FIF and Sharesies: using the FIF report for your IR3

If your foreign shares cost more than $50,000 on any day of the year, the Sharesies FIF report does most of the arithmetic for the shares you hold there. It does not know about anything you hold elsewhere, it does not work out your tax, and it does not file anything. This guide explains what each Sharesies report gives you, where the gaps are, and how to get from the report to the right numbers on your IR3.

What Sharesies gives you

Sharesies describes three places to look. All three come from one Sharesies help page dated 16 September 2026, which says it was "Written by Sharesies AI". We read it on 12 November 2026. It is a single source and platforms change their menus, so check the current page before you rely on the menu paths.

The help page says the FIF report is "available after the end of each tax year", is bought through Investments, then Manage, then Download Reports, and "isn't currently available via the iOS or Android app", so you need to sign in on the website. The page does not state the price. The holdings summary report is under Home, then Manage, then Download Reports.

Two other points from the same page are worth knowing. It says ASX-listed Australian companies are "mostly exempt" from the FIF rules, and that NZ-listed funds that invest in overseas funds are not subject to the FIF rules directly. Both match what Inland Revenue and the Act say, with conditions; see our ASX guide and the is it a FIF? checker.

What the Sharesies reports do not do

The FIF report is a calculation for one platform. It leaves several things to you.

• Other platforms. The $50,000 test is on the total cost of all your attributing interests, wherever you hold them (IR461 p9). The Sharesies page says the same: investments outside Sharesies count for the threshold and for choosing a method. Sharesies cannot see them.
• Your share of joint holdings. Each person has their own $50,000 and jointly held shares are split between the holders (IR461 p9). The help page does not cover joint or kids accounts, so check whose name each holding is in. See couples and joint accounts.
• Your tax. FIF income is added to your other income and taxed at your marginal rate. The report gives income, not tax.
• The method choice across everything. An individual can use CV instead of FDR in a year when CV is lower, but it must be the same method for every FIF interest that year (IR461 p14). If you hold shares on two platforms, you cannot use FDR for one and CV for the other.
• Foreign tax credits. The credit for US withholding tax is per company and capped at the NZ tax on that company's FIF income (IR461 p20; IR3G p23). A platform report does not know your marginal rate, so it cannot finish this step.
• How cost is measured after a sale. Sharesies calls the cost figure an estimate and does not explain the method. Inland Revenue has not said how a part sale reduces cost for the threshold. Our calculator uses average cost and says so.

RWT on FIF dividends: the opt-out

Under the FIF rules, dividends from your FIF shares are not taxed separately: under FDR they are covered by the 5%, and under CV they are part of the gain (IR3G p21; IR461 p14). If Sharesies has deducted NZ resident withholding tax (RWT) from those dividends, that RWT is a tax payment you claim back against your total tax on the IR3. It is not lost, but it may be money paid early.

The Sharesies help page says that if your FIF cost has gone over $50,000 during the current tax year, you can ask Sharesies not to withhold RWT on FIFs held there, through Settings, then Tax details, then Foreign Investment Funds (FIF), then Edit. If you are over the threshold only when you add holdings on other platforms, the page says to email Sharesies instead. It adds that foreign tax, such as US withholding, is still deducted where it applies, that you stay opted out the next year only if your Sharesies FIF cost is still above the threshold at 1 April, and that you remain responsible for your obligations to Inland Revenue. These are Sharesies statements (single source); we have not seen them in Inland Revenue guidance.

Whether opting out suits you depends on things like your provisional tax position, which we cannot judge for you. If you do keep RWT, enter it in our calculator's RWT field so the amount to pay is right. See FIF and provisional tax.

Worked example: Sharesies only

Say all your foreign shares are on Sharesies. They cost more than $50,000, were worth $70,000 at 1 April 2025 and $74,000 at 31 March 2026. You made no trades and received $1,000 of gross dividends.

FDR is lower, so an individual would normally return $3,500. With $80,000 of other income in 2025/26, that extra income falls in the 33% band and the extra tax is $1,155.00, before any foreign tax credit. Your Sharesies FIF report should show the same two figures if you entered the same values; if it does not, look for trades, currency differences or a corporate action.

Worked example: Sharesies plus another platform

This is where most mistakes happen. Suppose the Sharesies FIF report shows FDR $2,000 and CV $4,200, and a second platform's figures for your other holdings are FDR $1,500 and CV minus $300.

The lower total is FDR at $3,500. Picking the lower figure on each platform (FDR $2,000 on Sharesies and CV $0 on the other) would give $2,000, which mixes methods and is not allowed (IR461 p14). The CV loss on the other platform is not floored at zero on its own either: the floor applies to your total CV across all the interests that could have used FDR (ITA s EX 51(7) and (8)).

One more catch. If you held the same company on both platforms, or bought and sold shares in the year, each platform's quick sale adjustment only sees its own trades. The Act compares the totals across your whole portfolio (ITA s EX 52(7)), so adding two platform FDR figures can be slightly out. Hatch's help page warns about the same thing. When that applies, enter the trades from both platforms into our FDR calculator as one portfolio.

Turning the reports into our calculator inputs

Our FIF calculator does not import Sharesies files yet; for now you type the holdings in. The report data maps across like this.

One caution on currency. Inland Revenue lets you use the actual rate on the day, or a rolling 12-month average, applied consistently to every holding (IR461 p13). Sharesies does not say on that help page which rates its report uses. If you combine its NZ$ figures with another platform's, the two may have used different rates. If the difference matters, enter the foreign currency figures and let our calculator apply Inland Revenue's published rates to everything; see which exchange rate to use.

From the numbers to the IR3

Once you have your FIF income for all holdings:

1. Put total FIF income (with any other overseas income) in box 17B of the IR3 (IR3G p19 and p22).
2. Put the foreign tax credit you can claim in box 17A, and keep proof of the overseas tax paid (IR3G p22).
3. Complete the IR1261 overseas income summary. FIF income can be shown by country, or all together under "overseas"; if you combine several FIFs, keep a supporting report, and Inland Revenue accepts an investment adviser's report (IRD, Reporting your overseas income, 29 May 2026).
4. Answer Question 40 about foreign interests. Many people with FDR or CV interests in treaty countries are covered by the annual disclosure exemption, but the exemption does not remove the duty to return the income (IR461 p21).

Our IR3 guide walks through each box. This is general information, not tax advice; check with your accountant if your situation has anything unusual in it, such as a trust, a transfer between platforms or a corporate action. Rules checked 12 November 2026.

A note on $50,000 versus $100,000

The Sharesies page mentions the Budget 2026 proposal to double the threshold to $100,000 and says it will update once the change is finalised. That proposal was in a bill that lapsed when Parliament dissolved before the election. It is NOT LAW. For the 2025/26 and 2026/27 years the threshold is $50,000 (ITA s CQ 5(1)(d)). Our dated status page tracks it.

Questions

Do I need the paid Sharesies FIF report?

No law requires it. You need correct FIF income, and you can work it out from your own records with our calculator. The report saves time if all or most of your shares are on Sharesies.

Can I use FDR for Sharesies and CV for my other broker?

No. An individual uses one method for every FIF interest in a year (IR461 p14). Add each method across all platforms and use the lower total.

Does Sharesies know if I am over $50,000 on another platform?

No. Its FIF cost figure covers Sharesies holdings only. Add the cost of everything you hold elsewhere to test the threshold.

Is the US tax Sharesies withholds lost?

Usually not. You can claim it as a foreign tax credit in box 17A, capped at the treaty rate and at the NZ tax on that company's FIF income.