Question 1

How do I report RSU income in my Indian ITR?

Accepted Answer

RSU income is taxed at two points in India. At vesting, the fair market value of shares on the vesting date is treated as salary income (perquisite under Section 17(2)(vi)) and your employer deducts TDS — this appears in your Form 16. At sale, the difference between the sale price and the vesting-date FMV is a capital gain: short-term (slab rate) if held under 24 months from vesting, long-term (12.5%) if held 24 months or more. You must also disclose the foreign holdings in Schedule FA, report foreign income in Schedule FSI, declare dividends in Schedule OS, and claim foreign tax credit via Form 67. All INR conversions use official SBI Telegraphic Transfer Buying Rates. Rupie automates this entire process — upload your broker statement from Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, Charles Schwab, or many other popular brokers, and receive all six required ITR schedules in minutes.

Question 2

What is Schedule FA in ITR and who needs to file it?

Accepted Answer

Schedule FA (Foreign Assets) is a mandatory disclosure schedule in ITR-2 and ITR-3. Every Indian taxpayer who is Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR) and held foreign assets at any point during the calendar year (January 1 to December 31) must file it — regardless of income level or whether assets were sold before year-end. RSU holders report their foreign brokerage account in Table A2 and their equity holdings in Table A3, with INR values (initial, peak, closing) computed using official SBI TTBR rates. Non-disclosure attracts a penalty of ₹10 lakh per year under the Black Money Act. Rupie computes all Schedule FA values automatically from your broker statement.

Question 3

Do I need to file ITR-2 or ITR-3 if I have RSUs or foreign stocks?

Accepted Answer

Yes — ITR-1 (Sahaj) is not available once you hold foreign assets, regardless of income level. You must file ITR-2 if you have no business income, or ITR-3 if you have business or professional income. The six schedules required for foreign equity (FA, FSI, CG, OS, TR, and Form 67) only appear in these forms. This applies even if you held the shares only briefly during the year.

Question 4

How is the cost of acquisition calculated for RSU capital gains in India?

Accepted Answer

For RSUs, the cost of acquisition is the fair market value of the shares on the vesting date — the same figure that appeared as perquisite income in your Form 16 and was taxed as salary. This is not zero (even though RSUs have no purchase price). The FMV must be converted to INR using the SBI Telegraphic Transfer Buying Rate for the vesting date. When shares from different vesting dates are sold together, FIFO (First In, First Out) applies: the earliest-vested shares are treated as sold first, with holding period and cost basis calculated separately per lot. Rupie handles FIFO lot reconstruction and SBI TTBR conversion automatically.

Question 5

What are SBI TTBR rates and how are they used when filing ITR for foreign income?

Accepted Answer

SBI TTBR (Telegraphic Transfer Buying Rate) is the official exchange rate published by State Bank of India, prescribed by the Income Tax Department for all foreign currency conversions in ITR. For RSU capital gains, use the TTBR rate for the last day of the month before the sale date — a sale on August 15 uses the July 31 rate. For Schedule FA closing values, use the December 31 rate. For dividends, use the rate on the date of receipt. This is a specific published rate — not the exchange rate your broker used, not the daily market rate, and not the RBI reference rate. Looking up and applying the correct SBI TTBR rate for every transaction is one of the most time-consuming parts of manual ITR preparation for RSU holders. Rupie fetches and applies official SBI TTBR rates automatically for every transaction.

Question 6

Do I need to file Form 67 for US dividends, and what is the correct sequence?

Accepted Answer

Yes — if you received dividends from US stocks and tax was withheld (US brokers typically withhold 25%, reducible to 15% under the India-US DTAA), you must file Form 67 to claim Foreign Tax Credit, otherwise you are taxed twice on the same income. Critical: Form 67 must be filed on the Income Tax e-filing portal BEFORE you file your ITR. The CPC automatically rejects Foreign Tax Credit claims where Form 67 is not on record at the time the return is processed. Filing it even one day after your ITR means the credit is lost. Rupie generates your complete Form 67 values as part of the tax report.

Question 7

Is Schedule FA required even if I sold all my RSU shares during the year?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Schedule FA runs on the calendar year (January 1 to December 31), not India's financial year (April 1 to March 31). If you held foreign shares at any point during the calendar year — even briefly — you must declare them in Schedule FA. A taxpayer who held 300 shares in February and sold all of them by September must still file Schedule FA, reporting the peak value and a closing value of zero. The disclosure is triggered by holding, not by year-end balances.

Question 8

I invest in US stocks through Vested, Fi Money, or Interactive Brokers. Do I need to file Schedule FA?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Any Indian Resident and Ordinarily Resident taxpayer who holds foreign stocks, ETFs, or mutual funds — through platforms like Vested, Fi Money, INDmoney, Winvesta, Interactive Brokers, or GIFT City brokers — has the same Schedule FA, FSI, CG, OS, and Form 67 obligations as RSU holders. The obligation is triggered by holding foreign assets, not by how you acquired them. You must file ITR-2 or ITR-3 (not ITR-1), declare your foreign brokerage account in Schedule FA Table A2, report each holding in Table A3 with INR values using SBI TTBR rates, compute capital gains in Schedule CG using FIFO lot ordering, declare dividends in Schedule OS, and claim any foreign tax withheld via Form 67. Rupie generates all required schedules — upload your statement from any supported broker, or use manual entry for anything else.

Question 9

What is the penalty for not disclosing foreign assets in ITR?

Accepted Answer

Non-disclosure of foreign assets attracts a penalty of ₹10 lakh per year under the Black Money Act, for each year of non-compliance. If the undisclosed income is also detected, a flat 30% tax applies, plus a penalty of up to 3 times the tax — bringing the effective levy to 120% of the undisclosed income. Finance Act 2024 waives the ₹10 lakh fixed penalty for taxpayers whose total movable foreign assets fall below ₹20 lakh, but the reporting obligation itself is unchanged. Most cases of non-compliance are not wilful — the required calculations span domestic income tax, DTAA provisions, and FEMA obligations simultaneously. Rupie ensures your disclosure is complete and accurate.

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