US Individual ITR Filing

For an individual with US tax exposure — a US citizen or green-card holder living in India, an Indian working in the US on H-1B / L-1, an OCI returning to India after years on a US payroll, or an Indian shareholder in a US S-corp or LLC — the US tax return is rarely just Form 1040. It is Form 1040 (or Form 1040-NR for non-residents), Schedule B (interest, dividends, foreign-account question), Form 8938 under FATCA (foreign financial assets above the $50K / $200K thresholds), the standalone FBAR / FinCEN Form 114 (any foreign account aggregating over $10,000 at any point in the year), and depending on facts, Form 5471 (CFC), Form 8621 (PFIC), Form 3520 (foreign trust / gift), and Form 8833 (treaty position) — all stitched together under the India-USA DTAA with the Article 4 tie-breaker for residency and foreign tax credit via Form 1116.

By 2026, the IRS's automated matching against W-2 and 1099 data is near-complete; the FATCA reporting from Indian banks (under the IGA) directly feeds the IRS's foreign-asset surveillance; and the under-reporting penalties for omitted Form 8938 ($10,000+ per violation) and FBAR ($10,000 non-wilful, $100,000+ wilful) are routinely enforced. The cost of a wrong filing is no longer a polite IRS letter — it is a CP2000 within months and a §6038D penalty within a year.

We file US individual returns end-to-end — Form 1040 / 1040-NR, every relevant schedule and information return, FBAR, DTAA tie-breaker, foreign tax credit, GILTI / Subpart F where the taxpayer is a CFC shareholder — paired with the corresponding Indian ITR (where applicable) so both sides reconcile and double-tax relief is fully claimed.

Who Files What

US Citizen / Green-Card Holder Anywhere in the World:
Files Form 1040 on worldwide income; foreign earned income exclusion (Section 911) up to ~$130K (FY-indexed); FTC for taxes paid abroad; full Form 8938 + FBAR.

Indian Resident on H-1B / L-1 (US Tax Resident under Substantial Presence Test):
Files Form 1040 as US resident; reports global income; claims FTC for Indian tax; Form 8938 + FBAR for any retained Indian accounts.

Indian Resident with US-Source Income (Non-Resident):
Files Form 1040-NR; reports US-source income only; claims DTAA treaty rates on dividends / royalties / FTS.

• OCI / Returning Indian Resident:: May still be a US tax resident under the dual-status year rules; files dual-status return; treaty tie-breaker under Article 4.

• CFC Shareholder:: Form 5471 with all schedules; GILTI inclusion under Section 951A; Subpart F income; high-tax exception.

Information Returns That Most Filers Miss

• Form 8938 (FATCA):: Filed with Form 1040 if foreign financial assets exceed $50K (single) / $100K (MFJ) at year-end, or $75K / $150K at any point. Threshold doubles for taxpayers living abroad.

• FBAR / FinCEN 114:: Filed separately with FinCEN if aggregate of foreign accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point in the year. Filed by 15 April; automatic 6-month extension to 15 October.

• Form 8621 (PFIC):: For any holding in a Passive Foreign Investment Company — including most non-US mutual funds. Punitive default tax regime; QEF / mark-to-market elections to consider.

• Form 3520:: Foreign trust transactions; gifts from non-US persons exceeding $100K (individual) or $19K (corporate / partnership). Penalty for late filing — 5% of trust/gift value per month.

• Form 8833:: Treaty-based return position — required when claiming a treaty benefit that would otherwise reduce US tax by more than $10,000.

India-USA DTAA & Foreign Tax Credit

Article 4 of the India-USA DTAA contains the residency tie-breaker — applied where an individual qualifies as a tax resident of both countries. The order is: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, citizenship, mutual agreement. Once residency is fixed, taxing rights on each income stream are allocated under specific articles (Article 16 employment, Article 10 dividends, Article 11 interest, Article 12 royalties / FTS). Foreign tax credit on the US return is computed on Form 1116 (or simplified election where eligible), one Form 1116 per FTC category — passive, general, treaty-resourced, GILTI.