U.S. tax for people whose money, family, or work crosses a border.

Do you only work with clients who have ties to India?

The forms on this page apply to anyone who is a U.S. tax resident with accounts, investments, property, or family abroad, whichever country is involved. Today the practice serves the U.S.–India corridor: two partners are Chartered Accountants qualified with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, so NRE and NRO accounts, Indian mutual funds, the India-U.S. treaty, and a return to India are handled from direct experience. If your ties are to another country, ask us. The U.S. forms are the same, and we will tell you plainly whether we can take it on.

Do I need to file an FBAR for my NRE account?

If you are a U.S. person (a citizen, green card holder, or someone who meets the substantial presence test) and the combined value of all your foreign accounts was more than $10,000 at any point in the year, yes. NRE, NRO, and FCNR accounts all count, and PPF, EPF, demat, and brokerage accounts often do too. The test is aggregate, so three accounts at $4,000 each trigger it. NRE interest is tax-free in India, but a U.S. resident still reports it as income. The FBAR is due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15.

Are Indian mutual funds PFICs?

Generally, yes. Indian mutual funds are foreign corporations that hold mostly passive assets, which makes them passive foreign investment companies for U.S. shareholders, and some ULIPs raise the same question. Under the default rules, gains and large distributions are taxed as ordinary income spread over your holding period with an interest charge, and each fund is reported on Form 8621. A small-holdings exception applies when total PFIC value is $25,000 or less ($50,000 joint) and nothing was sold or distributed. We work out and report the treatment; whether to keep or sell a fund is your decision.

My parents are sending me money from abroad. Is it taxable?

A gift from a nonresident parent is not taxable income to you, and the U.S. does not impose gift tax on the person receiving it. If the total you receive from nonresident relatives in a year exceeds $100,000, you report it on Form 3520 with your return. The penalty for a late Form 3520 is 5% of the gift per month, up to 25%, so the filing matters even though no tax is due. Transfers funded from a bank account are also exempt from the 1% U.S. remittance excise tax that began January 1, 2026.

I sold property in India. What does the U.S. return look like?

The U.S. taxes your worldwide gain. We convert your purchase price and sale price to dollars at the exchange rates on those dates, which means part of the result is currency movement, not just property appreciation. There is no indexation in the U.S. computation and the Indian reinvestment relief under section 54 does not carry over. The Indian tax withheld under section 195 or paid with your Indian return is credited on Form 1116. Your Indian CA handles the lower-deduction certificate, Form 15CA/15CB, and repatriation; we handle the U.S. side and reconcile the two.

I never filed FBARs. What are my options?

It depends on whether income was also left off your U.S. returns and whether the miss was non-willful. If all the income was reported and you are not under examination, the delinquent FBAR submission procedure lets you file the late FBARs with an explanation and no penalty. If income was unreported, the Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures are usually the path: three years of amended returns, six years of FBARs, and a 5% penalty on the highest aggregate balance. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Bittner (2023) that the non-willful FBAR penalty applies per report, not per account. Nitasha Ahuja, EA, who spent 15+ years at the IRS, leads these filings.

Do you file my Indian tax return, or returns in other countries?

No. We handle U.S. federal and state compliance only. Your Indian Chartered Accountant, or your accountant in the other country, files the home-country return and handles items like GST, TDS, Form 15CA/15CB, FEMA, and RBI reporting. We work directly with that person so both returns use the same income figures, the same exchange rates, and consistent treaty positions.

How does the substantial presence test work if I arrived on an H-1B this year?

You are a U.S. tax resident for the year if you were present at least 31 days this year and at least 183 weighted days over three years: all days this year, one-third of last year's days, and one-sixth of the days in the year before that. Days on F or J student status are exempt for a period and do not count. If you arrived mid-year you are usually dual-status, filing as a nonresident for the first part of the year and a resident after, with the option of a first-year choice or a joint-return election with a nonresident spouse. We model both and file the one that produces the right result.

I am moving back to India. What should I sort out on the U.S. side?

