Joint vs Individual Investment Account Calculator

Couples open joint investment accounts because everything else is joint, and for a portfolio investment entity that reflex has a price. Joint holders are treated as a single investor and taxed at the highest prescribed investor rate among them, which means the lower earner's rate is not used at all, on any part of the investment. Where one partner is on 28 percent and the other on 17.5 percent, the whole account is taxed at 28 percent, and the gap goes on quietly for as long as the account exists. This page prices that. It works out each partner's prescribed investor rate from the actual income test rather than asking you to know it, since the test counts PIE income alongside salary and is widely misunderstood, then compares four ways of holding the same investment: jointly, split evenly across two individual accounts, entirely in the higher earner's name and entirely in the lower earner's. It also checks the trap on the other side, because moving a large enough investment into the lower earner's name can push their combined income past a threshold and lift their rate, which removes the saving you were chasing. What it cannot do is tell you whose name the money should be in. That question is about relationship property, about what happens if one of you dies, and about who can reach the money in a hurry, and none of those are tax questions. Treat the figures here as one input into a decision that deserves proper advice, particularly if you are considering moving an existing account.

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Joint Means The Higher Rate, On All Of It

The rule catches people because it is not a split. Joint holders of a PIE are treated as one investor at the highest prescribed investor rate among them.

On the worked example the couple's rates are 28.00% and 17.50%. Held jointly, the whole investment is taxed at 28.00%. The lower rate is not applied to any part of it.

Which means holding jointly and putting everything in the higher earner's name produce identical tax outcomes. A joint account is, for this purpose, the higher earner's account.

Worked Example: $100,000 At 5%

Attributed income of $5,000.00 a year.

Jointly: taxed at 28.00%, costing $1,400.00.

Split evenly across two accounts: $2,500.00 each at 28.00% and 17.50%, costing $1,137.50.

All in the lower earner's name: taxed at 17.50%, costing $875.00.

The gap between the first and last is $525.00 a year. Reinvested at 5.00% over twenty years that is $17,359.63.

Splitting Evenly Gets You Half

Two separate accounts holding half each is the arrangement most couples are comfortable with, and it captures $262.50 of the available $525.00.

That is a reasonable place to land. It keeps ownership even, which matters for all the non-tax reasons, while removing the part of the cost that comes from the joint-account rule rather than from the ownership split itself.

Worth knowing it is half rather than all, so the choice is made deliberately.

The Trap On The Other Side

PIE income counts towards the prescribed investor rate test alongside salary. So moving a large investment into the lower earner's name can lift their combined income past a threshold and raise their rate, which is exactly what you were trying to avoid.

On the worked example there is a long way to go: at a $25,000.00 taxable income, $53,100.00 of PIE income fits before the 17.50% band is left, which at a 5.00% return is an investment of over a million dollars.

At a $53,500.00 income the headroom is $24,600.00, or roughly $492,000.00 of investment. And at $60,000.00 the lower earner is already on 28.00%, so there is no saving to chase at all.

Our PIR rate calculator runs the test properly for either partner.

Tax Is The Smallest Part Of This Decision

Whose name an asset is in determines what happens to it on separation, on death, and if one of you needs to reach the money and the other is unavailable. Those consequences are permanent and the tax saving is annual.

An investment in one partner's sole name is still very likely to be relationship property, and the position depends on how it was acquired and on any agreement between you. That is a legal question, not a calculation.

So use the figure as one input. A few hundred dollars a year is worth having and it is not a reason to restructure ownership without advice, particularly where the amounts are large or the relationship circumstances are not straightforward.

Before Moving An Existing Account

Restructuring is not free. Moving between accounts usually means selling and rebuying, which crosses spreads both ways and leaves the money briefly out of the market.

Our platform switching cost calculator prices that properly, including the days out of the market that nobody invoices you for. On a saving of a few hundred a year the payback is usually quick, and it is worth checking rather than assuming.

Also check the rate you are actually on before doing anything, since a wrong PIR is common and costs more than this decision does. Our PIR overpayment recovery calculator works out what a wrong rate has already cost.

Bank Interest Follows A Different Rule

Everything above is specific to portfolio investment entities, which covers most managed funds and every KiwiSaver scheme.

Interest on a joint bank account is generally apportioned between the holders and taxed at each person's own marginal rate, so the highest-rate problem does not arise in the same way. Our PIE savings vs bank savings calculator covers the difference between the two regimes.

Related NZ Tax and Account Structure Calculators

• PIE PIR Rate Calculator: work out either partner's correct rate.
• PIR Overpayment Recovery Calculator: what a wrong rate has cost.
• PIE Savings vs Bank Savings Calculator: how the two tax regimes differ.
• Platform Switching Cost Calculator: the cost of restructuring an account.
• Managed Fund Fee Drag Calculator: fees, which usually cost more than this.
• Managing Joint Finances - New Zealand: background on this topic.
• Structuring Your Bank Accounts: background on this topic.