Are dividend payments shown as an expense on the income statement?

when a company declares cash dividends, the amount is transferred from equity to liabilities section in the Balance sheet, by debiting retained earnings and crediting cash dividends payable.

in case of stock or equity dividends, again the transaction is only located in the equity section of the BS.

a property dividend will locate the transaction between Assets and Equity (Retained earnings)

all are balance sheet accounts transactions, no gain or loss, revenue or expense is involved..

Note : in case asset dividends, the asset should be re-evaluated to fair value, in this case a profit or loss of re-evaluating the asset would arise.

but this profit or loss are the result of re-evaluating the asset, and doesn't relate to dividends declaration or distribution.

they are not expenses.

The dividends declared and paid by a corporation will be reported as a use of cash in the financing section of the statement of cash flows. Dividends are also reported on the statement of changes in stockholders' equity. Dividends on common stock are not reported on the income statement since they are not expenses.

Thanks for invitation,

Agree with the reply of Mr Soliuman Gendy.

A corporation's dividends are not an expense and therefore will not appear on its income statement. Cash dividends are a distribution of part of a corporation's earnings that are being paid to its stockholders. ... Earnings available for common stock is reported on the income statement.