Your final-year return is usually dual-status, and the date you give up residency matters, so timing across a year end can change the outcome. State residency has to be terminated cleanly, especially in California. A 401(k) or IRA stays U.S.-taxable; the India-U.S. treaty's pension article and your residency year determine the U.S. result and later 30% withholding and Form 1040-NR filings. If you held a green card for 8 of the last 15 years, Form 8854 and the expatriation rules apply. There is no U.S.–India totalization agreement, so Social Security tax paid in the U.S. earns no credit in India and U.S. benefits generally require 40 credits, about ten years of work. Your Indian CA handles RNOR status and the India-side transition.

I am a U.S. citizen living in India. Do I still have to file a U.S. return?

Yes, every year, on worldwide income, and so does a green card holder until the card is formally surrendered. Two tools keep you from paying twice: the foreign earned income exclusion on Form 2555, which removes salary up to an inflation-adjusted cap (about $130,000 for 2025), and the foreign tax credit on Form 1116 for Indian tax paid. Because Indian rates are high, the credit often eliminates U.S. tax on its own and keeps you eligible for IRA contributions and the refundable child tax credit, which the exclusion blocks. You get an automatic extension to June 15, Form 8938 thresholds are higher abroad, and FBAR still applies to your Indian accounts. If you have not filed for years, the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures carry no penalty.

Do you work with businesses as well as individuals?

Yes. On the inbound side, a U.S. LLC or corporation that is 25% or more owned by an Indian individual or company files Form 5472 every year, with a pro forma Form 1120 if it is a single-member LLC, and we handle the state registrations and the owner's U.S. filing if there is U.S.-source income. On the outbound side, a U.S. small business with a subsidiary, branch, or contractors in India needs Forms 5471, 8865, or 8858, W-8BEN collection, Form 1042 withholding where U.S.-source payments go abroad, and U.S.-side transfer pricing for the intercompany charge. The books, the U.S. return, and the cross-border forms are one engagement. Venture-backed startups with a Delaware parent and an Indian subsidiary are served by our sister practice, StartupCFO.AI.

My company in India owns a U.S. LLC. What does the LLC have to file?

A single-member U.S. LLC owned by a foreign company or individual is disregarded for income tax but is treated as a corporation for reporting, so it files Form 5472 attached to a pro forma Form 1120 every year, listing every transaction with the owner and related parties, including the capital you contributed and any loans. The penalty for missing it is $25,000 per form. The LLC also needs an EIN and its state filings, and if it earns U.S.-source income the owner may have a Form 1040-NR or Form 1120-F obligation; treaty positions are disclosed on Form 8833. We prepare the U.S. side and coordinate with your Indian CA on the India-side treatment of the U.S. entity.

I am a shareholder in my family's private limited company abroad. Do I need to file anything?

Very likely Form 5471, every year, even if the company paid you nothing. The category of filer depends on your ownership percentage and whether the company is a controlled foreign corporation, and attribution rules can pull in a spouse's or parent's shares. The penalty is $10,000 per form per year and the statute of limitations on your whole return stays open until it is filed. Where the entity is a partnership or a disregarded entity, Form 8865 or 8858 applies instead.

Who actually does the work, and how is it priced?

Cross-border tax at Rubric Financial is led by Girija Srinivasan, CA, with Nirmala Murugesan, CA, CPA on entity and accounting questions, Nitasha Ahuja, EA on missed years and IRS notices, and Aparna Devalla, CPA reviewing every return. There are no published prices: forms filed with your return are quoted with the return, and FBARs, catch-up packages, and other standalone work are quoted after a short call, with each form and year listed. Quoted work is billed 50% when the engagement agreement and statement of work are signed and 50% on completion; if the work items change, the additional fee is quoted by email or on a subsequent invoice.

Do you handle the business side, such as a U.S. company with a subsidiary abroad?

Yes. A U.S. company that owns a foreign subsidiary files Form 5471 with its corporate return every year, needs U.S.-side support for intercompany pricing, and may have Form 5472 or Form 1042 obligations. For venture-backed startups with a Delaware parent and an Indian subsidiary, our sister practice StartupCFO.AI runs the same work alongside the company's bookkeeping and CFO support.

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