India follows financial year whereas US follows the calendar year. All the data that the US based brokers share is in calendar year. Do we need to report the schedule FA, FSI etc. as per the financial year? There is contradictory information about this online. Is anyone having a link to the official section or law about this?
In the tax reports provided by INDMoney, under the dividend report it says
The dividend payout dates mentioned in this report are the actual payment dates. This may differ from DriveWealth statements which have publicly announced payment dates.
For US and Indian Income tax purpose, which date is used to calculate the dividend, the date when the dividend hits the investing app (in case of US dividends) or the bank (in case of Indian dividends) or the dividend announcement dates (in case of both US and Indian stocks)?
Note- Dividend details as per the report shared by INDMoney are from 01.04.2024-31.03.2025 so that means that they have taken financial year here and not calendar year as per this report atleast. Is calculation needs to be done as per financial year everywhere?
For the short term and long term, capital gain or capital loss from Indian and US stocks, do we need to club the total of both and mention them together in the ITR?
How to prepare schedule FA from the data/statement shared by the broker like IBKR? Schedule FA has peak balance, closing balance and other columns. Do we need to mention these values of a stock as per their highest blance and closing balance as per 31st March after converting them to INR?
The commission paid to these brokers/apps for investing in the US market, can this be claimed somehow? IBKR’s support said that it can be claimed. Even INDmoney’s support mentioned this in some thread here.
The 25% dividend tax deducted in the US, can it be used to offset only taxes which arise from capital gains (both from India and the US) or can it be used to offset taxes which arise from salary/income from other sources also?
Great questions! Addressing specifically Question 1 and Question 3 on Schedule FA foreign asset reporting:
Calendar Year vs Financial Year for Schedule FA: Unlike your regular salary or Indian stock capital gains (which follow the April–March Indian Financial Year), Schedule FA strictly mandates reporting foreign assets based on the foreign broker’s accounting period (Calendar Year: Jan 1st – Dec 31st). So for filing ITR AY 2026-27, you must disclose your US stock holdings as of Dec 31, 2025.
Exchange Rates (Rule 115): You cannot convert balances using March 31st rates. Under Rule 115, you must convert values using the SBI TTBR (Telegraphic Transfer Buying Rate) as on the exact transaction date or closing balance date.
Closing & Peak Balance: For brokers like Fidelity, IBKR, or INDmoney, you need to report Table A2 (for capital assets/brokerage accounts) and Table B (for equity shares) in INR.
Doing this manually across multiple buy/sell lots is notoriously tedious. To help Indian investors and CAs automate this exact workflow, we built a free generator tool: ITRFA.in. It parses broker statements directly and computes Table A2/B disclosures instantly.
For the short term and long term, capital gain or capital loss from Indian and US stocks, do we need to club the total of both and mention them together in the ITR?
Yes, unless the ITR has specific different sections. Section 112 and 111 I believe
How to prepare schedule FA from the data/statement shared by the broker like IBKR? Schedule FA has peak balance, closing balance and other columns. Do we need to mention these values of a stock as per their highest blance and closing balance as per 31st March after converting them to INR?
Yes.
The commission paid to these brokers/apps for investing in the US market, can this be claimed somehow? IBKR’s support said that it can be claimed. Even INDmoney’s support mentioned this in some thread here.
It can be deducted as it cost of transfer(“expenditure incurred wholly and exclusively in connection with transfer”) and cost of acquisition
The 25% dividend tax deducted in the US, can it be used to offset only taxes which arise from capital gains (both from India and the US) or can it be used to offset taxes which arise from salary/income from other sources also?
No it cannot even be claimed against Capital gains. It can only be claimed against Indian “dividend” income. You also need to file a extra form before ITR to claim even that.
in respect of income by way of dividends, the last day of the month immediately preceding the month in which the dividend is declared, distributed or paid by the company;
The “or” implies you can use any of the dates: declaration or paid dates. Paid date would be much apt in my opinion.
PS: Small retail users use Irish UCITS Accumulating ETF to bypass dividend income altogether.