NZ FIF Tax Calculator (multi-holding)

If the total original cost (purchase price in NZD) of all your FIF holdings is $50,000 or less at every point in the year, you are exempt from the FIF regime. You only pay tax on dividends actually received. Important: the $50k is measured on historical cost — not on today's market value. So a portfolio originally bought for $40k that has grown to $80k is still under the threshold. Companies do not get this exemption regardless of size. The exemption can also be lost: if you include FIF income in a return while under the threshold, the FIF rules keep applying for the next 4 income years.

Individuals and eligible trusts may use whichever gives the lower deemed income each year — but the same method must apply across all FIF holdings for the year. FDR (5% of opening value) usually wins in strong years because it ignores capital gains. CV wins in flat or loss years because it floors at zero. This calculator picks the lower method automatically.

When you buy more of a FIF interest and later sell some of it in the same income year, IRD adds a quick sale adjustment to the 5% FDR amount. It is the lesser of (a) 5% × the peak holding differential × the average cost of what you bought and (b) your actual gain on the quick-sale shares. The peak holding differential is the lesser of your greatest shareholding less your opening shareholding, and your greatest shareholding less your closing shareholding (IRD guide IR461, s EX 52). Enter the figure from your broker's FIF report in the optional QSA field. QSA adds to FDR only — it does not apply under CV.

No. Companies must use the FDR method for FIF income and cannot elect CV. Companies are also ineligible for the $50,000 de minimis exemption. If you hold foreign shares via a company structure, FDR at 5% of opening market value always applies. A look-through company is the exception: its owners are treated as holding its shares in proportion to their interest (Income Tax Act 2007 s HB 1(4)(b)), so an individual owner works out FIF income on that share as an individual.

Yes. Foreign income tax withheld from a dividend on a FIF interest is a tax credit (ITA 2007 s LJ 2(7)), limited to what the tax treaty allows. The credit can't be more than the NZ tax on the FIF income from that interest, worked out as that income divided by your total net income, times your tax on it (s LJ 5(2)). It is based on the FIF income, not on the dividend the tax came off. IRD says unused credits can't be refunded or carried forward. Enter the tax withheld on each holding and the calculator takes the credit off the estimate. IRD says Australian franking credits and tax paid on dividends from the United Kingdom are not eligible.

Shares in ASX-listed Australian-resident companies that keep a franking account (and are not stapled stock) are exempt from FIF; use IRD's Australian listed share exemption tool to check a ticker. US-listed ETFs (VOO, VTI, VXUS, QQQ etc.) are FIF even if they hold global shares. Check the IRD Australian exemption list for specific ASX tickers.