India-US Tax

US Tax Accountant for Indians in the USA

Tax preparation for Indian professionals, students and families in the United States — including the parts generic preparers miss: Indian bank accounts, Indian mutual funds, property back home and India-US treaty relief.

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What this service covers

Most US tax preparers can file a W-2 return. Far fewer can tell you whether your NRE account belongs on an FBAR, why your Indian mutual funds are treated as PFICs, or how to claim credit for the TDS already deducted on your Indian rent. That gap is where Indians in the US get hurt — not on the salary, which is straightforward, but on everything still connected to India. EvoTax prepares your federal and state returns, works out your residency position for the year, reports the foreign income and accounts you are required to report, and claims the treaty and foreign tax credit relief that stops the same rupee being taxed twice. If you arrived this year, changed visa status, married someone without an SSN, or have never reported your Indian accounts, those are the four situations we see most and each has a defined route through it.

Indian paperwork such as Form 16 or the Annual Information Statement not ready by the April deadline? We can file a free extension while you wait for Indian documents.

Reviewed by Teja K, CPA · last reviewed September 23, 2026. General information, not tax advice for your situation. How we research and review this.

What makes a US return for an Indian filer different

The salary half of the return is ordinary. A W-2 arrives, the figures are already reported to the IRS, and any competent preparer can file it. The difficulty is the second half, where four things are true at once that are not true of a domestic return.

Your filing status has to be established before anything else can be computed. Resident, non-resident and dual-status filers are taxed on different income and use different forms, and the answer depends on a day count across several years rather than on your visa.
The Indian side of your income has no US document behind it. There is no W-2 for Indian salary and no Form 1099-INT for interest on an Indian account, so nothing prompts a preparer to ask and nothing flags the omission afterwards.
Some obligations are separate filings rather than parts of the return. An FBAR goes to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, not the IRS, and filing your return does not file it.
The relief that prevents double taxation is claimed, not applied automatically. Indian tax already paid does not reduce your US liability unless the credit is computed and claimed on the return.

The consequence is that a return prepared from your US documents alone can be internally consistent, arithmetically correct, and still incomplete — and the gap is not visible from the return itself. That is the specific failure this service exists to prevent, and it is why the intake starts with your history and your Indian holdings rather than with your W-2.

Which credential is allowed to act for you, and where

This matters more for cross-border work than for a domestic return, because the obvious adviser is often the wrong one. A Chartered Accountant who has handled your Indian filings for years is qualified for Indian tax and is not authorised to practise before the IRS. The reverse is equally true: a CPA is the right credential for a US return and not for an Indian one.

The IRS divides preparers by representation rights — what they may do for you beyond preparing the form, such as acting for you in an examination, an appeal or a collection matter. Anyone who prepares federal returns for compensation must hold a Preparer Tax Identification Number, but a PTIN is a registration rather than a credential and carries no representation rights of its own.

Which credentials may represent a taxpayer before the IRS, and which apply to Indian tax
Credential	Qualified for	Representation rights before the IRS
Certified Public Accountant (US)	US federal and state tax	Unlimited
Enrolled agent (US)	US federal tax, by IRS enrolment	Unlimited
Attorney (US)	Law, including tax	Unlimited
Chartered Accountant (India)	Indian tax and Indian statutory work	None — it is not a US credential
Preparer holding only a PTIN	Preparing returns for compensation	None

None of this is a comment on competence. It is a statement about authority, and it decides who can still act for you if the IRS writes to you about the return a year later.

How we handle it: US returns are prepared and reviewed on the US side by a CPA, and Indian returns are handled by Chartered Accountants. We do not present one credential as covering both, and if your situation needs a tax attorney rather than a preparer we will say so rather than take the engagement.

The four situations we see most, and what each turns on

These four account for the large majority of the cross-border work that comes to us, and each has a defined decision at its centre rather than a general difficulty.

