Which US filings apply to your Indian accounts?
FBAR, FATCA, Schedule B, Streamlined Disclosure, and the DTAA. Mistakes on these can cost $10,000 per violation.
Start with a tool
Overview
FBAR and FATCA are different filings
A lot of NRI advice online mixes up the two main rules for reporting foreign accounts. FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is required if the combined maximum value of your foreign financial accounts goes over $10,000 at any point in the calendar year, even for one day and even by one cent. FATCA (Form 8938) applies only at much higher thresholds: $50,000 for single filers and $100,000 for joint filers, and higher still if you live abroad. They are separate forms filed with separate agencies, with different penalties and different definitions of what counts as an asset.
Read the full overview
The FBAR threshold catches many NRIs because it adds up each account's highest balance during the year, not your total balance today. Say you have $4,000 in account A and $4,000 in account B. That looks like $8,000. But if A reached $8,000 in March and B reached $7,000 in July, your aggregate maximum is $15,000 and you have to file. The definition of a foreign financial account is also broader than most people expect. It includes PPF, NPS, LIC policies with a cash surrender value, mutual fund and demat accounts, and any account where you are a signatory, such as a joint account with a parent. Most NRIs miss at least one of these on their first FBAR.
This topic covers the five compliance questions readers worry about most. The most important guide is on Streamlined Offshore Disclosure, the IRS program for people who should have filed FBARs in past years and didn't. Under Streamlined, the penalty is capped at 5% of the highest aggregate balance. Without it, the penalty can be $10,000 per account per year, or 50% of the balance for willful violations.