NRI with no bank account in India? Disclose foreign account details to I-T

Non-resident Indians who do not have Indian bank accounts will have to give details of their foreign bank accounts in income-tax returns — ITR1 and ITR2.

However, those who have both Indian and foreign bank accounts  can give details of either of the two. The details of foreign accounts are not mandatory for them.

Under taxation rules, residents are those who stay more than 182 days in the country during a financial year or at least 60 days during a year in India and at least 365 days over the earlier four financial years. Those who do not satisfy any of these conditions are non-residents. 

ITR1 is to be filed by those who have a total income of less than Rs 50 lakh, which includes salary, one house property and other incomes. ITR2 is to be filed by individuals and Hindu undivided family who do no come under the aforementioned category. 

Experts do not see it as an attack on black money by the government, but another procedural measure. Neeru Ahuja of Deloitte says, "Earlier those who had only foreign accounts were not able to submit these forms as banking details were to furnished to file it. So, they added another layer to enable submission of forms".

If income tax officers want they can always seek details of foreign accounts at the time of scrutiny, she added.