US Jointly Held Accounts - ITR reporting

Income Tax
1

Hi,

As US Citizen + ROR in India, how does one report the foreign joint accounts held by spouses as owners.

  1. How are these foreign joint accounts reported on Sch FA - both spouses or just one?

  2. How are their income/balance amounts reported on disclosure schedules FA & AL - is it share% per owner or 100% per owner.

  3. How are their income/tax amounts reported on tax schedules OS, CG, FSI, TR - is it share% per owner or 100% per owner

  4. There are both joint (bank) and separate foreign accounts (eg. brokerages, retirement). If all those accounts have a foreign trust as successor, does that mean each spouse has to declare in Sch. FA all the accounts of the other spouse ? (since they are all connected via the trust)

  5. How is Form 67 filled for these type of accounts

2

@TeamQuicko any guidance please ?

3

Hello @shivs
I will answer your queries one by one:

  1. Foreign Joint accounts should be reported in schedule FA by both the spouses.
  2. Both the spouses should report all the assets held by them separately and in case of joint assets both the spouses should report their share of joint assets (note the reporting under Schedule AL if the income exceeds Rs. 50 Lakhs).
  3. The income should be reported under the Schedules OS, CG, FSI, TR from the joint account should be reported per joint owner.
  4. If a foreign trust is named as a successor to foreign accounts, both spouses must disclose their beneficial interest in the trust in Schedule FA. Table F: Details of the trust, including its name, country of establishment, and the nature of the beneficial interest.
  5. File Form 67 along with your ITR if you have foreign income and have paid taxes on it abroad.

Hope it helps!!

4

Thank you @Priyanshu_Agarwal, followup on missing information:

for #3, the income being report is also per owner’s share% and not the full 100% ?

for #4, for the non-joint accounts having the trust as successor, does each spouse have to disclose in FA even those non-joint accounts of the other spouse ?
Based on the example:

H/W-JointAccount => Trust
H-IRA => Trust
W-Brokerage => Trust

Does the H have to disclose W’s brokerage in FA table A2, A3? Does the W have to disclose H’s IRA in FA table D.

Btw, is table D the right place to disclose the foreign retirement accounts (IRA, 401K, roth) and other misc accounts (529, HSA) ?

5

Hello @shivs

  1. The income should be reported for each spouse as per the share of each in the joint account.
  2. Each spouse should report every account as per their share in those trust.
    For more assistance you can book a meeting with our tax experts.
    Hope this helps!!