Last week, I told you that Vanguard is preparing to transition nearly half of STAR’s (VGSTX) portfolio in the first quarter of 2025. Several IVA readers wrote in asking about the tax implications of all this trading—not just for STAR but for the underlying funds as well.
Great question! I’ll answer it for both sets of shareholders.
Before we dig into the numbers, allow me to remind you of the three changes Vanguard is making to STAR’s portfolio:
- Explorer (VEXPX) is making way for Dividend Growth (VDIGX).
- Vanguard is trimming back the International Growth (VWIGX) and International Value (VTRIX) positions to make room for International Core Stock (VWICX).
- Vanguard is selling all three of STAR’s bond holdings—GNMA (VFIIX), Short-Term Investment-Grade (VFSTX) and Long-Term Investment-Grade (VWESX)—to create space for the soon-to-be-launched STAR Core-Plus Bond (VCPSX).
Those trades mean that about 48% of STAR’s $23.7 billion portfolio—or $11.4 billion—will be in motion next quarter.
Taxes Coming STAR’s Owners
Fortunately for STAR’s shareholders (at least from a tax perspective), most of the trading is on the bond side of the portfolio. Due to the nature of cost basis accounting (see here for more), Vanguard should be able to sell those funds without realizing capital gains for STAR’s owners. We can set those aside.
However, STAR is still on course to sell nearly $2.5 billion worth of stock funds, primarily Explorer and the two international funds. That’s about 10% of STAR’s assets.
I expect that trading will generate at least some capital gain distributions for STAR’s owners in 2025. How big of a distribution are we talking about?