US and India Annual Tax Filing Calendar for NRIs: Every Deadline, Form, and Penalty You Need to Know

You filed your Form 1040 on time last year. You may have missed your Form 8938. You definitely filed your ITR-2. You may have forgotten Form 67 before you filed it, which means the foreign tax credit you were entitled to under the India-US DTAA was silently denied. Nobody told you. You will discover it during a scrutiny notice two years from now.

This is the guide you bookmark and return to in January every year. It covers every meaningful deadline across both countries, the forms behind each one, the thresholds that trigger them, and the penalties that apply when you miss them. It is written for an NRI who is a US person (citizen or Green Card holder) with India-source income, because that is the most complex filing position and the one most likely to produce expensive surprises.

The 30-second answer: US persons with Indian financial ties face two overlapping annual filing requirements. On the US side: Form 1040 by April 15 (automatic extension to October 15 via Form 4868; US citizens abroad get an automatic extension to June 15 without filing any form), FBAR by April 15 (automatic extension to October 15), Form 8938 with the 1040 if foreign assets exceed USD 50,000, and Form 8621 for each Indian mutual fund you hold. On the India side: ITR-2 by July 31 (no-audit cases), Form 67 must be filed before the ITR if you are claiming foreign tax credit, and advance tax installments on June 15, September 15, December 15, and March 15 if your India tax liability is not fully covered by TDS. Missing FBAR carries a penalty of up to 50% of the account balance per wilful violation. Missing Form 8621 keeps the statute of limitations on your entire US return open indefinitely.

This guide covers the full annual timeline, each form's trigger conditions and thresholds, the penalty structure for each missed deadline, edge cases for the RNOR transition year and UK-based NRIs, and a master calendar table you can print and tape to the wall.

US filing obligations: the foundation layer

Form 1040 and the automatic extensions

The baseline US federal income tax return for citizens and Green Card holders is Form 1040. For non-residents earning US-source income only, the equivalent is Form 1040-NR. Most NRIs with Green Cards file 1040; most on H-1B or F-1 visas file 1040-NR once they pass the substantial presence test or make a first-year election.

The standard deadline is April 15. If April 15 falls on a weekend or a public holiday in the District of Columbia, the deadline shifts to the next business day.

Two-month automatic extension for overseas taxpayers. US citizens and Green Card holders whose tax home and abode are outside the United States on April 15 receive an automatic two-month extension to June 15, requiring no form. You attach a statement to your return explaining that you qualify under this provision. The extension is for filing, not for payment. Any tax owed was legally due on April 15. Interest accrues from April 15 on unpaid amounts even if you file by June 15.

Six-month extension via Form 4868. Filing Form 4868 by April 15 (or by June 15 if you already qualify for the overseas extension) extends the filing deadline to October 15. Again, this is a filing extension, not a payment extension. If you owe tax, you must estimate the liability and pay it by April 15 to avoid failure-to-pay penalties. Paying 90% of the current year's liability or 100% of the prior year's tax liability generally avoids the underpayment penalty.

Further extension to December 15. A small number of taxpayers in extreme hardship situations can receive an additional extension to December 15 by contacting the IRS International Accounts office in Philadelphia. This is rare, granted case by case, and not available as a routine option.

FBAR: FinCEN Form 114

The Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, commonly called the FBAR, is filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), not the IRS. It is filed exclusively through the BSA E-Filing System at bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov. It is never attached to your tax return, never mailed, never filed with a software package that submits it to the IRS.

The trigger. You must file FBAR if you had a financial interest in, or signature authority over, one or more foreign financial accounts and the aggregate maximum value of all those accounts exceeded USD 10,000 at any point during the calendar year. The USD 10,000 threshold is not per account; it is the sum across all foreign accounts on their highest day of the year. An NRE account at HDFC Bank, an NRO account at SBI, and a fixed deposit at ICICI that together peaked at USD 12,000 during the year all require an FBAR filing, even if the year-end balance was USD 8,000.

