Schedule FA: Foreign Assets ITR Disclosure - Citizen Guide 2026

If you held even one foreign bank account, US stock unit, or overseas flat at any time last year and you are an Indian resident, Schedule FA of your ITR is not optional. Skip it and the Income Tax Department can levy a flat 10 lakh rupee penalty under the Black Money Act 2015, separate from any tax on the money itself. This guide walks you through who must disclose, what it costs to get it wrong, and exactly what to report.

Schedule FA exists only in ITR-2 and ITR-3, and only one category of taxpayer must complete it. Run yourself through this decision flow before anything else.

1. Step 1 - What is your residential status for the year? Work it out under Section 6 of the Income Tax Act 1961 (days in India). You are either Non-Resident (NRI), Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR), or Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR).
2. Step 2 - Are you a Non-Resident or RNOR? If yes, you are generally not required to fill Schedule FA. NRIs and RNORs report only India-sourced income and India-located assets. Returning NRIs often become RNOR for two to three years, a grace window before Schedule FA applies.
3. Step 3 - Are you Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR)? If yes, Schedule FA applies to you, and it applies to your global assets and income. This is the trigger. The official Schedule FA on incometax.gov.in is “applicable for residents only” and is “not required to be filled up by a taxpayer who is non-resident or not ordinarily resident”.
4. Step 4 - Did you hold any foreign asset at any time during the relevant period? Note the words “at any time”. Even an account you opened in March and closed in June must be reported. Selling or closing the asset before 31 December does not remove the duty to disclose it.

If you are ROR and held a foreign asset at any point, continue. If you are NRI or RNOR, Schedule FA is normally not your concern this year, though your residential status should be reconfirmed each year.

It is not just a bank account. The schedule covers a foreign asset held as a beneficial owner, beneficiary, or with signing authority, which catches people who never thought of themselves as owners.

There are really two separate tracks of consequence, and people confuse them:

• The disclosure-failure penalty (Sections 42 and 43): 10 lakh rupees. This is a penalty for the reporting lapse in your ITR. It can apply even where the asset was bought with fully taxed, legitimate money. The asset value is irrelevant to this 10 lakh figure.
• The undisclosed-income track (Sections 3 and 41): 30% tax plus penalty. If the foreign asset or income is itself undisclosed, Section 3 charges tax at a flat 30% of its value, and Section 41 adds a penalty of three times that tax. Wilful evasion can also invite prosecution with imprisonment under the Act.

The de-minimis relief (verify this against your own numbers). Until 1 October 2024, the only carve-out was for foreign bank accounts with an aggregate balance not exceeding five lakh rupees. The Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 widened this with effect from 1 October 2024: the 10 lakh penalty under Sections 42 and 43 now does not apply to foreign assets other than immovable property where their aggregate value does not exceed twenty lakh rupees at any time during the year. Immovable property (a foreign flat or land) has no such threshold - it must always be reported.

Report each of the following held at any time during the relevant accounting period, with the entity name, address, peak balance, closing balance, and any income, converted to rupees:

• Foreign depository accounts - any overseas bank or savings account.
• Foreign custodial accounts - brokerage accounts holding your shares or securities abroad.
• Foreign equity and debt interest - shares, ESOPs, RSUs, mutual funds, and bonds in foreign entities, including US stocks bought through Indian apps.
• Foreign cash value insurance or annuity contracts - overseas policies with a surrender or cash value.
• Financial interest in any entity - shareholding or partnership in a foreign company or firm.
• Immovable property held outside India - a flat, house, or land.
• Any other capital asset held abroad not covered above.
• Accounts with signing authority and foreign trusts in which you are a trustee, settlor, or beneficiary.
• Any other income from a source outside India.

Your Indian return runs on the financial year (1 April to 31 March). But Schedule FA asks you to report foreign assets for the relevant accounting period, and for most foreign countries that is the calendar year (1 January to 31 December) ending before your filing year. So for the return you file for FY 2025-26, the peak and closing balances of a US or UK account are generally taken for the calendar year 2025. Mixing up the two periods is the error that trips up most first-time filers. Convert all values to rupees using the SBI telegraphic transfer buying rate.

1. 1. Confirm you are ROR for the year under Section 6. If NRI or RNOR, you usually skip Schedule FA.
2. 2. Pick the right form - ITR-2 (no business income) or ITR-3 (with business or professional income). ITR-1 and ITR-4 do not contain Schedule FA, so you cannot use them if you have foreign assets.
3. 3. Gather year-end statements for every foreign account, broker, and policy for the relevant calendar year.
4. 4. Note the correct period - peak balance and closing balance for the calendar year, not the Indian financial year.
5. 5. Convert to rupees using the SBI TT buying rate on the relevant date.
6. 6. Fill each table (A1 to A4, B to G) - depository, custodial, equity/debt, insurance, financial interest, immovable property, other assets, signing authority, trusts, and other income.
7. 7. Also report the income from these assets in Schedule FSI and claim relief in Schedule TR if you paid foreign tax, with Form 67 filed before your return.
8. 8. Cross-check the AIS - the department now receives foreign account data automatically under global exchange agreements, so your disclosure should match.

