If you own JPMorgan NASDAQ Equity Premium Income ETF (NASDAQ:JEPQ) for the fat monthly checks, the fund is doing exactly what the brochure promised. It’s the second envelope, the one the factsheet doesn’t hand you, that quietly costs real money: capped upside in a raging NASDAQ, and ordinary-income tax treatment on most of that headline yield.

What You’re Actually Paying

Start with the sticker. JEPQ’s net and gross expense ratio both sit at 0.35%, per the JPMorgan fact sheet dated March 9, 2026. On $10,000 invested, that’s roughly $35 a year skimmed off the top. Small, but sticky. Hold $100,000 for 20 years and the fee alone quietly pulls thousands out of your compounding pile.

Now the…