JEPI's September 2026 dividend is $0.37142 per share, with an ex-dividend date of September 1, 2026 and a pay date of September 3, 2026. The next ex-dividend date is October 1, 2026, paying October 5, 2026. JEPI pays monthly.
- Sep 2026 Payout
- $0.37142
- Next Ex-Date
- Oct 1, 2026
- Next Pay Date
- Oct 5, 2026
- TTM Dividend
- $4.58
- TTM Yield
- ~8.1%
JEPI 2026 Dividend Dates & Payout Amounts
Every JEPI ex-dividend date, record date, pay date, and per-share amount for 2026, plus all 75 distributions since inception.
When Does JEPI Pay Its Dividend in 2026?
The JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) distributes monthly. The ex-dividend date is normally the first business day of the month, with the record date falling on the same day and the pay date roughly two business days later.
JEPI's September 2026 distribution came in at $0.37142 per share, with an ex-date of September 1 and a pay date of September 3. That is a 1.3% step up from August's $0.36664, but it sits well below the $0.44761 paid in May, which remains the high point of 2026 so far.
Across 2026 so far, JEPI has paid $3.08 per share over eight distributions, an average of $0.3848 per month. That is fractionally below 2025's $0.3933 monthly average — 2026 is tracking as a roughly flat year for JEPI income, not a record one. Over the trailing twelve months JEPI has distributed $4.58 per share, a yield of roughly 8.1% at a share price near $56.
One quirk catches investors out every year: JEPI has never had a January ex-dividend date. Not once since 2020. The explanation is below.
JEPI 2026 Dividend Date Schedule
Every 2026 ex-dividend date, record date, pay date, and amount. Declared distributions show actual figures; upcoming months show JPMorgan's announced dates with amounts still to be determined.
| Month | Ex-Dividend Date | Record Date | Pay Date | Amount / Share | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Januarypaid from Dec 31, 2025 ex-date | Dec 31, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | Jan 5, 2026 | $0.42709 | Paid |
| February | Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 4, 2026 | $0.34443 | Paid |
| March | Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 4, 2026 | $0.35134 | Paid |
| April | Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | $0.42050 | Paid |
| May | May 1, 2026 | May 1, 2026 | May 5, 2026 | $0.44761 2026 HIGH | Paid |
| June | Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | $0.38921 | Paid |
| July | Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 6, 2026 | $0.38716 | Paid |
| August | Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 5, 2026 | $0.36664 | Paid |
| September | Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 3, 2026 | $0.37142 | Declared |
| October NEXT | Oct 1, 2026 | Oct 1, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 | Not yet declared | Date set |
| November | Nov 2, 2026 | Nov 2, 2026 | Nov 4, 2026 | Not yet declared | Date set |
| December | Dec 1, 2026 | Dec 1, 2026 | Dec 3, 2026 | Not yet declared | Date set |
| Dec (Capital Gains)separate special distribution date | Dec 15, 2026 | Dec 15, 2026 | Dec 17, 2026 | $0.0000 — none declared SPECIAL | Reserved |
| Year-Endpays early Jan 2027 | Dec 31, 2026 | Dec 31, 2026 | ~Jan 5, 2027 | Not yet declared | Date set |
Distributions through September 2026 are declared amounts. October through December ex-dates have been published by JPMorgan; the per-share amounts have not been. JPMorgan announces JEPI's dates ahead of time but never the amounts — any dollar figure you see attached to a future JEPI ex-date on another site is a third-party estimate, not a fund announcement.
⚠️ Why JEPI Has No January Ex-Dividend Date
Look at any JEPI calendar and January appears to be missing. It isn't — JEPI runs two December ex-dividend dates every year. One falls at the start of December as normal, and a second falls in the final days of the month. That late-December distribution has a pay date in early January, which is the payment shareholders receive as their January income.
This has happened every single year since the fund launched:
- Ex Dec 30, 2020 → paid Jan 5, 2021 ($0.5428)
- Ex Dec 30, 2021 → paid Jan 4, 2022 ($0.4586)
- Ex Dec 29, 2022 → paid Jan 4, 2023 ($0.57292)
- Ex Dec 28, 2023 → paid Jan 3, 2024 ($0.42781)
- Ex Dec 31, 2024 → paid Jan 3, 2025 ($0.3948)
- Ex Dec 31, 2025 → paid Jan 5, 2026 ($0.42709)
In 75 distributions, JEPI has never once had a January ex-dividend date. The practical consequence: if you buy JEPI in early January expecting to catch a January ex-date, you have already missed it. The relevant ex-date was in late December. JPMorgan has already published December 31, 2026 as the next one.
