Reading your Fidelity NetBenefits statement: a field-by-field guide for Indian RSU holders

You opened Fidelity NetBenefits to find the statement your CA asked for. The navigation shows tabs: Accounts, Balances, Holdings, Activity. You found the "Activity" tab but the rows say "Release," "Dividend," "Vest" in different places with different columns. Your CA asked for "the vest date and cost basis." You can see a market value, an adjusted basis, and a net value — none of them match.

Filing for AY 2026-27? This article is part of the RSU tax filing series. See also the ITR-2 for RSU holders complete guide for the full schedule-by-schedule ITR-2 walkthrough.

Fidelity NetBenefits is the dominant employer RSU custodian for employees at companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Cisco, Intel, Qualcomm, and hundreds of others. The portal is designed for US tax filing — it uses US-centric labels (W-2 wages, adjusted cost basis, 1099-B) that don't map cleanly to Indian ITR-2 schedules.

This article is the field-by-field translation. By the end of it you'll know which screens and columns map to which India-filing fields, which numbers to convert at SBI TTBR (and on which date), and the four errors that catch most Fidelity filers.

How Fidelity NetBenefits is organised

Section	Where to find it	What India filing needs from it
Activity History	Accounts → Stock Plan → Activity	Vest (Release) events, sell-to-cover transactions, dividend rows
Positions / Holdings	Accounts → Stock Plan → Positions	Year-end share count and value for Schedule FA
Tax Forms	Accounts → Tax Forms	1042-S (for Form 44 FTC claim), 1099-B (verification of sales)
Grant Details	Accounts → Stock Plan → Grants	Original grant date, vesting schedule, grant type

The Activity History is the most important section for Indian tax filing. Everything else is supplementary.

Activity History: the Release event (vest)

Fidelity NetBenefits calls the vest event a "Release" — not "Vest," not "Award," but Release. This catches many filers off guard.

A typical Release row looks like:

Date:                  15-Mar-2026
Type:                  Release
Plan:                  Restricted Stock Unit
Shares Released:       45.0000
Price per Share:       $185.40
Total Market Value:    $8,343.00
Shares Withheld (Tax): 17.4354
Net Shares Deposited:  27.5646

For India tax filing:

• Total Market Value ($8,343.00) is the gross perquisite income. Convert to INR at SBI TTBR on 15-Mar-2026. This INR value goes into Schedule S (Salary) under "Value of perquisite."
• Net Shares Deposited (27.5646) is what landed in your account. Do not use this as the perquisite value — it understates your taxable income.
• Date (15-Mar-2026) is the vest date. Use SBI TTBR for this exact date for the perquisite conversion.
• Total Market Value at vest becomes your cost basis for future capital gains. Track: $8,343.00 in INR at vest-date TTBR = your lot's cost basis in INR.

Sell-to-cover rows

After every Release, Fidelity shows one or more "Sell" rows with the label "Tax Withholding" or "Sell to Cover." These show the partial sale Fidelity executed to raise cash for US tax withholding:

Date:                  15-Mar-2026
Type:                  Sell (Tax Withholding)
Shares Sold:           17.4354
Price per Share:       $185.40
Proceeds:              $3,232.33

Do not include this as a separate capital gain. The sell-to-cover is already factored into the net shares calculation. Adding it as a capital gain event causes double-counting. For India tax purposes, a sell-to-cover at the same price as the vest-date FMV produces zero capital gain anyway — the sale was at the same price used to compute the perquisite.

Activity History: Dividend rows

If your employer pays a cash dividend (Google/Alphabet does not; Cisco, Intel, Qualcomm do), you'll see a "Dividend" row:

Date:                  10-Jan-2026
Type:                  Dividend
Shares:                27.5646
Dividend per Share:    $0.40
Gross Dividend:        $11.03
US Tax Withheld:       $2.76 (25% under India-US DTAA)
Net Dividend:          $8.27

For India filing:

• Gross Dividend ($11.03) → Income from Other Sources at slab rate. Convert at SBI TTBR on 10-Jan-2026.
• US Tax Withheld ($2.76) → Foreign Tax Credit claim via Form 44. Same TTBR date.
• You need the 1042-S to formally claim FTC — the Activity row alone is not sufficient as supporting evidence.

