FIF Calculator NZ 2026
This Foreign Investment Fund calculator (FIF calculator) uses the Comparative Value Method, which is also known as the CV method to calculate the FIF income. Essentially the CV method is formulated by the IRD as [Closing market value + gains] - [opening market value + costs]. Gains are defined by the IRD as “amounts received from holding (includes dividends) or disposing of the attributing interest and foreign withholding tax or other credits”, whilst costs “include the cost of buying your investment(s) plus foreign income tax you are liable to pay and have paid on the FIF income”.
This method is available for use if:
- your FIF doesn't meet the requirements of a non-attributing active FIF or you hold less than 10% interest.
- you are an individual or family trust or charitable trust your return under the CV method is less than 5% have the option of using your total return under the CV method in place of 5% of the opening market value.
- you are an individual, family trust or charitable trust and have not switched freely between the FDR and CV methods in the same income year.
If you calculate using the CV method and you also had a choice of using the FDR method then you cannot claim a loss under this method, and you also cannot claim a loss on the disposal of your investments.
The biggest constraint with using the CV method is if the attributing interest is a share or shares within a foreign company then the use is limited to individuals, eligible trustees (type B), non-ordinary shares and share users under a returning share transfer. On this, the IRD state “It must be used if the attributing interest is a non-ordinary share unless it is not practical to determine the market value at the end of the year.”
Here is an example of how the comparative value, or CV FIF calculation works.
Person A has $100,000 as the 'Opening Market Value ($)' for their portfolio. This is the total of the market values of the share of the foreign investment funds at the beginning of the tax year (1st April). The ‘Closing Market Value ($)’ of the portfolio was $110,000, which is the total of the market values of the share of the foreign investment funds at the end of the tax year (31st March). There was a total of $5,000 worth of ‘Dividends’ received during the year, as well as $10,000 worth of ‘Proceeds from sale of FIFs’, and $1,000 worth of ‘Tax credits’.
The ‘Cost of purchasing FIFs’ in the period was $15,000, and $2,000 worth of ‘Foreign income tax’ was paid, which is foreign tax that does not include New Zealand taxation.
In this example we had $16,000 worth of positive gains via dividends ($5,000), sales ($10,000), and tax credits ($1,000). The example also had $17,000 worth of costs and taxes via the cost of purchasing the FIFS ($15,000) and the foreign income tax ($2,000).
Using the IRD formula of [Closing market value + gains] - [opening market value + costs] we get the following [$110,000 + $16,000] - [$100,000 + $17,000] which equals an income for the period of $9,000. Using the 33% tax rate this brings the tax owing to $2,970.
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Opening Market Value
This is the total of the market values of the share of the foreign investment funds at the beginning of the tax year.
Closing Market Value
This is the total of the market values of the share of the foreign investment funds at the end of the tax year.
Gains
Dividends
Any dividends received during the year
Proceeds from sale of FIFs
This is the income from disposing of any investment funds during the year.
Tax credits
This includes any foreign withholding tax or other credits
Other gains
Any other gains received
Costs
Cost of purchasing FIFs
This is the expenditure on buying any investment funds during the year
Foreign income tax
This is any foreign income tax does not include NZ tax
Other costs
Any other costs incurred
Income
Tax rate
Tax
The Comparative Value method taxes what your foreign shares actually did, rather than the deemed 5% return the Fair Dividend Rate applies. It is the alternative available to individuals and family trusts, and it exists because FDR charges tax on a rise that may not have happened: in a year your portfolio fell, FDR still produces income and Comparative Value may produce none at all. The calculation is a full accounting of the year. Take the closing market value, subtract the opening value, add every dividend, sale proceed and other gain received, then subtract everything you spent acquiring or holding the shares. What remains is your FIF income for the year. Because it counts real cash flows it needs more record keeping than FDR, which needs only one number on one day, and that is the practical trade. You may choose whichever method gives the lower result each year, but the choice applies across your whole portfolio for that year rather than holding by holding.
How Comparative Value is calculated
Closing value minus opening value gives the change in what you hold. To that you add the money that came out of the portfolio during the year, meaning dividends, sale proceeds and any other gains. From it you subtract the money that went in, meaning purchases and any other costs. The result is the income the rules say you made, whether or not you took any of it in cash.
Unlike FDR there is no quick sale adjustment, because shares bought and sold within the year are already captured by their purchase cost and sale proceeds appearing in the same sum.
Worked example
These are the figures this page shows when you open it, before you change anything.
The portfolio opens the year at $100,000 and closes at $110,000, a rise of $10,000. During the year it produced $5,000 of dividends, $10,000 of sale proceeds and $1,000 of other gains. Against that, $15,000 was spent buying shares and $2,000 on other costs.
So the income is the $10,000 rise, plus $16,000 of receipts, less $17,000 of outgoings, which comes to $9,000. At a 33% marginal rate the tax on that is $2,970.
Choosing between Comparative Value and FDR
Run both and take the lower. On these figures FDR would deem income of 5% of the $100,000 opening value, which is $5,000, so FDR is the cheaper method for this particular year. Reverse the market and the answer reverses with it: if the portfolio had closed at $90,000 with no distributions, Comparative Value would produce a loss where FDR would still deem $5,000 of income.
That is the whole reason the choice exists, and it is why the two calculators are worth running together rather than separately.
Related guides
- FIF CM Method Guide - Comparative Value Method: how this method works and when it applies.
- FIF Tax Explained Guide: the wider foreign investment fund rules.
Related calculators
- FIF Calculator NZ 2026: Deemed Rate of Return (DRR) Method.
- FIF Calculator NZ 2026: Fair Dividend Rate (FDR) Method.
- FIF Method Comparison Calculator NZ: FDR vs CV.
- FIF De Minimis $50k Threshold Checker NZ: check whether the New Zealand foreign investment fund (FIF) rules appl.