Your first FBAR on H-1B with bank accounts in India, step by step (2026)

Which of your accounts in India count?

Savings, fixed deposits, demat accounts and mutual fund holdings all count, as we read FinCEN's definitions, and so do accounts you hold jointly or can only sign on. FinCEN's instructions list "savings, demand, checking, deposit, time deposit" accounts, securities accounts and "shares in a mutual fund".

FinCEN does not name the Public Provident Fund (PPF), and we found no FinCEN or IRS text that settles whether it counts. The regulation also counts "any other account maintained with a person engaged in the business of banking". Ask a preparer whether your PPF account is one.

How do you find each account's highest 2026 balance?

Take the highest value of each account during calendar 2026, January 1 to December 31, in rupees. India's financial year runs April to March, so a bank's annual statement may not match the dates.

1. Collect statements for every month of 2026, or the account history from net banking.
2. Note the highest balance of each account. FinCEN asks for "a reasonable approximation of the greatest value", and statements are enough if they "fairly reflect" it (FinCEN instructions).
3. For a demat account or a mutual fund folio, use the highest market value of the holdings, not only the cash. FinCEN's maximum value covers "currency or nonmonetary assets in the account".
4. Value each account separately, even at the same bank. An account you closed during 2026 still counts, on our reading: the regulation asks for a report "for each year in which such relationship exists".

Which exchange rate do you use?

Convert each highest balance at the Treasury rate for December 31, 2026, the last day of the year, whatever date the balance was highest. FinCEN's instructions name the Treasury rate for "the last day of the calendar year".

1. Find India-Rupee in the Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange for December 31, 2026. It is not yet published; the latest, for September 30, 2026, is 95.83 rupees to the dollar.
2. Divide each rupee balance by the rate to get dollars, and round up to the next whole dollar. FinCEN's example records $15,265.25 as $15,266.
3. If no Treasury rate is available, use another verifiable rate and give its source, as the instructions say.

Did your accounts pass $10,000?

Add the highest values of all your foreign accounts together, including any outside India. If the total is more than $10,000, you file, and you list every account, small ones included (IRS).

How do you file FinCEN Form 114 on BSA E-Filing?

File the FBAR online through FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System (bsaefiling.fincen.gov), not with your tax return. FinCEN's instructions say individuals do not have to register.

It is due April 15, 2027, with an automatic extension to October 15, 2027 (IRS).

1. Open a new FBAR, give it a filing name, and enter 2026 as the calendar year.
2. Part I: filer type (Individual), your name, SSN, date of birth and the street address of your US home, not a PO box.
3. Part II: each account you own alone, with the bank's name and address, the account number, the type and the highest value in US dollars, not rupees.
4. Part III: each joint account, with the number of other joint owners and the principal joint owner's name and address, if known. Each joint owner reports "the entire value of the account" (FinCEN instructions).
5. Part IV: accounts you can sign on but do not own.
6. Return to the cover page to validate the report, then save and print a copy. Sign and submit it there. Keep the BSA Identifier FinCEN sends you by email or secure message, since an amended FBAR asks for it.

What do you keep after you file?

Keep a copy of the filed FBAR, and keep records for each account for five years. The IRS lists the name on the account, the account number, the bank's name and address, the type of account and its highest value during the year (IRS).

The IRS says these records may be bank statements or a copy of the filed FBAR, if they hold that information. FinCEN counts the five years from April 15 of the year after the year reported, or from the date you file if later.

Do you also need Form 8938 and Schedule B?

Form 8938 is a separate test, filed with your Form 1040, and the FBAR does not replace it (IRS).

Living in the US, unmarried or married filing separately, you file it when your specified foreign financial assets pass $50,000 on the last day of the year. It is also due if they pass $75,000 at any time. On a joint return the figures are $100,000 and $150,000.

1. In the example, $14,715 is under both, so if Arjun has no other foreign assets, he files the FBAR but not Form 8938.
2. Schedule B goes with your Form 1040 whenever you had a foreign account, even with little interest. On the 2025 form, if you must file the FBAR, check "Yes" to both questions on line 7a and name India on line 7b (Schedule B instructions). The first question's "Yes" applies even when no FBAR is due.
3. As a resident you report worldwide income, so interest from these accounts goes on your Form 1040 too.

What if you missed FBARs for earlier years?

If the IRS has not contacted you about a late FBAR and you are not under examination or investigation, file each missed FBAR now through BSA E-Filing. If you also left account interest off a resident year's return, read the warning below before you file.

Pick a reason for filing late on each FBAR's cover page, or write one under "Other" (FinCEN instructions). The IRS says to file late FBARs "as soon as possible to keep potential penalties to a minimum" (IRS).

1. List each year you were a resident and the highest values of your foreign accounts, added together, passed $10,000. Years as a nonresident need no FBAR. For a dual-status year, when you were a resident for only part of it, ask a preparer what that year's FBAR covers.
2. Value each year on its own: that year's highest balances, at the Treasury rate for December 31 of that year. For 2025 that rate was 89.854 rupees to the dollar.
3. FinCEN's instructions give a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation for not filing, and none for reasonable cause if the balance is properly reported. The IRS says these maximums are now adjusted each year for inflation, so the current figure may be higher.
4. The Taxpayer Advocate Service says the IRS will not impose a penalty for late FBARs if you properly reported the income and paid the tax. That holds only if the IRS has not contacted you about an audit or late returns for those years (TAS).

What to do next

1. Confirm you were a US resident for 2026, and from which date.
2. Collect January to December 2026 statements for every account in India, joint ones included.
3. Convert at the December 31, 2026 Treasury rate once it is published.
4. File FinCEN Form 114 on BSA E-Filing by Thursday, April 15, 2027, and file Form 8938 with your Form 1040 if you pass its test.