A Two-Country Money Map
Putting it together: one list of every account with what each country asks about it, a dated calendar of deadlines in both countries, and the order in which to tidy up, repeated each April.
The seven chapters before this one each answered a single question. This one puts them together into three things you can keep: a list of every account and what each country asks about it, a calendar of dates in both countries, and an order to work through when you tidy up. Nothing here is new law. It is a way to turn the rules into a one-page routine you repeat each year.
The account list
One sheet, one row per account or holding, covers most of what both tax offices and both banks will ask. Keep it in rupees and dollars, in the currency of the statement, and update it each April.
| Column | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Institution, account type and number | NRE, NRO, FCNR(B), resident savings, demat, folio, policy, PPF, EPF, NPS, US accounts |
| Holders and signers | Joint holders and mandates are reported in full for the FBAR (chapter 3) |
| Currency and rate | The rate on the deposit, and whether interest is paid out or added |
| Highest balance in the calendar year | The FBAR number, converted at the Treasury year-end rate |
| Balance on the last day of the year | One of the two Form 8938 tests |
| Interest or income by calendar year | What goes on your US return |
| Indian tax deducted and the rate | What you claim as a credit or reclaim in India (chapter 5) |
| Treaty paperwork given | Residency certificate and Form 41, with the date (chapter 7) |
| FEMA status the bank holds | Decides the account type (chapter 1) |
| Maturity or review date | The date to decide what happens next |
Add a column for the US holdings that India might one day ask about, such as brokerage accounts and 401(k)s, if a move back is on the horizon. The lines you cannot fill in are the work list.
The calendar
Two tax years run at once: the US year is January to December and the Indian year is April to March. The dates below are those in the sources named; check that none has moved before you rely on them.
| Date | Country | What |
|---|---|---|
| 15 April | US | Individual income tax return due; also the FBAR for the previous calendar year (FinCEN Form 114), with an automatic extension to 15 October (IRS FBAR page) |
| 15 October | US | The extended deadline for the FBAR, and the end of a return extension if you filed one |
| 31 March | India | End of the Indian tax year and of the financial year, which is the year the NRO remittance limit counts |
| 1 April | India | A new tax year and a new financial year begin; the NRO limit starts over |
| 31 July | India | Return due for an individual with no business or professional income, such as salary, interest or capital gains, for the tax year that ended the previous 31 March; 31 August if the individual has business or professional income and unaudited accounts (Income-tax Act, 2025, section 263(1)(c)) |
| 31 December | India | Last day to file a belated return, nine months after the end of the tax year (section 263(4)) |
| 31 December 2026 | India | Last day to make a declaration under the Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers Disclosure Scheme, 2026, which as reported in secondary sources opened on 16 August 2026 (confirm the dates; chapter 3) |
Two further points. The Income-tax Act, 2025 also requires a resident who is not RNOR, and who holds an asset outside India or has signing authority over an account outside India, to file a return whatever their income (section 263(1)(a)(ix) and (b)). That is why returning residents suddenly have a foreign-asset question to answer. A late return can cost more than an on-time one, so ask your Chartered Accountant what it would cost you before leaving it to December.
The order to tidy up
Work down the list. The order matters, because each step needs the one before it. The plans for money in two countries and moving back to India follow the same order.
- Make the account list. Include old accounts, deposits your parents opened for you and joint accounts you forgot. Nothing else can be checked until it exists.
- Settle your identity. Confirm PAN, residential status, overseas address and US taxpayer number on every Indian account, and correct names and dates of birth that differ (chapter 7).
- Classify each box. Write your US tax status, Indian tax status and FEMA status for this year and for the next two (chapter 1). If a move is coming, run the dates through the RNOR timeline calculator.
- Catch up on reporting. Compare the totals with the FBAR and Form 8938 thresholds in the FBAR and Form 8938 checker. If a year is missing, read the IRS's page on delinquent FBARs and take advice before filing (chapter 3).
- Put the treaty paperwork in place. Get the US residency certificate, give each bank the information it needs, and note which banks have applied which rate (chapters 5 and 7).
- Decide what to do with each deposit. Use the NRE, NRO and FCNR after-US-tax calculator at your own rates, and the rupee keep-or-bring calculator for the currency question.
- Decide about the funds. For any Indian mutual fund, estimate the cost of selling now against holding with a Form 8621 each year (chapter 6).
- Plan transfers around the financial year. A large NRO remittance can be spread over two Indian financial years, and the paperwork takes weeks (chapter 4).
- Close or redesignate what you no longer need. Dormant accounts are still reportable, and an account type that no longer matches your status is a problem waiting to happen.
- Diarise the dates above, and repeat the list in April.
What this book left for the next two
This book is the foundation. The second book on this shelf takes up filing returns in both countries, deposits compared after tax, property, inheritance and gifts, supporting parents, the rupee, and retirement accounts on each side. The third takes up moving back: whether you can afford it, the RNOR window, the 401(k) and IRAs, Roth accounts and the HSA, Indian mutual funds before or after the move, the US house, Social Security and Medicare, and the first two years in India. If you already know you are moving, read the third before the second.
- Build the account list this week, starting from your statements and your bank's online list.
- Put the dates in the table into your calendar with a reminder a month ahead of each.
- Work through steps 2 and 3 of the order above before you do anything that moves money.
- Run your numbers through the return home vs stay calculator if a move is under consideration, so the decisions above are made with the same figures.
- Arrange a single conversation with a Chartered Accountant and a US tax preparer, with the account list and your dates in front of both.
Not tax or legal advice. Indian rules as published on 2 October 2026; check with a Chartered Accountant before acting.
This chapter is a planning aid. It is not personal tax advice: dates move, and your status in each country decides what you must file.
- Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). Internal Revenue Service.
- Income-tax Act, 2025, section 263: return of income. Income Tax Department, Government of India.
- Finance Act, 2026, section 133: amount payable under the Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers Disclosure Scheme, 2026. Income Tax Department, Government of India.