New York Times:  Staying Ahead of the Tax Man, by Catherine Rampell:

The one bright spot in Wednesday’s dim gross domestic product report was a large jump in household income, welcome news given that incomes have been relatively flat in recent months after falling sharply in the previous few years. …

Most of the 2.6% increase in incomes last month involved
companies that accelerated dividends, bonuses and other payments into
2012 before higher tax rates kicked in for 2013. Personal dividend
income, for example, rose at a seasonally adjusted monthly rate of 34.3% percent in December versus 4.5% in November.

That’s the
second-fastest monthly personal dividend income growth on record, after a
huge spike of 54.8 percent in December 2004 (when Microsoft threw the
whole trend out of whack by offering a one-time special dividend totaling $32 billion):

The
Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated that in the quarter companies
paid special or accelerated dividends of $39.5 billion, of which $26.4
billion was paid to individuals and so is included in personal income.
The bureau also estimated that accelerated bonuses and “other types of
irregular pay” probably gave a one-time boost to wages and salaries in
the quarter totaling about $3.75 billion (or $15 billion at an annual
rate).

Wall Street Journal, Early Payouts of Dividends, Bonuses Spur a Windfall:

Many Americans got a happy financial surprise at the end of last
year, as companies pulled forward payouts of dividends and bonuses to
beat anticipated January tax increases.

The rush was so big it spiked the nation's personal-income figures.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department reported personal income rose 2.6%
in December from the month before and revised upward the number for
November, citing the dividend and bonus rush. …

Any injection of cash is good medicine for the economy, which is caught in a mode of slow growth and high unemployment. But this one largely represented income pulled forward from early 2013.
The impact on the larger economy will be minimal: Most of the dividends and bonuses go to upper-income households who put the money in savings