Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from David Loeb – Robert W. Baird & Company
David Loeb - Robert W. Baird & Company
Mark, you mentioned tax planning that could affect the amount of dividend. Can you give us just a little bit of an idea relative to last year? It's easy enough for us to track your net income and your FFO relative to last year, harder for us to track your taxable income. But what kind of order of magnitude are you talking about in terms of how much less dividend requirement you might have this year.
Mark Kleifges
David, we're still working through the analysis. Obviously, one of the things that we're considering is something we've talked about on past calls and that's the ability under the tax code to defer gains realized on the repurchase of debt for a five-year period and then amortize those gains in over a five-year period. So that's one strategy that we'll be presenting the board.
Another strategy that we're in the middle of finalizing our analysis is looking at ways in which we can accelerate depreciation of our real estate investments for tax purposes and thereby get a larger depreciation deduction for tax purposes than we have in prior years. And that number is potentially significant because the way the tax code works, you get cumulative catch-up, if you will, in the year you make that change. So it could be rather significant.
David Loeb - Robert W. Baird & Company
Does that mean it's possible you may need no additional distributions?
Mark Kleifges
That is in the range of possibilities after you consider the fact that we've already made one common distribution this year of about I think $75 million, $77 million and then have or will have made preferred distributions of about $30 million, yes.
David Loeb - Robert W. Baird & Company
John, philosophically, now that you've raised additional equity you've dramatically reduced your maturities over the next several years. What's the thought about cash dividend next year?
John Murray
There will be a formal announcement on that in December, but we do expect to generate taxable income in 2010. And based on current tax law, we expect to make cash distributions to our shareholders. I mean, this was an unusual year from a variety of perspectives, but I do see us returning to a regular quarterly dividend.
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