📌 The December 15, 2026 Capital Gains Date
JPMorgan's published 2026 calendar includes an extra reserved date — an ex-date of December 15, 2026 with a pay date of December 17 — flagged as a potential capital gains distribution. It currently carries a $0.0000 placeholder, which means the date is held open but nothing has been declared.
This is routine housekeeping rather than a signal. Funds reserve a capital gains date each year in case realized gains need to be passed through to shareholders for tax purposes. JEPI's distribution record shows no capital gains distributions to date — every payment in its history has been an income distribution. The date may well pass with nothing paid, as it has in prior years.
Worth watching if you hold JEPI in a taxable account, since a capital gains distribution would arrive as a separate taxable event in mid-December on top of the regular monthly payment.
JEPI Dividends by Year
Total distributions and monthly averages for each calendar year since JEPI launched in May 2020. Grouped by ex-dividend date.
What the Year-by-Year Numbers Actually Show
2022 was JEPI's outlier year, not its baseline. The $6.36 paid that year came out of a genuine bear market with elevated implied volatility for months on end — exactly the conditions that make selling call options lucrative. Income investors who bought JEPI in late 2022 expecting $6+ per share annually have been disappointed every year since.
Strip 2022 out and JEPI's full years have clustered tightly between $4.16 and $4.72, a range of just 13%. That is a far more realistic planning figure than the headline 2022 number. At a share price near $56, that range implies a yield of roughly 7.4% to 8.4% in normal conditions.
JEPI's Last 12 Distributions
The trailing twelve months of payouts with month-over-month change.
| Ex-Dividend Date | Amount | MoM Change | Pay Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | $0.37142 | +1.3% | Sep 3, 2026 | |
| Aug 3, 2026 | $0.36664 | -5.3% | Aug 5, 2026 | |
| Jul 1, 2026 | $0.38716 | -0.5% | Jul 6, 2026 | |
| Jun 1, 2026 | $0.38921 | -13.0% | Jun 3, 2026 | |
| May 1, 2026 | $0.44761 | +6.4% | May 5, 2026 | 2026 HIGH |
| Apr 1, 2026 | $0.42050 | +19.7% | Apr 6, 2026 | |
| Mar 2, 2026 | $0.35134 | +2.0% | Mar 4, 2026 | |
| Feb 2, 2026 | $0.34443 | -19.4% | Feb 4, 2026 | 12-MO LOW |
| Dec 31, 2025 | $0.42709 | +15.2% | Jan 5, 2026 | YEAR-END |
| Dec 1, 2025 | $0.37060 | +7.0% | Dec 3, 2025 | |
| Nov 3, 2025 | $0.34636 | -4.1% | Nov 5, 2025 | |
| Oct 1, 2025 | $0.36102 | -2.0% | Oct 3, 2025 |
Trailing twelve months total: $4.58338 per share — a yield of roughly 8.1% at a share price near $56. Across all 75 distributions since July 2020, JEPI has paid approximately $30.39 per share at an average of $0.4052.
Why JEPI's Dividend Changes Every Month
JEPI's payout is variable by design. Understanding why prevents unnecessary panic when it drops.
How JEPI Generates Its Income
- Ticker
- JEPI
- Issuer
- J.P. Morgan
- Inception
- May 20, 2020
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Expense Ratio
- 0.35%
- Benchmark
- S&P 500
JEPI runs two sleeves. The first is an actively managed portfolio of S&P 500 stocks selected through bottom-up fundamental research for low volatility and value characteristics — the prospectus commits at least 80% of assets to equity securities. This sleeve looks nothing like a market-cap-weighted index fund; positions are deliberately kept small and diversified.
The second sleeve is the income engine. Rather than writing calls directly against its own holdings, JEPI buys equity-linked notes (ELNs) — structured notes issued by large banks that combine S&P 500 exposure with written call options in a single instrument. The prospectus permits up to 20% of net assets in ELNs; in practice the allocation typically runs around 15%.
Option premiums scale with implied volatility. When markets get choppy, calls sell for more and JEPI's payout rises. When markets are calm and grinding upward, premiums shrink and the payout falls. This is why the distribution swings between roughly $0.26 and $0.62 rather than holding steady.
A falling JEPI distribution is not a dividend cut in the way a company reducing its payout is. It reflects a lower-volatility month. The trade-off runs the other way too: the record 2022 payouts came out of a bear market.
🏆 Compare JEPI against every other high-yield ETF on our Top 100 Dividend ETFs list.
The Range So Far
- Highest ever: $0.62102 — July 2022
- Second highest: $0.61036 — December 2022
- Third highest: $0.60627 — November 2022
- Lowest ever: $0.25720 — August 2021
- Second lowest: $0.26260 — February 2021
- Average across 75 payments: $0.4052
- Total paid since inception: ~$30.39 per share
The spread between the highest and lowest month is roughly 2.4x. If you are budgeting real monthly income around JEPI, plan against the average rather than the most recent payment — and note that every one of the top three months came from 2022's volatility spike.
💰 How JEPI's Distributions Are Taxed
This is the detail most JEPI holders learn about in April rather than in advance. Because the majority of JEPI's income arrives through equity-linked notes, most of the monthly distribution is classified as ordinary income — taxed at your marginal rate — rather than as qualified dividends taxed at the preferential 15–20% long-term rate.
Only the slice attributable to dividends from the underlying stock holdings is generally qualified. The practical effect is that JEPI's headline yield and its after-tax yield can diverge meaningfully for investors in higher brackets, which is why the fund is frequently held inside IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts.
Your actual tax treatment depends on your own situation and the year's final distribution classification, which JPMorgan reports on Form 1099-DIV. This page is not tax advice — consult a tax professional.
💡 How to Qualify for a JEPI Distribution
- Buy before the ex-dividend date. Purchase no later than the prior trading day. Buying on the ex-date itself means you miss that month.
- Ex-date and record date are the same day for JEPI, so there is no separate window to track.
- You can sell on or after the ex-date and still receive the payment. Ownership before the ex-date is what matters.
- The pay date lands about two business days later — faster than most monthly ETFs, which often run 5+ days.
- Watch late December. The year-end ex-date is the one people miss. It is not in January.
JEPI vs JEPQ: The Two JPMorgan Premium Income ETFs
Same team, same mechanism, different index — and meaningfully different risk.
| JEPI | JEPQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Underlying index | S&P 500 | Nasdaq-100 |
| Inception | May 20, 2020 | May 3, 2022 |
| Expense ratio | 0.35% | 0.35% |
| Distributions paid | 75 | 52 |
| TTM distribution | $4.58 | $6.76 |
| TTM yield | ~8.1% | ~11% |
| Equity sleeve | Low-volatility, value-tilted | Technology-weighted growth |
| Volatility profile | More defensive | More aggressive |
| Lead manager | Hamilton Reiner — same team runs both | |
The higher JEPQ yield is not free. It comes from writing options on a more volatile, more concentrated index, which means larger drawdowns in a tech selloff. JEPI is the more conservative of the pair by construction.
Every JEPQ ex-date, pay date and amount for 2026, plus all 52 distributions since inception.
View JEPQ Dividend Dates 2026 →Frequently Asked Questions — JEPI Dividends
Common questions about JEPI's ex-dividend dates, payment schedule, taxation, and variable distributions.
- What is JEPI's September 2026 dividend?JEPI declared $0.37142 per share for September 2026, with an ex-dividend date of September 1, 2026 and a pay date of September 3, 2026. That is 1.3% above August's $0.36664.
- When is JEPI's next ex-dividend date?JEPI's next ex-dividend date is October 1, 2026, with payment on October 5, 2026. You must own shares before October 1 to receive that distribution. JPMorgan publishes the date ahead of time but not the amount.
- How much was JEPI's last dividend?JEPI's most recent declared distribution is $0.37142 per share, with an ex-dividend date of September 1, 2026 and a pay date of September 3, 2026. The fund's all-time high remains the $0.62102 paid in July 2022.
- When does JEPI pay dividends?JEPI pays monthly. The ex-dividend date is normally the first business day of the month, the record date falls the same day, and the pay date follows about two business days later. The exception is the year-end distribution, which has a late-December ex-date and pays in early January.
