@MDM Thanks for that note to check my 1099-div. I just received that (yes, I hold VTSAX, first year). I see that it's split nearly in 1/2 as ordinary and 1/2 as qualified. Is there any way to specify when the dividends come out? I'd love to see if there's a way to have the majority of them as qualified dividends for tax purposes. Or are we at the mercy of when the fund chooses to make those distributions?
I'm pretty sure you're misunderstanding your 1099-DIV. And others on this thread are perpetuating the misunderstanding.
The qualified dividends reported on your 1099-DIV are a subset of, not in addition to, the ordinary dividends. So if the ordinary dividend line says $1,000 and the qualified dividend line says $900, then that means you received $1,000 in dividends, of which 90% or $900 were qualified. It does not mean, as you seem to think, that you received $1,900 in dividends and the split was approximately 55/45.
You can confirm this by going back to all of your Vanguard statements and adding up how much you received in dividends each month. The total will be equal to the amount on the ordinary dividend line of your 1099-DIV. You might also semi-confirm this by seeing what the qualified dividend line on your 1099-DIV divided by the ordinary dividend line on your 1099-DIV is - it will probably be between 90% and 100%, which is very typical of VTSAX and other Vanguard index funds.
You can also confirm this by seeing how the numbers you enter flow through your tax preparation program (Turbotax or whatever) or your CPA's results. Although I don't know how to succinctly explain what you should look for, so I won't try.