Understanding a Tax-Aware Defensive Equity Long-Short Strategy
22 Pages Posted: 22 May 2020
Date Written: April 27, 2020
Abstract
We describe a Tax-Aware Defensive Equity Long-Short (TADELS) strategy, including its construction and pre-tax and after-tax performance. TADELS closely replicates the pre-tax performance of a similar tax-agnostic strategy and has the potential to achieve a meaningful tax benefit for a taxable investor.
TADELS tax benefit remains even when accounting for liquidation taxes. We show that TADELS is attractive in both up- and down-market periods and can diversify typical hedge fund allocations. Moreover, TADELS tax benefit can make an investor’s entire portfolio more tax-efficient.
Keywords: Defensive Investing, Long-Short Equity Strategies, Quantitative Strategies, Tax-Aware Portfolio Management
JEL Classification: G11, G50, H24
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation