Key Highlights

  • The 10.5 cent final Dividend was paid on 24 September 2026, 90.5 per cent franked.
  • FY26 dividends totalled 21 cents per share.
  • The franked portion carried a Credit of about 4.07 cents per share, and 1 cent was declared conduit foreign income.
  • The DRP is operating, and a new buy-back of up to $1 billion has been announced.

Telstra Group Limited (ASX:TLS) paid a final dividend of 10.5 cents per share on 24 September 2026, and the details of that payment show why investors researching the dividend stocks on the ASX look beyond the headline amount. Telstra's FY26 Appendix 4E, released on 13 August 2026, set the dividend at 90.5 per cent franked, with an ex-dividend date of 26 August, a Record Date of 27 August and a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) election date of 4 September. Alongside its dividends, Telstra completed a $1.25 billion on-market share buy-back in FY26 and announced a further buy-back of up to $1 billion.

Telstra's FY26 dividend timetable

Telstra's final dividend for the year to 30 June 2026 was 10.5 cents per share. Of that, 9.5 cents was franked and 1 cent was unfranked, and the company declared the unfranked portion to be wholly conduit foreign income. Combined with the Interim Dividend of 10.5 cents, total FY26 dividends were 21 cents per share, 90.5 per cent franked.

Shares traded ex-dividend on Wednesday 26 August, the record date was Thursday 27 August and payment was made on Thursday 24 September 2026. The DRP continued to operate for the final dividend, with elections due by 4 September.

How partial franking applies to the Telstra dividend

Because the final dividend was not fully franked, only the 9.5 cent franked portion carries franking credits. At the 30 per cent company tax rate, the credit on that portion is 9.5 cents multiplied by 30/70, or about 4.07 cents per share. The grossed-up dividend for an Australian resident Shareholder is therefore about 14.57 cents per share: the 10.5 cents in cash plus the 4.07 cent credit.

The 1 cent unfranked portion carries no franking credit. Telstra's declaration of that amount as conduit foreign income is mainly relevant to non-resident shareholders, because conduit foreign income is generally exempt from Australian dividend Withholding tax. For resident shareholders, the unfranked amount is included in assessable income without an attached credit.

How Telstra's dividend reinvestment plan works

A DRP gives shareholders the option of receiving new or transferred shares instead of cash. Participants usually do not pay brokerage on the shares allocated, and the allocation price is typically set from the average Market Price over a defined pricing period after the record date. Telstra's DRP election date of 4 September came one week after the record date.

For tax purposes, reinvested dividends are generally treated the same way as cash dividends, so participants still include the dividend and any franking credit in their assessable income even though they received shares rather than cash. The cost base of shares acquired through a DRP is generally the amount of the dividend reinvested. Shareholders can check their DRP status and change elections through the share registry before each election deadline.

Buy-backs and dividends side by side

Telstra's Capital management in FY26 combined dividends with an on-market buy-back. The company completed its $1.25 billion buy-back during the year and announced a further on-market buy-back of up to $1 billion. A buy-back reduces the number of shares on issue when the purchased shares are cancelled, which means any given total dividend payment is spread across fewer shares.

Companies use buy-backs and dividends to return capital in different ways. Dividends deliver cash to all shareholders in proportion to their holdings, while an on-market buy-back returns cash only to those who sell shares during the buy-back period.

The Earnings behind the payout

For FY26, Telstra reported underlying EBITDAaL of $8,341 million, up 4.0 per cent, and reported EBITDA of $8,822 million, up 2.5 per cent. Profit for the year was $2,406 million, up 2.7 per cent, with profit attributable to Equity holders of $2,241 million, up 3.2 per cent.

Telstra's Annual Report referred to its FY30 ambitions, including mid-single-digit compound growth in cash earnings and a 10 per cent underlying return on invested capital, while noting these are not guidance. CEO and Managing Director Vicki Brady also addressed a network outage in July 2026, saying: "When our network fails, the impact is real, and we're deeply sorry for the disruption the incident caused."

Telstra in the current income environment

The Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.85 per cent on 3 November 2026, its fifth increase this year, and said Inflation "remains elevated" and that the economy is slowing. Higher cash rates change the comparison investors draw between term deposits and income from shares, although shares carry capital risk that deposits do not. Telecommunications is often grouped with other defensive sectors because Demand for mobile and broadband services tends to be less sensitive to economic cycles than discretionary spending.

Telstra's next dividend decision is expected with its half-year result for the six months to 31 December 2026, when the board will set the interim amount, franking level and DRP terms. Until then, shareholders can use the dividend statement issued for the September payment, which shows the franked amount, the unfranked amount, the conduit foreign income declaration and the franking credit, to prepare their tax records. Those registry statements are the figures normally used for an individual tax return, and investors who joined the DRP should keep the allocation statement as a record of the cost base of any shares received. Shareholders who hold their shares through a nominee or platform generally receive this information from that provider instead.

Key Takeaways

Telstra Group Limited (ASX:TLS) paid a 10.5 cent final dividend on 24 September 2026, 90.5 per cent franked, after an ex-dividend date of 26 August and a record date of 27 August, taking FY26 dividends to 21 cents. The franked portion carried a credit of about 4.07 cents per share, while the 1 cent unfranked portion was declared conduit foreign income. With its DRP operating and a new buy-back of up to $1 billion, Telstra illustrates the different tools companies use to return capital, which is useful context for anyone researching the dividend stocks on the ASX.