Thanks ATE

Glad to help!

If you want professional help to submit the late FBARs, please email me at the email address in my profile.

>ANY type of bank account (NRO, NRI, NRE, whatever), stock/bond/mutual funds accounts, fixed deposit accounts, life insurance that has a cash value, and >any PRIVATE pension plan (but NOT the Provident fund).


Why not provident funds (india) ? Those are like bank accounts, and you earn interest and you can even withdraw after a certain number of years. At least those are FBAR reportable, and interest too is likely reportable.

I would actually say that private pension plans are not FBAR reportable since there isn't a specific 'account'.

>Then amend your returns and report the interest, paying the taxes, penalties and interest >if any taxes are due (which might NOT be the case after you claim the Foreign Tax Credit >for the 10% TDS that Indian assesses on the interest that Indian banks pay.

You can only claim tax credits if the tax is actually due to India, not if its just withheld. For $3000 or so, for a senior citizen, there may be no Indian income tax due. TDS or not, the tax is not actually due, and if you didn't claim a refund in India, that's not the IRS"s fault.

Although you can likely take a deduction in any case...

It is my understanding that there are TWO type of provident funds.

One is PUBLIC, which is managed by the government.

The other is PRIVATE. The PRIVATE provident funds ARE FBAR reportable, but the interest is NOT taxable.