Where the foreign return and the Indian record diverge
The difficulty with these disclosures is that the figure the foreign form wants is rarely the figure your Indian statement prints. An Indian bank statement shows a closing balance and individual entries; an FBAR wants the single highest balance the account reached at any point in the year. A demat statement shows holdings; Form 8938 and T1135 want a value and the income produced, and T1135 specifically wants the cost amount — what you paid — not today's market price.
So the work is partly translation and partly computation. Someone has to read the rupee statements, find the right data point for each form, convert it on the basis each form expects, and present it cleanly. That is the gap a chartered accountant fills on the Indian side — not by filing your foreign return, but by handing your foreign preparer figures they can rely on.
A clear division of labour keeps everyone in their lane: the CA prepares and, where appropriate, certifies the Indian-asset data; you or your overseas preparer use it to complete and file the actual foreign return under that country's rules.
What each filing needs from the Indian side
Each disclosure asks for a different cut of the same underlying assets, and the data pack is organised around those differences.
| Foreign filing | Indian data the CA assembles |
|---|---|
| FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) | Max balance per Indian account during the year |
| Form 8938 (FATCA) | Asset values + income each asset produced |
| Form T1135 (Canada) | Cost amount + income per Indian asset |
| UK foreign pages | Indian income, gross and tax deducted |
For an FBAR, the pack lists each reportable Indian account and its maximum balance during the year. FBAR generally applies once the aggregate of your foreign accounts crosses a threshold during the year — the commonly cited figure is USD 10,000 — so the aggregate matters, not just any single account; your US preparer applies the current rule. For Form 8938, the pack pairs each Indian asset with its value and the interest, dividends, gains or rent it produced. For T1135, it gives the cost amount of each Indian property along with its income and any gain on disposal. For a UK return, it sets out Indian income gross, with the Indian tax deducted shown separately so it can feed a credit claim.
The certificate of taxes paid in India, for a Foreign Tax Credit
When the same income is taxed in both India and your country of residence, the foreign country usually lets you claim a credit for the Indian tax — a Foreign Tax Credit — so you are not taxed twice. To claim it, your foreign preparer needs to evidence how much Indian tax was actually paid on that income.
A chartered accountant issues a certificate of taxes paid in India: it sets out the income, the Indian tax deducted or paid on it, and ties those figures to your Form 26AS / AIS and your filed return. It goes out on letterhead with a UDIN, so the figure is verifiable. This is the Indian-side evidence; whether and how the credit is allowed — the limits, the timing, the forms — is governed by the other country's rules and the relevant tax treaty, and is applied on the foreign return by your preparer.
Keeping that boundary clear matters: the CA certifies what was paid in India accurately; the credit mechanics belong to the foreign filing.
A worked example: a US NRI's FBAR and 8938 season
Sneha, an NRI in California, files a US return. She has an NRO savings account, two fixed deposits and a mutual fund portfolio in India, and her US preparer has asked her for the figures needed for her FBAR and Form 8938 — and separately for proof of the Indian tax already deducted on her FD interest, so she can claim a Foreign Tax Credit.
A chartered accountant reads Sneha's Indian statements for the year and builds one data pack. For the FBAR, it lists each account with the highest balance it reached during the year. For Form 8938, it pairs each account and the mutual fund with its year-end value and the interest, dividends or gains it produced. And it includes a certificate of taxes paid in India on her FD interest, tied to her Form 26AS and filed return, issued with a UDIN.
Sneha hands the pack to her US preparer, who applies the US thresholds and rules and files the FBAR and the 8938, and claims the Foreign Tax Credit using the certified India-tax figure. The CA's role ends at accurate, verifiable Indian data; the US filing decisions stay with the preparer. The exact US reporting thresholds and how they are tested change over time and are applied by the US preparer, so the pack supplies the figures rather than ruling on whether each form is required.