Investors who own Canadian exchange traded funds and who file U.S. tax returns may be considered to be holders of a Passive Foreign Investment Company (PFIC). Note that all U.S. citizens and green card holders are required to file a U.S. tax return even if they are residents of Canada or another country. Other Canadian residents with significant ties to the U.S. may also be required to file U.S. tax returns.
A PFIC is defined under U.S. tax rules which are intended to prevent U.S. taxpayers from securing preferential tax treatment, such as tax deferrals, from investing in foreign securities instead of U.S. securities. To help investors who file U.S. tax returns avoid the negative consequences of owning a PFIC, Hamilton ETFs is providing PFIC annual information statements for its funds. This allows U.S. taxpayers to elect to treat these ETFs as “Qualified Electing Funds” (QEFs) on their U.S. tax returns which gives U.S. investors access to capital gains tax rates on their holdings of these funds.
The following is a summary of the annual income factors on a per unit, per day basis for each of the Hamilton ETFs. Please note that these amounts and proportions may vary from year to year.
For the Year Ended April 30, 2023
| Ticker | Fund | Class | Ordinary Earnings (US$) Per Unit/Day | Net Capital Gains (US$) Per Unit/Day | Cash/Property Distributions (US$) Per Unit/Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HBA | Hamilton Australian Bank Equal-Weight Index ETF | E | 0.0022788908 | 0.0031051580 | 1.3770949114 |
| HCA | Hamilton Canadian Bank Mean Reversion Index ETF | E | - | - | 0.8625170349 |
| HCAL | Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Bank ETF | E | - | - | 1.1411401709 |
| HDIV | Hamilton Enhanced Multi Sector Covered Call ETF | E | 0.0020913400 | - | 1.1562415559 |
| HEB | Hamilton Canadian Bank Equal-Weight Index ETF | E | 0.0001340855 | - | 0.0512040031 |
| HFG | Hamilton Global Financials ETF | E | 0.0014818782 | 0.0020719425 | 1.5608811380 |
| HFIN | Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Financials ETF | E | 0.0009291959 | 0.0000007067 | 0.6740250518 |
| HFT | Hamilton Financials Innovation ETF | E | - | - | 0.0448956425 |
| HMAX | Hamilton Canadian Financials Yield Maximizer ETF | E | 0.0002155193 | - | 0.4057406306 |
| HUM | Hamilton U.S. Mid/Small-Cap Financials ETF | E | 0.0005933924 | 0.0054230100 | 0.6535410391 |
| HUTS | Hamilton Enhanced Utilities ETF | E | 0.0010130909 | - | 0.4674794419 |
| HYLD | Hamilton Enhanced U.S Covered Call ETF | E | - | - | 1.2469944006 |
| HYLD.U | Hamilton Enhanced U.S Covered Call ETF | U | - | - | 1.7325911603 |
U.S. persons that are a direct or indirect unit or shareholders in PFICs are required to complete Form 8621 in certain circumstances. Where a U.S. person is a unitholder in a fund that invests in securities, that person may be considered to be an indirect unit holder in those securities.
The following tables are designed to assist a U.S. unitholder to make a QEF election for certain Hamilton ETFs that may be classified as PFICs and that are held directly by the ETF. The pro-rata share of the ordinary earnings and net capital gains for the unitholder of the ETF for those certain Hamilton ETFs specified in the table below attributable to a per-unit per-day ETF holding by its investments in the certain Hamilton ETFs, and the per-unit amount of cash or property distributed by those certain Hamilton ETFs specified in the table below for the period specified in paragraph (1) is as follows:
For HCAL Series E Shareholders
| Direct Investee Funds of the Fund- Class E | Ordinary Earnings (US$) Per Unit/Day | Net Capital Gains (US$) Per Unit/Day | Cash/Property Distributions (US$) Per Unit/Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton Canadian Bank Equal-Weight Index ETF | 0.000013763680 | - | - |
| Hamilton Canadian Bank Mean Reversion Index ETF | - | - | 0.002840694564 |
For HDIV Series E Shareholders
| Direct Investee Funds of the Fund- Class E | Ordinary Earnings (US$) Per Unit/Day | Net Capital Gains (US$) Per Unit/Day | Cash/Property Distributions (US$) Per Unit/Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton Enhanced Canadian Financials ETF | 0.000165256635 | 0.0000007067 | 0.000231788515 |
| Hamilton Canadian Financials Yield Maximizer ETF | 0.000018523407 | - | 0.000207946794 |
For HFG Series E Shareholders
| Direct Investee Funds of the Fund- Class E | Ordinary Earnings (US$) Per Unit/Day | Net Capital Gains (US$) Per Unit/Day | Cash/Property Distributions (US$) Per Unit/Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton Financials Innovation ETF | - | - | 0.000003742165 |