Fund Evaluator:

Sit Tax-Free Income Overview

Sit Tax-Free Income (SNTIX) is an actively managed Municipal Bond Muni National Interm fund. Sit launched the fund in 1988.

The investment seeks high current income that is exempt from federal income tax consistent with preservation of capital. The fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing primarily in municipal securities that generate interest income that is exempt from regular federal income tax. It invests 100% (and, as a fundamental policy, no less than 80%) of its net assets in such tax-exempt municipal securities. Municipal securities are debt obligations issued by or for U.S. states, territories, and possessions and the District of Columbia, and their political subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentalities.

About Sit Tax-Free Income (SNTIX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 13.84 years: Todd Emerson (2018), Kevin O’Brien (2018), Paul Jungquist (2000). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg Municipal TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg Municipal 5 Yr 4-6 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Sit Tax-Free Income has 297 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 11.0% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Sit Tax-Free Income is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Municipal Bond fund group. Sit Tax-Free Income has 0.1% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is -0.1%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 93.8% (93.7% domestic bond, 0.1% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Sit Tax-Free Income has 6.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $82 million in total assets, which is below the $1 billion average for the Muni National Interm category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

SNTIX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Sit Tax-Free Income expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Muni National Interm category. Sit Tax-Free Income has an expense ratio of 0.95%, which is 40% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Sit Tax-Free Income has a portfolio turnover rate of 27%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 39% for the Muni National Interm category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Sit Tax-Free Income returned 1.4%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Muni National Interm category had an average return of 0.7%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Sit Tax-Free Income has a trailing yield of 3.66%, which is above the 3.21% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Sit Tax-Free Income Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 3.5%, 1.5 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 9.5% over the past year (grade of A), 5.0% over the past three years (grade of A) and 1.0% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 2.2% per year over the past 10 years (grade of B).

Additional Fund Information

Sit Tax-Free Income is open to new investors. Sit Tax-Free Income is part of the No Load share class. The minimum initial purchase is $5,000 if purchased directly from Sit.

The fund has a maximum front-end load of 0.00% and maximum deferred sales charge of 0.00%.

Redemption fees are paid to the fund for selling your shares or switching funds and often are reduced or eliminated over time. Sit Tax-Free Income has a maximum redemption charge of 0.00%.

Sit Tax-Free Income does not have a 12b-1 fee. This fee is paid out of assets to cover the costs of marketing and selling fund shares as well as to cover the costs of providing shareholder services. The 12b-1 fee is reflected in the expense ratio.

The fund meets the classification of being considered a True No-Load fund.

Sit Tax-Free Income Risk

A basic investment concept is that risk should be rewarded. Standard deviation measures the degree of variation in return experienced relative to the average return for a fund. It notes the recent volatility of the fund but does not explain the elements impacting the volatility. For example, portfolio concentration or exposure to foreign investments can impact the volatility and should be examined to gain an understanding of the fund.

The total risk index relates the volatility of the fund to the volatility of all funds. It can help you understand the volatility of a fund across all categories. Ratios above 1.00 indicate higher risk than average. Sit Tax-Free Income has a below average total risk index of 0.48 because of its standard deviation of 5.9%.

The category risk index relates the volatility of a fund to the average volatility for funds in the same investment category. Sit Tax-Free Income has high category risk of 1.26, giving it a category risk grade of F. Letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon these relative rankings.