Financial interest covers accounts you own directly or through a legal entity you control. Signature authority covers accounts you can control even if you do not own them, such as a joint account with a parent in India where your name authorises transactions.

Deadline. April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15. No form is needed to claim the extension. FinCEN aligned the FBAR deadline with the income tax extension in 2015 specifically to synchronise the two filings.

Penalty structure. This is where NRIs are routinely surprised by the magnitude of the exposure:

• Non-wilful violation: up to USD 15,138 per violation (2024 inflation-adjusted). One violation per account per year.
• Wilful violation: up to the greater of USD 156,309 or 50% of the highest balance in the account during the year, per violation. For an NRE account with a peak balance of USD 200,000, a wilful violation carries a potential penalty of USD 100,000 for a single year's non-filing.

Wilfulness does not require intent to evade. Courts have found reckless disregard for an obligation to be wilful even without deliberate concealment. The IRS has been active in pursuing FBAR penalties, and the US Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Bittner v. United States held that non-wilful penalties accrue per form rather than per account, providing some relief for non-wilful filers with multiple accounts.

Form 8938: FATCA reporting

Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets) is filed with the IRS, attached to Form 1040. It is a separate obligation from FBAR. The two overlap in what they cover, but neither satisfies the other.

Thresholds for US-resident taxpayers (filing as a US-resident, tax home in the US):

• Single or Married Filing Separately: USD 50,000 at year-end or USD 75,000 at any time during the year
• Married Filing Jointly: USD 100,000 at year-end or USD 150,000 at any time during the year

Thresholds for US persons with a tax home outside the US (NRIs living abroad):

• Single or Married Filing Separately: USD 200,000 at year-end or USD 300,000 at any time during the year
• Married Filing Jointly: USD 400,000 at year-end or USD 600,000 at any time during the year

The higher thresholds for those living abroad apply when you can establish that your tax home is in a foreign country, meaning your principal place of business or employment is outside the US and you intend to stay indefinitely. Many NRIs on Green Cards who have recently moved back to India will qualify for these higher thresholds in their first full year of residence outside the US.

Form 8938 covers a wider range of assets than FBAR. In addition to bank accounts, it includes foreign stock, foreign partnership interests, foreign retirement accounts (including Indian EPF and PPF, though the tax treatment of those accounts is complex), and beneficial interests in foreign trusts.

Deadline. Same as Form 1040, including all extensions. If you extend your 1040 to October 15, Form 8938 is also due October 15.

Penalties. USD 10,000 for failure to file, plus an additional USD 10,000 per 30-day period after the IRS notifies you of the failure (up to USD 50,000 additional). There is also a 40% underpayment penalty on any unreported income attributable to undisclosed assets.

Form 8621: the PFIC trap

Form 8621 (Information Return by a Shareholder of a Passive Foreign Investment Company) is required for each Passive Foreign Investment Company (PFIC) you hold. Every Indian mutual fund is a PFIC under US tax law. Every foreign ETF purchased through a non-US brokerage is almost certainly a PFIC. Foreign money market funds are PFICs.

The filing obligation exists even if there are no reportable events in the year. If you hold a PFIC, you file Form 8621 for it. No distributions, no sales, no income, you still file the form.

The consequence of not filing Form 8621 is not a fixed penalty but something more severe: the statute of limitations on your entire Form 1040 for that year remains open indefinitely until the form is filed. The IRS can assess additional tax on any item on that return, not just the PFIC itself, for as long as the form remains unfiled. For NRIs who have held Indian mutual funds for years without filing 8621, every one of those years remains open to IRS examination.

The tax treatment of PFICs under the default excess distribution rules is punitive: gains are allocated rateably over the holding period, taxed at the highest ordinary income rates (not capital gains rates), and subjected to interest charges going back to the year the income was notionally allocated. The two elections available to reduce this burden are the Qualified Electing Fund (QEF) election, which requires the fund to provide PFIC Annual Information Statements (most Indian mutual funds do not issue these), and the mark-to-market election, which taxes unrealised gains annually at ordinary income rates but avoids the excess distribution horror. For most NRIs holding Indian mutual funds, the mark-to-market election is the only practical path.