Your first US tax year. You are usually a non-resident for part of it and a resident for the rest, which is a dual-status year and the most error-prone return in this whole area. There is also an election that can treat you as a resident earlier. The two produce different tax, so both are worth computing rather than defaulting to one.
A visa or status change mid-year. Moving from F-1 or J-1 to H-1B changes whether your days count toward residency at all, so the same person can be outside the US tax net one year and taxed on worldwide income the next. The change is driven by the passage of time and the status change together, not by either alone.
A spouse or child without a Social Security number. An ITIN is applied for on Form W-7, submitted together with the return rather than in advance. Where one spouse is a non-resident, there is a separate election to treat them as a US resident so that a joint return is available — and that election has a consequence worth knowing before it is made, set out below.
Indian accounts that were never reported. Simply starting to report them this year leaves the earlier years open. The IRS operates defined catch-up routes, including the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures for taxpayers whose failure to file was not wilful, and the distinction between non-wilful and wilful conduct carries very different consequences.

On the spouse election specifically: the IRS guidance is that once the choice to treat a non-resident spouse as a US resident is ended, for any reason, neither spouse may make that choice again in any later tax year. It also brings that spouse’s worldwide income into the US return for as long as it stands. It is frequently the right decision and it is not a reversible experiment, which is why we compute the outcome both ways before making it.

What to gather, US side and India side

The US column is the one clients arrive with. The India column is the one that decides whether the return is complete, and Form 26AS — with the Annual Information Statement alongside it — is the single most useful item on the list, because it evidences the Indian tax you are claiming credit for and surfaces Indian income you may not have thought to mention.

Documents typically needed for a US return with an Indian connection
US side	India side
W-2 from each employer	Form 16, if you had Indian salary in the year
Form 1099 series for interest, dividends and contract income	Form 26AS and the Annual Information Statement
Form 1099-B and broker statements for share sales	Bank interest certificates for NRE, NRO and resident accounts
Prior-year federal and state returns	Mutual fund and demat statements, per fund
An SSN or ITIN for each person on the return, or a W-7 application	Rent received and any TDS certificate from the tenant
Entry and exit dates for the year, and for prior years	Purchase documents for Indian property, including the acquisition date

Peak balances matter as well as closing balances on the India side, because the foreign-account disclosure test looks at the highest balance during the year rather than the year-end figure. Statements that show only a closing balance are often not enough.

What changes the price, and what we quote instead of listing

The figures below are starting prices for a category of work rather than a quote, and our published US price list sets out the same basis for every service. Six things move a return away from the entry price, and they are worth knowing in advance because most of them are facts about your year rather than choices you make at filing time.

How many states you have to file in, and whether you moved between them during the year.
How many income documents there are, on both sides.
Whether foreign accounts need disclosing, and whether that is one form or two.
How many Indian mutual funds need reporting — the reporting is per fund, per year, so the count drives the work directly.
Whether your residency status changed during the year, which is what makes an arrival or departure year more involved than any year after it.
Whether a prior year needs correcting as well as the current one.

Work that cannot be scoped in advance is quoted rather than listed: representation in an examination or appeal, multi-year catch-up filings, and entities with substantial activity. In those cases we scope the work first and tell you the number before anything starts.

Where this comes from

Why Choose EvoTax

Benefits & What You Get

Residency worked out, not assumed

Whether you are a resident, non-resident or dual-status for the year drives everything else on the return. We apply the substantial presence test to your actual days and exempt-individual years.

Indian income reported correctly

Salary, NRE and NRO interest, rent, capital gains and dividends from India, reconciled from the Indian April-March year onto the US calendar year.

Foreign accounts disclosed properly

FBAR (FinCEN 114) and Form 8938 prepared where they apply, so disclosure happens on time rather than being discovered later.

Double taxation relieved

Foreign tax credit on Form 1116 for Indian tax and TDS already paid, plus the India-US treaty positions that apply to your situation.

ITINs for family without SSNs

Form W-7 for a spouse or dependents, prepared alongside the return so a joint filing option is actually available to you.

Reviewed by a US-credentialled professional

US returns are reviewed by a CPA. A Chartered Accountant is not authorised to practise before the IRS, and we do not blur the two.

Simple Process

How It Works

Establish your status

We count your US days across the relevant years, apply the exempt-individual rules if you were on F-1 or J-1, and fix your residency position for the year.

Map India and the US together

You tell us what you still hold in India — accounts, funds, property, employer equity. We work out what is reportable and what is taxable, which are not the same question.

