{"url":"https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-return-of-capital","section":"questions","title":"What is return of capital in an ETF distribution? | ETFIQ","description":"Return of capital is the part of a distribution that is not income or realized gains, so it comes back out of the fund's own assets.","as_of":"Oct 21, 2026","structured_data":[{"@type":"FAQPage","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is return of capital in an ETF distribution?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Return of capital is the part of a distribution that is not income or realized gains, so it comes back out of the fund's own assets and is not taxed as income in the year it is paid. It lowers the cost basis instead."}}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ETFIQ","item":"https://etfiq.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Questions","item":"https://etfiq.com/questions/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What is return of capital in an ETF distribution?","item":"https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-return-of-capital"}]},{"@type":"WebPage","name":"What is return of capital in an ETF distribution?","description":"Return of capital is the part of a distribution that is not income or realized gains, so it comes back out of the fund's own assets.","url":"https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-return-of-capital","dateModified":"2026-10-21","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".lede"]},"publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"}}],"characters":2887,"truncated":false,"content":"ETFIQ / Questions / What is return of capital in an ETF distribution? \n \n Answered from ETFIQ data as of Oct 21, 2026 .\n What is return of capital in an ETF distribution?\n Return of capital is the part of a distribution that is not income or realized gains, so it comes back out of the fund's own assets and is not taxed as income in the year it is paid. It lowers the cost basis instead.\n Issuers estimate the split on a Rule 19a-1 notice with each distribution, and the estimate is not final until the tax year closes. ETFIQ shows the issuer's own figure, never a computed one.\n A high return of capital figure is not automatically a warning. A fund that writes options can pay cash labeled return of capital while its total return is healthy. What matters is whether the fund earned what it paid. The price change beside the cash shows that.\n So ETFIQ always shows return of capital beside the price change over the same period.\n On ETFIQ today\n Ticker Fund Cash paid 1Y Price 1Y Total return 1Y Return of capital, latest \n MRNY YieldMax MRNA Option Income Strategy ETF 104.4% +170.8% +535.6% not published \n WNTR YieldMax MSTR Short Option Income Strategy ETF 83.4% \u221250.7% +13.1% not published \n AMDW Roundhill AMD WeeklyPay ETF 73.5% +29.8% +149.8% not published \n FIAT YieldMax Short COIN Option Income Strategy ETF 72.1% \u221237.6% +34.4% not published \n AMDY YieldMax AMD Option Income Strategy ETF 68.9% \u22129.0% +91.9% not published \n AMYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST AMD ETF 60.7% \u221250.6% +16.8% not published \n CVNY YieldMax CVNA Option Income Strategy ETF 53.7% \u221255.1% \u22127.1% not published \n TSYY GraniteShares YieldBOOST TSLA ETF 52.9% \u221267.9% \u221221.8% not published \n \n Where to next\n Every income ETF The vocabulary Do covered call ETFs lose value? Where these figures came from\n Rule 19a-1 distribution notices and prospectus filings on SEC EDGAR SEC EDGAR, full-text search of fund filings SEC Form N-PORT, what a fund filed it holds Rule 19a-1, what a distribution notice must say ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement.\n ETFIQ is an independent publisher and makes no recommendations. Standards and sources \n Cite this page. ETFIQ, What is return of capital in an ETF distribution?, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-return-of-capital Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms. The underlying files are at Open data .\n Other forms Plain ETFIQ, What is return of capital in an ETF distribution?, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-return-of-capital APA ETFIQ. (Oct 21, 2026). What is return of capital in an ETF distribution?. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-return-of-capital Markdown [What is return of capital in an ETF distribution? (ETFIQ, Oct 21, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-return-of-capital)","source":"ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.","publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"license":"https://etfiq.com/license/","license_text":"Figures ETFIQ computes are free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.","citation":"ETFIQ, What is return of capital in an ETF distribution?, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-return-of-capital"}