Deadline. Same as Form 1040, including extensions.

Forms 5471, 8865, and 3520: the less-common but high-penalty forms

Form 5471 is required if you are a director, officer, or own 10% or more of an Indian company (including a private limited company). Form 8865 covers an interest in a foreign partnership or LLP. Both are filed with Form 1040 and follow its deadline.

Form 3520 (Annual Return to Report Transactions with Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts) is required if you received gifts exceeding USD 100,000 from a foreign person during the year, or if you received distributions from or made transfers to an Indian family trust. Form 3520 is a standalone filing, separate from Form 1040, but it follows the same deadline (including extensions). The penalty for failure to file is 35% of the gross reportable amount. For a gift of USD 500,000 from a parent in India, the penalty for non-filing is USD 175,000. The minimum penalty is USD 10,000.

State tax returns

State tax obligations depend on your state of residence. California is the most aggressive: it taxes residents on worldwide income and will attempt to tax non-residents on California-source income even after departure if it can establish that domicile remains in California. Florida, Texas, Nevada, Washington, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Alaska have no state income tax. The state return deadline is generally the same as the federal deadline, but state extension rules vary.

India filing obligations

ITR-2: the NRI income tax return

ITR-2 is the standard Indian income tax return for individuals with income from salary, house property, capital gains, or other sources, excluding business or professional income. NRIs with India-source income file ITR-2 (if no business income) or ITR-3 (if they have business or professional income in India).

Filing obligation. An NRI must file an ITR in India if their India-source income (gross, before deductions) exceeds the basic exemption limit. Under the old regime, the exemption limit is Rs 2,50,000 for AY 2026-27 (financial year 2025-26). Under the new default regime, it is Rs 3,00,000. Note that NRIs are not entitled to the enhanced Rs 3,00,000 basic exemption that senior residents receive; the senior citizen threshold applies to residents only.

For a working NRI, India-source income typically includes rental income from property in India, interest on NRO accounts, capital gains on Indian shares or mutual funds, and dividends from Indian companies. Interest on NRE accounts is exempt for a person who remains an NRI throughout the financial year.

Deadline. July 31 for ITR filings that do not require a tax audit. October 31 for cases that require a tax audit (for example, an NRI running a business in India whose turnover exceeds the audit threshold under Section 44AB). CBDT has extended the July 31 deadline in several recent years, typically to late August or September. Watch the official CBDT notification for the specific assessment year.

Belated return. If you miss July 31, you can still file a belated return up to December 31 of the assessment year. A late filing fee of Rs 5,000 applies under Section 234F. If your total income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh, the fee is Rs 1,000. Interest on any outstanding tax liability also runs under Section 234A from the original due date.

Updated return (ITR-U). If you have missed even the December 31 belated return deadline, you can file an Updated Return under Section 139(8A) within two years of the end of the relevant assessment year, subject to a 25% to 50% additional tax on the outstanding liability. This is a last resort, not a planning tool.

Form 67: the foreign tax credit form you must file first

This is the single most commonly overlooked filing obligation for US-based NRIs who also have India tax liability. Form 67 is the mechanism for claiming relief under Section 90 of the Income Tax Act for taxes paid in the US on income that is also taxable in India.

The sequence matters. Form 67 must be submitted on the income tax e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in before or simultaneously with your ITR-2. It is not an attachment to the ITR; it is a separate filing on the portal. If you file your ITR-2 first and then attempt to file Form 67, the portal may not link them correctly and the tax officer reviewing your return may deny the credit.

Several Income Tax Appellate Tribunal decisions in 2023 and 2024 held that the requirement to file Form 67 before or with the ITR is a mandatory procedural condition, not merely a directory one. This means the credit can be denied even if the underlying DTAA entitlement is valid, purely because of the sequence of filing. This is a rule that punishes procedural errors more severely than substantive ones, but it is the current state of the law.

If you have already filed your ITR without Form 67, filing a revised return before the December 31 belated return deadline is the fastest remediation path.