Prepare, disclose and relieve

Federal and state returns, FBAR and Form 8938 where required, and foreign tax credit or treaty relief computed rather than skipped.

Review and file

You see the full computation and the reasoning before anything is submitted, then we e-file and help you track the outcome.

Transparent Pricing

Pricing

US return with Indian incomefrom $99.99

Form 1040 including foreign income reporting

FBAR / Form 8938from $79.99

Foreign account and asset disclosure

First-year / dual-status returnfrom $149.99

Arrival year with both options computed

Return with foreign tax creditfrom $199.99

Including Form 1116 computation

ITIN application (W-7)from $79.99

Per spouse or dependent

Final pricing depends on the complexity of your case. Contact us for an exact quote.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Indians on H-1B pay US tax on their Indian income?

If you are a US tax resident for the year, yes — US residents are taxed on worldwide income, which includes Indian salary, bank and NRO interest, rental income, dividends and capital gains, whether or not the money is ever brought to the US. Most H-1B and L-1 holders become residents by meeting the substantial presence test. That does not mean paying twice: tax already paid in India, including TDS, is generally creditable against your US liability on Form 1116, and the India-US tax treaty provides further relief. Non-residents are taxed only on US-source income, which is why establishing your status first matters so much.

Do I have to report my Indian bank accounts?

You must file an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) if the combined highest balance of all your foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any point during the year. That is an aggregate across every account, not per account, and it counts the peak balance rather than the year-end balance — so a single large transfer through an Indian account can trigger it even if the account is normally near-empty. NRE, NRO, savings, fixed deposits, and Indian demat and brokerage accounts all count, including accounts you only hold jointly with a parent. Form 8938 is a separate FATCA disclosure filed with your tax return, with different and higher thresholds that depend on your filing status and whether you live in the US or abroad. Many people have to file both, and they are not substitutes for each other.

Are my Indian mutual funds a problem for US taxes?

They usually need careful handling. Indian mutual funds are generally treated as PFICs — passive foreign investment companies — under US rules, and PFICs are reported on Form 8621 and taxed under a regime that is deliberately unfavourable. The default excess-distribution method can tax gains at the highest ordinary rate for the years involved and add an interest charge, which frequently produces a worse result than holding an equivalent US fund. There are elections that improve the outcome, but the QEF election needs annual information most Indian fund houses do not supply to US investors. This is the single most common expensive surprise we see for Indians on H-1B, and it is worth reviewing before you add to those holdings, not after.

Can I file jointly with my spouse if they do not have an SSN?

Often yes, and it is frequently worth doing. If your spouse is not eligible for a Social Security number, you apply for an ITIN on Form W-7, which is submitted together with the tax return rather than in advance. If you are a resident and your spouse is not, you can generally elect to treat them as a resident so you can file jointly — which usually gives a better outcome than filing separately, but it also brings their worldwide income into the US return. We compute it both ways so the choice is made on numbers rather than assumption.

I have never reported my Indian accounts. What now?

Address it deliberately rather than by simply starting to report this year, which leaves the earlier years open. The IRS operates catch-up routes, including the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures, intended for taxpayers whose failure to file was not wilful, and these generally involve amended returns and FBARs for a defined look-back period. Which route fits depends on the facts, and the distinction between non-wilful and wilful conduct carries very different consequences. This is a situation to get specific advice on before filing anything, and we will tell you plainly if your circumstances need a tax attorney rather than a preparer.

Does the India-US tax treaty mean I only pay tax in one country?

Not quite. The treaty allocates taxing rights and provides mechanisms to avoid the same income being fully taxed twice, but it does not simply exempt you in one country. In practice relief usually arrives as a foreign tax credit for the tax paid in the other country, and in some cases as a reduced rate on particular categories of income such as interest, dividends and royalties. Students and certain trainees have specific articles that can apply to them. Treaty positions have to be claimed correctly on the return, and sometimes disclosed on Form 8833, so they need to be applied to your facts rather than assumed.

Income or assets in both countries?

Many of our US clients still need an Indian return — for rental income, capital gains, or to reclaim TDS. Our Chartered Accountants handle that side against the same set of facts.

NRI Tax Filing in India

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