This page allows you to select a set of criteria that will be used to run the report.
Here you set the financial year for which you wish to run the report. By default the financial year begins at 1 April and ends at 31 March. The financial year can be altered on a per portfolio basis by following the settings link.
This section shows all shares currently in the portfolio that are listed on the ASX. The tick indicates shares to be included in the FIF report. Under section EX 33C of the Income Tax Act 2004, investments in Australian-resident companies listed on an approved index of the Australian Stock Exchange, such as the All Ordinaries index (the 500 largest listed companies) are generally exempt from the foreign investment fund rules and are taxed the same as New Zealand investments. Sharesight automatically de-selects any companies that are exempt from the FIF tax regime.
Sharesight uses the Australian Share exemption list (IR 871) as published each year by the IRD, to determine which shares are exempt from FIF. As shares can move in and out of an approved index during the year, for a share to be exempt it must be on an approved index either at the start of the year, or when you acquired the shares if you did not hold shares in the company at the start of the year. The Sharesight FIF report takes these rules into account when determining which shares to include in the report.
In order for the FIF taxation rules to apply to individuals, the cost price of offshore investments must exceed a prescribed threshold amount defined as the total purchase price of all shares. For individuals the FIF threshold amount is generally $50,000, however for jointly held shares a $100,000 threshold is usually applicable. There is no threshold for trusts.
The threshold amount is shown on the list of included companies and is calculated using the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) method as prescribed in section EX 68 of the Income Tax Act 2004. You are subject to FIF if the cost price balance of your shares exceeds your threshold at any stage during the year (ie additional purchases during the year may cause you to exceed your threshold), hence Sharesight calculates your ‘peak balance’ during the year and displays the peak balance date for your reference.
N.B. Even if the total cost price displayed is less than your threshold amount you may still be liable for FIF taxation if you have other offshore investments that are not recorded in Sharesight.
If you exceeded your threshold amount select ‘yes’ and click the ‘calculate’ button. This will take you taken to a summary page outlining your taxable income under the FIF rules. If you do not exceed the threshold amount you will be directed to the standard Australian taxable income report.