Record reinvested dividends (DRP)

A Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) gives you new shares instead of cash when a company pays a dividend. You record this when you confirm the dividend, so Metrifly adds the new shares to your holding at the right price. By the end of this, your reinvested dividends will be tracked correctly — both the income and the new shares.

What a DRP does

Under a DRP, the dividend buys more shares instead of paying you cash. Your share count goes up, but no cash arrives — and for tax, the dividend is still income.

Example. You hold 200 shares of XYZ, which pays a $0.50 dividend — $100 in total. Under a DRP, that $100 buys about 2 new shares at around $50 each, leaving you with roughly 202 shares and no cash.

Record a DRP

DRP is decided per dividend, when you confirm it — not as a holding-wide setting. In the confirm dialog:

1. Tick Reinvested via DRP.
2. In the DRP Price Per Share field that appears, enter the price the new shares were issued at.
3. Metrifly previews the new share count, calculated as total amount ÷ price per share.
4. Click Confirm Dividend.

You don’t enter the share count directly — it’s worked out from the amount and the price.

Tip

Use the DRP Price Per Share from your broker or registry statement — it’s usually a recent average price, not the price on the payment date. Using that figure keeps your share count matching your statement.

The Auto Dividend Reinvestment setting

A holding’s Settings tab has an Auto Dividend Reinvestment checkbox. It records enrolment only — you still tick Reinvested via DRP when confirming each dividend. See Read a holding’s detail page.

Where DRP shows up

DRP isn’t a dividend status — it’s a property of a confirmed dividend. On the Performance → Dividends page, the Top dividend payers tab shows a DRP flag of On or Off per holding. See How dividend tracking works.

How DRP is taxed

Reinvesting doesn’t change a dividend’s tax treatment:

• It’s still taxable income. Even though you got shares, the dividend counts as income in the year it was paid, and any franking credits still apply. It appears in your taxable income report.
• The new shares get their own cost basis. Each DRP parcel is a separate purchase, acquired on the payment date at the DRP price. This matters when you sell — the new shares may reach the CGT discount on a different timeline to your original parcel.

Recording DRP correctly keeps your taxable income and capital gains reports accurate.

Caution

If you confirm a DRP dividend as plain cash, the income is recorded but the new shares aren’t — so your share count and future capital gains will be wrong. Always tick Reinvested via DRP when the dividend was reinvested.

Partial DRP

Some companies let you reinvest part of a holding and take cash on the rest. Metrifly records a dividend as either fully DRP or fully cash, so to handle a partial one:

1. Confirm the dividend with the DRP portion’s amount, ticking Reinvested via DRP.
2. Add a separate DIVIDEND transaction for the cash portion — see Add a trade manually.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
The DRP Price Per Share field is missing	Tick Reinvested via DRP first — the field only appears once it’s ticked.
Your share count after DRP looks wrong	Shares are amount ÷ price. Re-check the DRP Price Per Share against your statement; unconfirm and re-confirm with the right price.
The DRP flag shows Off for a reinvested holding	Confirm that holding’s dividends with Reinvested via DRP ticked — the flag reflects confirmed dividends, not the Auto setting.
A reinvested dividend is missing from income	DRP dividends are still income — make sure it’s confirmed. See Confirm your dividends.

Related articles

• Confirm your dividends
• How dividend tracking works
• Run your capital gains report