Advance tax for NRIs

NRIs with India-source income that is not fully covered by tax deducted at source (TDS) must pay advance tax in four installments:

Installment	Deadline	Cumulative percentage of estimated annual liability
First	June 15	15%
Second	September 15	45%
Third	December 15	75%
Fourth	March 15	100%

Who needs this. NRIs whose total India tax liability (after TDS credits) exceeds Rs 10,000 in a financial year must pay advance tax. For most NRIs with only fixed deposit interest on NRO accounts (where TDS at 30% or applicable DTAA rate is deducted by the bank) or dividend income (TDS at 20%), the TDS typically covers or exceeds the tax liability, and no separate advance tax payment is needed.

Advance tax becomes relevant for NRIs with capital gains on Indian shares or mutual funds that are not subject to TDS at source, rental income where the tenant is an individual not required to deduct TDS, or any India business income.

Shortfall penalty. Failure to pay advance tax on time attracts simple interest at 1% per month under Section 234B (for paying less than 90% of total tax before March 31) and Section 234C (for each installment shortfall). These penalties compound across multiple years of non-compliance and are charged automatically at the time of ITR processing.

Master annual calendar

Date	Obligation	Who it applies to
1 January	US tax year begins	All US persons
31 January	W-2s and 1099s due from US employers and custodians	All US wage earners and investors
February to March	Gather India income documents: Form 16A (TDS certificate) from Indian banks, brokers, and tenants; capital gains statements from Indian brokers; rent receipts	NRIs with India-source income
15 March	India advance tax: 100% cumulative (final installment for FY 2025-26)	NRIs with India advance tax liability
15 April	US Form 1040 (or Form 4868 to extend to October 15); FBAR FinCEN Form 114 (automatic extension to October 15 without any form); US quarterly estimated tax Q1 for self-employed; Form 8938 (if not extending 1040)	All US persons; FBAR filers
15 June	US Form 1040 automatic deadline for overseas taxpayers (no form required); India advance tax first installment: 15% cumulative for FY 2026-27	US citizens and GC holders abroad; NRIs with India advance tax
31 July	India ITR-2 deadline (no-audit cases) for AY 2026-27; Form 67 must be filed first or simultaneously if claiming foreign tax credit	NRIs with India income
15 September	India advance tax second installment: 45% cumulative; US quarterly estimated tax Q3	NRIs with India advance tax; US self-employed
31 October	India ITR-2 deadline for cases requiring tax audit	NRIs with audit cases
15 October	US Form 1040 extended deadline; FBAR automatic extension deadline; Form 8938 (if extending 1040); Form 8621; Form 5471; Form 8865; Form 3520	US persons who filed Form 4868; all FBAR filers
15 December	India advance tax third installment: 75% cumulative	NRIs with India advance tax
31 December	India: last date for belated ITR-2 for AY 2026-27 (with Rs 5,000 penalty under Section 234F)	NRIs who missed July 31

What happens if you miss: penalties by form

US penalties

Form 1040 failure-to-file penalty. 5% of the unpaid tax per month (or partial month), capped at 25% of the unpaid tax. This runs from the original due date, not the extended due date, if you did not file for an extension. Combined with the failure-to-pay penalty and interest, a six-month delay on a USD 20,000 tax bill can add USD 3,000 to USD 5,000 in charges.

Failure-to-pay penalty. 0.5% of the unpaid tax per month, capped at 25% of the unpaid tax. If both the failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties apply in the same month, the failure-to-file penalty is reduced to 4.5%, making the combined monthly rate 5%.

Interest on underpayment. Interest runs at the federal short-term rate plus 3 percentage points, compounding daily. For most of 2024 and 2025, this was in the 7% to 8% annual range. Interest accrues from the original due date (April 15) regardless of whether you filed for an extension.

FBAR wilful penalty. Up to the greater of USD 156,309 or 50% of the highest account balance per violation (per account per year for wilful violations, per form per year for non-wilful violations after Bittner). For multiple years of wilful non-filing across multiple accounts, these penalties can exceed the total account value.

