Yes, an old foreign bank account must be declared in Schedule FA for every year you are resident and ordinarily resident (ROR), even if it is dormant or has a nil balance. A PayPal account opened in India cannot hold a balance, so there is usually nothing to declare for it. A PayPal, Wise or similar account opened while you lived abroad can hold money outside India and is declared like a bank account. Pay for work you do from India is usually Indian income, reported in your normal schedules.
Table of contents
- Do I need to declare an old foreign bank account?
- What if the account is dormant, closed or I have no statements?
- How does FAST-DS value an old foreign bank account?
- Do I need to declare my PayPal balance?
- Do Wise and other multi-currency accounts go in Schedule FA?
- Where does foreign freelance income go in the return?
- How to fix years you missed
Do I need to declare an old foreign bank account?
Yes, for every year you were ROR and held the account at any time during the calendar year. Schedule FA is a disclosure, so it does not depend on the balance or on whether the account earned anything. An account opened as a student or for a salary abroad, and never closed, stays reportable every year after you become ROR.
What goes where in the return:
- The account itself goes in Table A1 of Schedule FA (foreign depository accounts), with its peak and closing balance for the calendar year.
- Interest on the account is taxable income for every year you are ROR, reported under income from other sources, and also shown against the account in Schedule FA.
- An account where you only have signing authority, such as a parent's account abroad you can operate, goes in Table E.
Note: Years when you were NRI or RNOR do not need Schedule FA. For a returning NRI, reporting usually starts with the first ROR year. See foreign asset disclosure for RNORs.
What if the account is dormant, closed or I have no statements?
- Dormant account. Report it every ROR year with its balance, even if nothing moved. The simplest way to stop the annual reporting is to close it.
- Closed account. Report it for each year it was open while you were ROR, including the year you closed it. After that, it drops out.
- No statements. Ask the bank for statements first; many can send them remotely. If old statements are gone, payslips that show salary credited to the account help show where the money came from. CBDT has not said what proof FAST-DS will accept when bank records no longer exist, so take advice before filing a declaration for such an account.
How does FAST-DS value an old foreign bank account?
Not at its balance. Under the FAST-DS Rules, a foreign bank account is valued at the sum of all deposits from the day it was opened to 31 March 2026, leaving out re-deposits of money withdrawn from the same account (rule 3(1)(e)). If the account was declared under the Black Money Act's 2015 compliance window, only deposits since then count.
This matters most for a salary account kept open after moving back.
Example. Suppose you worked in the US from 2012 to 2021, then moved back and became ROR from FY 2022-23. Your US salary account now holds about ₹2.5 lakh, but nine years of salary credits into it add up to about ₹1.2 crore. You left it out of Schedule FA for AY 2023-24 to AY 2025-26, and never reported the small interest it earned after you came back.
| Item | Value or amount | FAST-DS treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Balance today | About ₹2.5 lakh | Not used for FAST-DS |
| Sum of deposits since 2012 (FAST-DS value) | About ₹1.2 crore | Row 2, because it was funded while you were non-resident |
| Row 2 fee | ₹1,00,000 | |
| Unreported interest since becoming ROR | A few thousand rupees | Row 1 at 60%, or ITR-U for open years |
| Total under FAST-DS | ₹1,00,000 plus 60% of the interest |
The result: the account fits in Row 2, but its FAST-DS value is about 48 times its balance
At ₹1.2 crore the account is within Row 2's ₹5 crore limit, so the fee stays at ₹1 lakh. But if the same account had to go in Row 1, a value like this would cross Row 1's ₹1 crore limit and the scheme could not be used at all (section 133).
Note: The ₹20 lakh Black Money Act relief is a separate test from FAST-DS valuation. No guidance says whether it looks at a bank account's balance or some other value, so do not assume the deposits rule applies to it.
Do I need to declare my PayPal balance?
It depends on where the PayPal account was opened.
- A PayPal account opened in India cannot hold a balance. Under Indian rules, money received into it is withdrawn automatically to your linked Indian bank account, so there is normally no money sitting abroad and nothing to put in Schedule FA. What you received is still income, reported in the normal way.
- A PayPal account opened while you lived abroad, such as a US or UK PayPal account, can hold balances in foreign currency. If you still have it and are ROR, treat it like a foreign account and report it in Schedule FA.
Note: If an old foreign PayPal account still holds a small balance, withdrawing it and closing the account ends the yearly reporting.
Do Wise and other multi-currency accounts go in Schedule FA?
Yes, if the account holds money outside India. A Wise, Revolut, Payoneer or similar account opened abroad holds real balances in foreign currencies with a provider outside India. For a resident who is ordinarily resident, that is a foreign asset, reported in Schedule FA for each calendar year you held it with its peak and closing balance.
Two points to keep in mind:
- Accounts you opened while abroad were funded while you were non-resident. If you left them out of Schedule FA after becoming ROR, the asset falls in FAST-DS Row 2, the ₹1 lakh category, or within the ₹20 lakh relief if the value is small.
- Accounts that only pass money through to India are different. A service that converts a client's payment and sends it straight to your Indian bank leaves no balance abroad. What matters is whether money was held outside India in your name at any time in the year.
Note: FAST-DS's bank account valuation, the sum of all deposits, is written for bank accounts. The Rules do not say whether an e-money or wallet account is valued the same way, so take advice before declaring one.
Where does foreign freelance income go in the return?
It depends on where you did the work, not where the client is.
| Situation | How the income is treated | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| You worked from India for a foreign client while ROR | Generally income accruing in India, because the services were done in India | Your normal business or profession schedules, not Schedule FSI |
| You worked while living abroad as an NRI | Not taxed in India for a non-resident | Nothing for that year in the Indian return |
| Money from either kind of work is still held in an account abroad | The account is a foreign asset | Schedule FA for every year you are ROR and hold it |
So a freelancer who is ROR and paid through PayPal into an Indian bank has income to report, but no foreign asset. A freelancer whose payments sit in a foreign wallet or bank account has both: the income in the normal schedules, and the account in Schedule FA.
Note: FAST-DS covers foreign income and foreign assets. Pay for work you did in India is usually Indian income, so if it was left out of a return, an updated return (ITR-U) is the usual fix, not FAST-DS. FEMA rules on bringing export earnings into India are separate, and FAST-DS gives no immunity under FEMA.
How to fix years you missed
Match each gap to its fix:
| Gap | Usual fix |
|---|---|
| Foreign account left out of Schedule FA, funded while NRI or from taxed income, no missed income | The ₹20 lakh relief if it applies, or FAST-DS Row 2 at ₹1 lakh by 31 December 2026 |
| Interest on the account never reported | ITR-U for open years, or FAST-DS Row 1 at 60% |
| Freelance income for work done in India never reported | ITR-U for open years |
| FY 2025-26 return got any of this wrong | Revised return by 31 March 2027 |
| Any gap in FY 2020-21 or earlier, involving a foreign asset or foreign income | FAST-DS only |
For the year-by-year method, see how to fix missed Schedule FA years. For how FAST-DS works and what it costs, see FAST-DS 2026 explained. If the department's email is what brought you here, start with what to do after the FAST-DS email.
About Paasa
Paasa is a global investing platform built for Indian and Asian investors. It gives anyone direct access to stocks, ETFs and UCITS funds on their home exchanges across the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
- Bring overseas holdings together: returning NRIs can transfer shares and ETFs from brokers abroad into Paasa, so investments built up overseas sit in one account instead of several to report every year.
- Fewer accounts to report: keeping investments in one account means fewer entries in Schedule FA and one statement for the figures.
- A dedicated relationship manager: one point of contact to help you gather the statements you need for your return.