The CBDT has run a “Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign” on Schedule FA for recent years, sending SMS and email reminders to residents flagged through cross-border data exchange. Its first nudge phase (from November 2024, for AY 2024-25) led 24,678 taxpayers to revise returns and disclose foreign assets worth about 29,208 crore rupees and foreign income of about 1,089.88 crore rupees, and the department repeated the exercise the following year. Treat these annual nudges as a standing signal: the department already has the data.

• Year-end and peak-balance statements for every foreign bank, custodial, and broker account (calendar year).
• Statements for foreign shares, ESOPs, RSUs, and mutual funds.
• Foreign immovable property purchase deed and ownership proof.
• Foreign insurance or annuity policy documents showing cash value.
• Foreign tax paid proof and Form 67 for foreign tax credit.
• SBI TT buying rate references for currency conversion.
• Passport and travel record to establish residential status under Section 6.

• Using ITR-1 or ITR-4 with foreign assets. Neither form has Schedule FA. If you have a foreign asset you must move to ITR-2 or ITR-3.
• Treating below-threshold assets as “nothing to report”. The 20 lakh and old 5 lakh figures are reliefs from the penalty under Sections 42 and 43, not a licence to omit the asset from the schedule. Best practice is to disclose and rely on the threshold only as a defence.
• Reporting on the financial year instead of the calendar year. For most foreign countries the relevant accounting period is the calendar year ending before your filing year.
• Skipping an asset sold mid-year. Section 43 bites on assets held “at any time” during the period; closing the account does not erase the duty.
• Forgetting immovable property has no de-minimis. A foreign flat or land must always be reported, whatever its value.
• Assuming RNOR returning NRIs must file it. RNOR status is generally outside Schedule FA, but reconfirm your status under Section 6 every year.
• Ignoring a CBDT SMS or email. These nudges mean the department already holds your foreign account data through automatic exchange.

Only a Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR) individual or HUF with foreign assets or foreign income. The official Schedule FA states it is “not required to be filled up by a taxpayer who is non-resident or not ordinarily resident”. For your overall residential status and India-tax duties as a returning or non-resident Indian, see our NRI income tax guide.

Under Section 43 of the Black Money Act 2015, where a resident files a return but fails to disclose a foreign asset or gives inaccurate particulars, the Assessing Officer may levy a flat penalty of 10 lakh rupees for that year. Section 42 imposes the same 10 lakh where no return is filed at all.

From 1 October 2024, the 10 lakh penalty under Sections 42 and 43 does not apply to foreign assets other than immovable property whose aggregate value does not exceed 20 lakh rupees in the year. Before that, the only relief was for foreign bank accounts up to 5 lakh rupees. Immovable property has no such threshold and must always be disclosed.

Schedule FA uses the “relevant accounting period”, which for most foreign countries is the calendar year (1 January to 31 December) ending before your Indian filing year, even though your Indian return otherwise runs on the financial year.

Generally yes. Non-Residents and RNORs are not required to fill Schedule FA, as they are not taxed on global assets. Reconfirm your residential status under Section 6 of the Income Tax Act each year, because a change to ROR brings the duty back.

That moves you into the separate undisclosed-income track: Section 3 of the Black Money Act charges a flat 30% tax on the value, Section 41 adds a penalty of three times that tax, and wilful evasion can attract prosecution. This is distinct from the 10 lakh disclosure penalty.

Schedule FA appears only in ITR-2 and ITR-3. ITR-1 and ITR-4 do not contain it, so a person holding foreign assets cannot use those simpler forms. For the parallel rules on sending money abroad, see our guide on Form 15CA and 15CB foreign remittance.

A revised return is the cleaner route while the window is open, and the CBDT's nudge campaigns have specifically invited flagged taxpayers to revise and disclose. Doing so before the department issues a notice materially reduces your exposure, though it does not by itself guarantee waiver of the discretionary penalty.

• Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 - Sections 3, 41, 42 and 43 (statute text via India Code and Indian Kanoon).
• Income Tax Department - Schedule FA, Details of Foreign Assets and Income from Any Source outside India, incometaxindia.gov.in.
• Finance (No. 2) Act 2024 - substituted proviso to Sections 42 and 43, raising the threshold to 20 lakh rupees for non-immovable foreign assets, effective 1 October 2024.
• CBDT and PIB press releases - Compliance-Cum-Awareness Campaign and NUDGE initiatives on Schedule FA (AY 2024-25, AY 2025-26).
• Income Tax Act 1961 - Section 6 (residential status).

• NRI income tax, ITR, DTAA, NRE and NRO accounts
• Form 15CA and 15CB for foreign remittance
• The RTI Act 2005, full text
• AI RTI Drafter tool
• The RTI Playbook

To file an RTI with the CBDT or your jurisdictional Income Tax office about a foreign-asset notice, draft it free with the AI RTI Drafter.