Form 8938. USD 10,000 base penalty, plus USD 10,000 per 30-day period after IRS notice (up to USD 50,000). The IRS may also impose a 40% underpayment penalty on any income associated with undisclosed foreign financial assets.

Form 8621. No fixed dollar penalty, but the statute of limitations on the entire Form 1040 for that year remains open indefinitely. This means the IRS can audit and assess additional tax on any line of that return, years or decades later, until Form 8621 is eventually filed. For NRIs who have held Indian mutual funds for five or ten years without filing 8621, every one of those returns remains permanently open.

Form 3520. 35% of the gross reportable amount, with a minimum of USD 10,000. For large gifts from Indian parents, this penalty is severe. The maximum penalty for failure to report a foreign trust distribution is USD 10,000 per reportable event.

India penalties

Section 234F late filing fee. Rs 5,000 for filing after July 31. Rs 1,000 if total income is below Rs 5 lakh. This applies even if your final tax liability is zero, as long as you were required to file.

Section 234A interest. Simple interest at 1% per month on outstanding tax liability from the original due date (July 31) to the date of actual filing. This runs in addition to the flat Rs 5,000 fee.

Section 234B interest. 1% per month on the shortfall in advance tax if you paid less than 90% of your total tax liability before March 31.

Section 234C interest. 1% per month on each advance tax installment shortfall, assessed separately for each of the four installments.

Denial of foreign tax credit. This is not a statutory penalty but its financial consequence is equivalent. If Form 67 is not filed before or with the ITR-2, the credit for US taxes paid (which can offset significant India liability under the DTAA) can be denied in full. For an NRI who paid USD 50,000 in US federal tax and has Rs 15,00,000 of India-taxable income, the lost credit is the entire India tax bill.

Edge cases

The RNOR year: the most complex filing position

Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR) is a transitional residency status under Indian tax law that applies in the early years after an NRI returns to India. During the RNOR period, foreign income from assets located outside India and controlled from outside India is generally not taxable in India. This reduces the India filing burden compared to a full Resident Indian.

However, the RNOR status does not change US filing obligations by a single form. If you are a US citizen or Green Card holder, your US obligations (1040, FBAR, 8938, 8621) apply in full regardless of your Indian residency status.

The most complex year is the year of departure or return, when you may be both RNOR in India (not fully taxable on foreign income) and a US tax resident under the substantial presence test (fully taxable on worldwide income in the US), potentially for different periods of the same calendar year. The India return may need to be split between the NRI period (only India-source income taxable) and the resident period (both India and foreign income potentially taxable, subject to RNOR relief). Get professional advice from both a US-qualified CPA and an Indian CA for the transition year; the DTAA tie-breaker provisions and the RNOR rules interact in ways that are genuinely difficult to navigate without expertise.

A separate planning point for the RNOR year: if you hold Indian mutual funds that are classified as PFICs under US law, you may want to evaluate whether to sell and repurchase them before returning to India to reset the PFIC basis and avoid the excess distribution regime on future growth.

NRIs who are not US persons

An Indian national on an H-1B visa who has not yet met the substantial presence test files Form 1040-NR (for US-source income only) rather than Form 1040. The FBAR and Form 8938 obligations still apply if the thresholds are met, because FBAR applies to US residents (including H-1B holders who are resident aliens for tax purposes) and US citizens and Green Card holders. Once an H-1B holder passes the substantial presence test (typically 183 days across a rolling three-year formula), they file Form 1040 as a resident alien with the same worldwide income obligations as a US citizen. Form 8938 thresholds revert to the lower domestic thresholds (USD 50,000/USD 75,000 single) for the period you are US-resident.

UK-based NRIs: a brief note

NRIs in the UK file a Self-Assessment SA100 return with HMRC, with a deadline of January 31 (online) for the prior UK tax year ending April 5. HMRC's foreign income reporting requirements, including Schedule HS300 for overseas income, align with the SA100 filing. For India cross-filing, the obligations and timelines are the same as described above (ITR-2 by July 31, Form 67 before ITR). UK NRIs do not have FBAR or Form 8938 obligations unless they also hold US citizenship or a Green Card.

