US citizen living in India — can I handle this myself?
Some of it, yes — and we will say so on the call if that is the honest answer. The parts that are worth paying for are the ones where a missed election, a missed deadline or an unverified threshold costs more than the fee: the mechanics are a translation exercise: Indian tax paid in one Indian year offsets US tax across parts of two US years, Indian deductions are not US deductions, and Indian investment products routinely land in punitive US categories.
What if I have already filed and got it wrong?
That is a common starting point. We re-derive the position, identify whether an amendment or a disclosure route is the right vehicle, and tell you which one preserves the relief that is still available. The order matters more than the speed.
How long will it take?
It depends on the documents rather than on us. Once the pack is complete most filings turn around inside a fortnight; anything that needs a certificate from a tax authority runs on that authority's timetable, which we tell you at the start rather than at the end.
How do I match the Indian financial year to my US return?
You cannot make them line up, so you map across them. The Indian financial year ends in March and the US year ends in December, which means Indian tax paid in one Indian year relates to income falling into parts of two US calendar years. The work is allocating income and tax to calendar periods, keeping a schedule showing how each Indian figure was split, and applying that consistently year after year. The schedule is what makes a credit claim explicable if it is ever questioned.
Can I claim credit for Indian tax on my US return?
Yes in principle, and how much is actually usable depends on how the return is built. Indian income tax paid on income the United States also taxes can be credited, but the credit is limited by category and by the US tax on that income, and the Indian tax has to be allocated to the correct US year first. The order in which reliefs are applied changes how much credit is used and how much is carried forward. Decide that order deliberately rather than accepting whatever a first pass produces.
Are Indian mutual funds a problem for a US taxpayer?
They often are. Ordinary local pooled investments, mutual funds and similar collective vehicles, routinely fall into US categories written for foreign funds, and those categories carry their own computation, their own annual reporting and a treatment considerably harsher than the same money held directly. It is generally not the return that costs, it is the product. Identify what you hold before the filing is prepared, because the choice of holding is usually easier to change than the consequences of having held it.
Do my Indian deductions reduce my US taxable income?
No. Indian deductions belong to the Indian computation. The US return starts from US rules on what counts as income and what is deductible, and the reliefs that reduce Indian tax, including the savings and investment reliefs most Indian salary earners use, have no effect on US taxable income. Their effect on the US return is indirect and unwelcome: by reducing the Indian tax paid, they reduce the foreign tax available to credit. That trade-off is worth modelling across both returns before the Indian one is finalised.
My spouse is Indian and not a US person, so how do we file?
That is a decision rather than a given, and it is one of the few genuinely strategic choices available here. Bringing a non-US spouse into the US system changes the filing status, draws the spouse's Indian income and accounts into US reporting, and is not easily undone. Leaving the spouse outside keeps that income out and costs something on the US computation. The right answer depends on the couple's income mix and on what the spouse holds. Work it both ways before choosing, because the choice has a long tail.
I have not filed US returns since moving to India, what now?
Bring the position current deliberately rather than filing one year and hoping. Work out how many years are involved, what accounts and holdings existed in each of them, and whether the products you hold carry reporting of their own. Then choose the route by which the years are brought in, because the available routes differ in what they require and in what they resolve. Filing a single current-year return on its own can leave the earlier years visible and unaddressed, which is a worse place to be than where you started.
Can I move my 401(k) or IRA into an RRSP?
In limited circumstances, and rarely without cost. Canada allows a transfer of certain US plan proceeds into an RRSP with additional room for that purpose, but the withdrawal is a taxable distribution on the US side first, with withholding and potentially an additional charge for taking it early. Whether the Canadian credit fully absorbs that US tax is the calculation that decides it. Often leaving the plan where it is and drawing later is the better answer. See RRSP against 401(k) and IRA.
Do I have to file in both countries?
Frequently yes, and the two filings do different jobs. The country where the income arises taxes it at source; the country where you are resident taxes your worldwide income and then gives credit for the tax already paid. Filing only one side is what leaves relief unclaimed — the credit has to be asked for on a return. We prepare both sides so the numbers agree. See dual filing.