- Why does JEPI have no January ex-dividend date?JEPI runs two December ex-dividend dates each year — one at the start of the month and one in the final days. The late-December distribution pays in early January, covering the January payment. This has happened every year since 2020, most recently an ex-date of December 31, 2025 paying $0.42709 on January 5, 2026. In 75 distributions JEPI has never had a January ex-date. If you buy in early January expecting one, you've already missed it.
- What is JEPI's dividend yield?JEPI has paid $4.58 per share over the trailing twelve months, a yield of roughly 8.1% at a share price near $56. Because most of the income comes from option premiums earned through equity-linked notes, the monthly amount varies with market volatility, so trailing yield and any forward estimate will differ.
- How many dividends has JEPI paid?JEPI has made 75 consecutive monthly distributions since its first ex-dividend date on July 1, 2020, totaling roughly $30.39 per share at an average of $0.4052 per payment. It has never missed or skipped a month.
- Why does JEPI's dividend change every month?JEPI generates most of its income through equity-linked notes that sell call options on the S&P 500. Option premiums rise with implied volatility and fall when markets are calm, so the payout moves with volatility rather than staying fixed. Amounts have ranged from $0.2572 (August 2021) to $0.62102 (July 2022). A lower month is not a dividend cut — it reflects lower premiums.
- Is JEPI's dividend taxed as qualified dividends?Mostly no. Because the majority of JEPI's income comes from equity-linked notes, most of the monthly distribution is classified as ordinary income and taxed at your marginal rate, rather than at the preferential qualified-dividend rate. Only the portion attributable to the underlying stock dividends is generally qualified. This is why many investors hold JEPI inside IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts. Final classification appears on your Form 1099-DIV — consult a tax professional about your own situation.
- Is 2026 a record year for JEPI?No. Through eight distributions JEPI has averaged $0.3848 per month in 2026, slightly below 2025's $0.3933 average. It is running ahead of 2024 ($0.3514) and 2021 ($0.3468), but well behind the 2022 peak of $0.5302 per month. 2026 is shaping up as a normal, mid-range year for JEPI income.
- What is the December 15, 2026 date on JEPI's calendar?It is a reserved date for a potential capital gains distribution, with a pay date of December 17, 2026. It currently shows a $0.0000 placeholder, meaning the date is held open but nothing has been declared. Funds routinely reserve such a date each year in case realized gains must be passed through for tax purposes. JEPI's distribution record shows no capital gains distributions to date.
- How does JEPI compare to JEPQ?Both are JPMorgan covered call ETFs paying monthly, both charge 0.35%, and both are run by the same team under lead manager Hamilton Reiner. JEPI is built on the S&P 500 with a low-volatility, value-tilted equity sleeve. JEPQ is built on the Nasdaq-100 and is far more technology-weighted. JEPQ typically carries the higher yield (~11% vs ~8%) and the higher volatility; JEPI is the more defensive of the two. See JEPQ's 2026 dividend dates →
- Do I need to hold JEPI on the ex-dividend date?You must own JEPI before the ex-dividend date, meaning you buy no later than the prior trading day. For JEPI the ex-date and record date are the same day. Once you own shares before the ex-date, you receive the distribution even if you sell afterward.
- Does JEPI suffer from NAV erosion?JEPI's share price has drifted modestly lower over multi-year holding periods while paying out substantial income, which is characteristic of covered call strategies: selling calls caps upside participation in strong rallies, so less capital appreciation accrues to the share price. That is a structural trade-off, not a defect — but it means JEPI's total return has historically trailed a plain S&P 500 index fund during bull markets. Evaluate it on total return, not yield alone.
Important Disclaimer
Dividend dates and amounts on this page are sourced from JPMorgan's published distribution records and are provided for educational and informational purposes only. Declared amounts are historical fact; future ex-dividend dates reflect JPMorgan's published calendar and are subject to change without notice by the issuer. Distribution amounts are never announced in advance and vary substantially month to month. Past distributions do not guarantee future payments. Tax commentary on this page is general in nature and is not tax advice; consult a qualified tax professional. This page contains no buy or sell recommendations and does not constitute financial advice. Covered call strategies cap upside participation and may experience NAV erosion in strong bull markets. Always verify dates and amounts with J.P. Morgan Asset Management or your brokerage before making investment decisions. TopDividendETFs.com is not affiliated with JPMorgan Chase & Co.
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