Dual filers: the estimated tax calculation problem

An NRI who owes both US and India tax on the same income faces a sequencing problem with estimated tax. India advance tax installments run throughout the Indian financial year (April to March). US quarterly estimated tax installments run on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15. The final DTAA credit calculation (which tax system absorbs the credit) is only knowable when both returns are finalised. In practice, most US-India dual filers pay US estimated tax based on their best estimate of the US liability net of anticipated India credits, knowing the true reconciliation happens at the return stage.

When TDS creates an overpayment

NRIs frequently have TDS deducted at the maximum applicable rate (30% for most capital gains on NRO income, 20% for dividends) even though the actual liability after DTAA treaty benefits is lower. For example, the India-US DTAA caps dividend withholding at 15% for a US resident holding less than 10% of an Indian company. The TDS certificate (Form 16A) will show 20% withheld, but your actual liability under the DTAA is 15%. You claim the difference as a refund in your ITR-2. These refunds are issued through the income tax portal after return processing, typically within three to six months of filing. File ITR-2 even in years where you expect a refund.

The closing read

The architecture of this filing obligation is genuinely complex: two tax systems, six or more distinct forms with different filing destinations and different penalty regimes, DTAA provisions that interact with domestic law in both directions, and a sequencing requirement (Form 67 before ITR) that can destroy an entitlement you have earned.

The practical discipline that works is treating the filing calendar as a project that begins in January, not in March. January is for gathering documents: US W-2s and 1099s, Indian Form 16A certificates, capital gains account statements from Indian brokers, FD interest certificates, rent receipts. February is for understanding the India income picture. March is for paying any final India advance tax installment. April is for filing the US return (or extending it) and the FBAR simultaneously. June is for paying the first India advance tax installment if needed. July is for filing ITR-2, with Form 67 first.

Missing FBAR because you forgot about the April 15 date is an expensive mistake; the automatic extension to October 15 exists precisely because many people with complex returns need it. Missing Form 8621 because you did not know about it is a different kind of expensive, because it keeps every prior year's return open. And missing Form 67 before your ITR is the most avoidable mistake on this list: it costs you nothing to file it first, and it costs you the full India tax credit if you do not.

The IRS and CBDT do not send reminder letters. You are the project manager.

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Cross-references

• FBAR and FATCA for NRIs: the complete US foreign account reporting guide
• Indian mutual funds are PFICs: what US NRIs must do about it
• US exit tax for covered expatriates: what NRIs must know
• Roth IRA for US NRIs: contributions, backdoor conversions, and India DTAA treatment
• HSA for US NRIs: the tax-free health savings account and India complications
• 401(k) planning for US NRIs: contributions, employer match, and the India tax question
• US Social Security and the India-US DTAA: which country taxes your benefits
• India-US DTAA comprehensive guide: which article covers your income
• RNOR status and tax planning for the returning NRI
• 529 college savings plan for US NRIs: contributions, India tax treatment, and strategy
• US situs estate tax and NRI planning: the asset threshold that surprises most NRIs

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Disclaimers

Tax deadlines change from year to year. The CBDT issues official extensions for ITR filing dates on a regular basis; the July 31 deadline described in this guide is the statutory deadline for no-audit cases and may be extended by notification for the specific assessment year. Verify all India deadlines on incometax.gov.in and all US deadlines on IRS.gov before relying on them for a specific tax year. IRS penalty amounts are adjusted annually for inflation; figures cited in this guide reflect 2024 indexed amounts and should be verified for the year in question. FBAR penalty thresholds are published annually by FinCEN. Nothing in this guide constitutes legal or tax advice. The correct approach for any individual NRI filing position requires engagement with a US-qualified CPA (preferably one with international tax experience) for the US side and a practising Indian CA for the India side; ideally both, coordinating together, for the transition year and for complex dual-filing years.