What are the general provisions of the company law on dividends?

Article 4 of the Company Law stipulates: "The shareholders of the company shall enjoy the rights of asset income, participation in major decisions and selection of managers according to law". Among them, an important content of the "right to return on assets" is that shareholders of the company have the right to obtain profit distribution from the company according to law, commonly known as "dividends".

According to the Company Law, a company shall meet the following conditions when distributing dividends:

(1) The company has profits available for distribution. According to Article 166 of the Company Law, the company's profits are distributed in the following order: first, pay taxes; Second, make up for the loss; Third, withdraw the statutory provident fund; Fourth, withdraw any reserves; Fifth, pay dividends. Among them, the extraction ratio of statutory provident fund should be 10% of after-tax profit. If the cumulative amount of statutory reserve fund is more than 50% of the registered capital of the company, it may not be withdrawn; The withdrawal of the provident fund shall be decided by the shareholders' meeting or the shareholders' meeting.

(2) The shareholders' meeting of the company shall make an effective resolution on the dividends of the company. According to Articles 37 and 46 of the Company Law, the board of directors formulates the company's profit distribution plan, and the shareholders' meeting deliberates and adopts the company's profit distribution plan.

(3) In the case that the company's shareholders' meeting passed the dividend resolution but the company refused to implement it, the company's shareholders have the right to sue the company and demand the company to implement the dividend resolution of the shareholders' meeting and pay dividends to the shareholders in time.

(4) If the company has not distributed profits to shareholders for five consecutive years, and the company has made profits for five consecutive years, which meets the conditions for distributing profits stipulated in the Company Law, the shareholders of the company who voted against the resolution of not distributing dividends at the shareholders' meeting may request the company to purchase its equity at a reasonable price. If the shareholders and the company fail to reach an equity purchase agreement within 60 days from the date of adoption of the resolution of the general meeting of shareholders, the shareholders may bring a lawsuit to the people's court within 90 days from the date of adoption of the resolution of the general meeting of shareholders.

(5) Dividends of shareholders of a limited liability company shall be distributed according to the proportion of paid-in capital contribution, except that all shareholders agree not to distribute according to the proportion of capital contribution, in accordance with the provisions of Article 34 of the Company Law; A joint stock limited company shall distribute shares according to the proportion of shares held by shareholders, except that the articles of association of a joint stock limited company stipulate that shares shall not be distributed according to the proportion of shares held.