FIF NZ$50,000 de minimis exemption

The Foreign Investment Fund (FIF) rules apply to NZ-resident individuals holding foreign shares or non-PIE foreign funds. There is a de minimis exemption: if the cost basis of all your FIF-type investments stays below NZ$50,000 at every point during the year, you do not have to apply FIF methodology personally. Dividends received from those holdings are taxed as ordinary dividend income instead.

The threshold is measured at cost, not market value, and is cumulative across all FIF-type investments. The exemption is breached the moment cumulative cost exceeds NZ$50,000 at any time during the tax year. If breached, FIF rules apply to the full holding, not just the excess.

Holdings inside a NZ PIE do not count toward the personal NZ$50,000 threshold — the PIE applies FIF at the fund level. The de minimis exemption is also unavailable for certain Australian-resident company shares that are exempt from FIF on a separate basis. IRD's exempted-securities list is the authoritative source.