FAST-DS 2026 — Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers Disclosure SchemeOne window to regularise missed foreign assets and foreign income. It opened on 16 August 2026 and closes on 31 December 2026.

ESOPs and RSUs from overseas employment

Equity received during foreign employment or under a global employee plan, where the perquisite may even have been taxed correctly in India but the continuing shareholding was never reported.

Dormant overseas bank and brokerage accounts

Old accounts that stayed open after the person returned to India and quietly kept accruing a reporting obligation.

Accounts opened while studying abroad

Student accounts that were never closed and never subsequently reported in an Indian return.

Savings retained by returning NRIs

Foreign savings, insurance or investments built up legitimately while non-resident, retained after the move back to India.

Foreign financial assets missed in Schedule FA

Holdings with a completely legitimate source of funds that were simply left out of the schedule.

Foreign-source income left out of the return

Overseas consulting, interest or dividend income that was chargeable to tax in India but never offered.

Resident in the relevant previous year

A person who was resident in India under section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 in the relevant previous year, and had an eligible foreign income or foreign asset default in that year.

Currently non-resident or RNOR

A person who is now a non-resident, or resident but not ordinarily resident, can still declare — provided they were resident in India either in the year to which the undisclosed foreign income relates, or in the year in which the foreign asset was acquired. Present status does not disqualify you.

Returning NRIs and people who studied or worked abroad

This is the group the scheme was written for: people who left India, built assets abroad, came back, and then missed the Schedule FA obligation that attached once they became resident again.

You failed to furnish a return

No return was filed under section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for the relevant year.

You filed, but did not disclose the asset or income

A return was furnished before the scheme commenced, but the foreign asset or foreign income was left out of it. This is the classic missed Schedule FA case.

The asset or income escaped assessment

The foreign asset or income escaped assessment within the meaning of section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Situation A — asset acquired during the NRI period

Salary earned in Dubai while genuinely non-resident was saved in a UAE account. After becoming resident in India the account continued, but Schedule FA reporting was missed. The money was never taxable in India; only the disclosure failed.

Situation B — income already offered to tax

A foreign ESOP or RSU perquisite was properly taxed in India on vesting, but the continuing foreign shareholding was never reported in Schedule FA. The tax was paid; the schedule was not filled.

Foreign bank accounts

Savings, current, deposit and similar overseas accounts — including dormant ones you no longer use.

Foreign brokerage accounts and shares

Listed shares, ETFs, mutual funds and securities accounts held outside India.

ESOPs and RSUs

Employee equity awards and any continuing foreign shareholding that followed from them.

Interests in foreign entities

A financial interest in a company, partnership, LLP or other entity located outside India.

Immovable property outside India

Residential or commercial property situated abroad.

Other assets

Insurance and investment products, jewellery, bullion, art and similar assets held overseas.

Reinvestment is not counted twice

Where the sale proceeds of one asset, or a withdrawal from a bank account, were used to acquire another asset, the FMV of the original asset is reduced by the amount reinvested — and the new asset is valued separately on its own FMV.

Everything is reported in rupees

Values in an RBI-designated currency are converted at the RBI reference rate on the valuation date. A non-designated currency is first converted into US dollars at the rate specified by that country's central bank, and the dollar value is then converted at the RBI reference rate.

A 20% variance tolerance — for non-bank assets only

For assets other than a bank account, a difference of up to 20% between the value you declare and the value later determined by the Assessing Officer will not, by itself, invalidate the declaration on grounds of misrepresentation or false particulars. This is a tolerance for honest valuation judgement, not a licence for aggressive valuation — and it does not extend to bank accounts at all.

Reconstruct the account from opening, not from memory

You need the account opening date and complete statements for the entire life of the account — deposits, withdrawals, internal transfers and re-deposits. For an account opened fifteen years ago at a bank you have since left, obtaining this is the longest task in the whole engagement. Start it first, not last.

Strip out the permitted exclusions before you compute

Re-deposits of withdrawals from the same account, and deposits already covered by an earlier Black Money Act declaration, come out of the aggregate. Missing these inflates your value — and can push you over a category ceiling that you were actually inside.

Document the working as if it will be examined

Keep the reconciliation, the conversion rates used, source-of-funds evidence and a clear valuation memo on the declaration file. Remember that the 20% variance tolerance does not apply to bank accounts — the aggregation must be right.

Immunity under the Black Money Act, 2015

Immunity from the levy of any further tax or penalty, and from prosecution, under the Black Money Act in respect of the income or asset declared.

No double taxation of the declared matter

The declared income, or the amount of investment in the declared asset, is not again included in your total income under the Income-tax Act, 1961 or the Black Money Act, 2015.

Pending assessments must take the declaration into account

Where assessment proceedings under either Act are pending in respect of the declared income or asset, the Assessing Officer is required to take the declaration into account while finalising the assessment order.

Material particulars are found to be false

Misrepresentation, suppression of facts or false particulars in the declaration itself. The 20% valuation tolerance for non-bank assets is a narrow shelter, not a defence to inaccuracy.

The declarant violates the scheme conditions

The immunity is conditional on compliance with the scheme, not merely on having filed under it.

Payment is not completed within the outer period

Beyond the four-month outer limit from the end of the month of the Form 2 order, the benefit ceases for that declaration — while the disclosure you made remains on record.

Proceeds of crime under PMLA proceedings

Any income or asset which directly or indirectly represents proceeds of crime, where proceedings have been initiated or are pending under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002.

Years already assessed under the Black Money Act

Any income or asset relating to an assessment year for which assessment proceedings have already been completed under the Black Money Act, 2015.

Values above the category ceilings

If the aggregate value of the foreign assets exceeds ₹5 crore, you are not eligible to use the scheme. The ₹1 crore ceiling applies equally to a Category 1 declaration. There is no partial relief for the amount within the limit.

Section 49 — wilful failure to file a return

Rigorous imprisonment from six months to seven years plus fine, subject to the statutory conditions and the threshold relief introduced for specified non-immovable assets.

Section 50 — wilful omission from a return

Where the return is filed but the foreign asset or income is wilfully omitted, imprisonment may similarly extend from six months to seven years plus fine.

Section 51 — wilful attempt to evade tax

Serious wilful evasion can attract rigorous imprisonment extending from three years to ten years plus fine.

Case 1 — foreign RSUs left out of Schedule FA

An Indian resident employee paid tax on the ESOP or RSU perquisite, but omitted the continuing foreign shares from Schedule FA. Potentially a Category 2 reporting-only case at a ₹1 lakh fee, subject to all conditions being met.

Case 2 — returning NRI with a Dubai account

Savings accumulated while genuinely non-resident remain in a UAE bank account. After becoming resident, Schedule FA was missed. Potentially Category 2 — but the account must still be valued on the aggregate-deposits basis, and residential status for each year has to be established.

Case 3 — undisclosed US consulting income

An Indian resident earned overseas consulting income, kept it in a foreign account, and disclosed neither the income nor the account. This is a Category 1 case, not a mere Schedule FA omission — the income was chargeable in India and was never offered.

Case 4 — foreign property above the ceiling

Where the aggregate asset value exceeds the ₹5 crore Category 2 ceiling, relief under the scheme is not available at all. The position then has to be worked out under normal law, and that analysis should be done before anything is filed anywhere.