W-8BEN check: if the withholding is 30% instead of 25%, your W-8BEN has expired. Go to Profile → Tax Center → W-8BEN to renew it.

Positions tab: Schedule FA data

The Positions (or Holdings) tab shows your portfolio snapshot as of the statement date. For Schedule FA you need the December 31 snapshot — pull the statement for the period ending December 31, 2025 for AY 2026-27.

Positions column	Schedule FA field
Symbol / Company Name	Name of Entity (use the issuing company, e.g., "Alphabet Inc.," not "Fidelity")
Shares (quantity)	Number of units
Current Price (Dec 31)	Per-share closing value
Total Market Value (Dec 31)	Closing Value in USD → convert at Dec 31 SBI TTBR
Cost Basis per Share	Use for Schedule FA "Initial Value" (but verify it's vest-date FMV, not grant-date zero)

Schedule FA custodian details for Fidelity:

• Custodian name: Fidelity Investments (Fidelity Management Trust Company)
• Address: 245 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA
• Country code: 2 (United States)

Peak value for Schedule FA requires checking the share price during the calendar year (highest intraday or month-end price × shares held at that point). Most CAs use the 52-week high from the company's investor relations page or Yahoo Finance as a reasonable approximation.

Tax Forms: what to download

Form	When issued	What it's for
1042-S	By March 15 of following year	FTC claim via Form 44; covers US tax withheld on dividends
1099-B	By January 31 of following year	Sale verification (US residents); useful for cross-checking sale dates and proceeds
1099-DIV	By January 31 of following year	Dividend summary (US residents); Indian residents should use 1042-S instead

If no 1042-S appears: either you had no dividends, or you don't have a valid W-8BEN on file. Check Profile → Tax Center. An expired W-8BEN means Fidelity withheld at 30% instead of 25% and may have filed a 1042-S under a generic non-US-person code. Contact Fidelity at 800-544-9354 (international clients team) if you expect a 1042-S and it's not appearing.

The four errors that catch most Fidelity filers

1. Using "Net Shares Deposited" as the perquisite value. The perquisite is the Total Market Value (gross), not the value of shares that actually landed in your account. Fidelity's interface prominently shows net shares — filers use that number and understate their salary income.

2. Treating the grant date as the vest date. Fidelity Grant Details shows the original Grant Date (when your employer made the RSU promise). The tax-relevant date is the Release Date (when the shares vested and the perquisite was realised). These differ by 1–4 years in typical vesting schedules. Using the grant date for SBI TTBR conversion gives the wrong conversion rate.

3. Missing multi-lot cost basis tracking. If you've had multiple vest events (e.g., quarterly vesting over two years), each Release has a different vest-date FMV and a different SBI TTBR. When you sell shares, Fidelity uses FIFO by default. Your CA needs the cost basis INR per lot, not a blended average. Download the full Activity History (not just the current year) to build the lot-by-lot cost basis table.

4. Confusing Fidelity NetBenefits with Fidelity Investments (retail). Some employees have both a NetBenefits account (employer RSU plan) and a separate retail Fidelity brokerage. The statements are separate, the account numbers are different, and both must be listed on Schedule FA if both had holdings during the calendar year.

Field translation summary

Fidelity NetBenefits field	India tax filing field	TTBR date
Activity → Release → Total Market Value	Salary perquisite (Schedule S)	Release Date
Activity → Release → Total Market Value	Cost basis for future sale	Release Date
Activity → Dividend → Gross Dividend	Income from Other Sources	Dividend payment date
Activity → Dividend → US Tax Withheld	FTC claim via Form 44	Dividend payment date
Activity → Sell → Proceeds	Capital gains sale value (Schedule CG)	Sale date
Activity → Release → Total Market Value (original)	Capital gains cost basis	Original Release Date
Positions → Total Market Value (Dec 31)	Schedule FA Closing Value	Dec 31
Tax Forms → 1042-S	Form 44 supporting document	—

Next in the series

• Morgan Stanley StockPlan Connect field guide — same walkthrough for StockPlan Connect
• RSU cost basis India: which number to use — deep dive on the cost basis confusion across all broker formats
• ITR-2 for RSU holders complete guide — all eight schedules, fully worked example