paper discusses the...