National Statistics Online - Articles - New Estimates of Dividend Payments
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New Estimates of Dividend Payments
Covers the collection of dividend data following abolition of Advance Corporation Tax in 1999, and outlines problems to which solutions are still being sought and resulting quality issues.
The abolition of Advance Corporation Tax in April 1999 meant the loss of a comprehensive source of data for dividends paid and received by UK companies. ONS now uses a number of alternative sources, depending on the type of company paying and/or receiving, and the article describes a new quarterly inquiry to non-financial companies not quoted on the Stock Exchange. Companies in this class pay approximately half of all dividends in the UK.
The article explains why dividends are significantly different from transactions covered by other inquiries and resulting new approaches to sampling and estimation. These have included modifications to the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) and non-standard stratification techniques. It also describes problems to which solutions are still being sought and resulting quality issues.
By describing the design process, from original needs analysis through piloting to ongoing quality review, the article illustrates how the new data source works and its level of accuracy. It will therefore be useful to anyone who uses ONS data on dividends, and those generally interested in ONS's use of inquiries to gather information about business.
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