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I am USC. I am filing my USA tax returns for 2009 right now. As I understand, I have to declare global income on this return.

I have a PPF account where I earned 90,000 INR in 2009 as interest. Do I have to declare this? If yes, then does that mean, PPF is no longer tax-free if you are in USA. :(

Question...
Are you eligible for PPF if you are OCI or not an IC?
Keep that aside, IRS says you have to declare world wide income, so yes, you have to show your PPF interest income.
How?
By keeping a printout of exchange rate from RBI and your PPF interest copy.

gwldaddu;273953I am USC. I am filing my USA tax returns for 2009 right now. As I understand, I have to declare global income on this return.

I have a PPF account where I earned 90,000 INR in 2009 as interest. Do I have to declare this? If yes, then does that mean, PPF is no longer tax-free if you are in USA. :(

njTohyd2009;273960Question...
Are you eligible for PPF if you are OCI or not an IC?
.

I opened PPF while I was in India. during my first job in India.. per Indian law, I can continue to maintain that account.

This brings up a very good question! Are USC/OCI(s) allowed to have PPF account and do the contribution? Do we have anywhere a consolidated information on how a USC/OCI would file taxes both in US and India seamlessly? As USC we are supposed to declare all income and file taxes for rest of the in US time till we work in India, any idea how we can make the tax filing process simple?

I stumbled upon this thread by accident and related my situation to this.

My wife had opened PPF 15 years ago back in india (when we were living there). We came to US and got US citizenship a few years ago. But my FIL, kept putting a small amount of money into that PPF every year to keep it "alive" (per what he says is the requirement).

The total amount in there is not a whole lot - around 1.5 L. But I've never tracked that and reported anywhere. I didn't even know it existed until 2-3 years ago.

Questions:
1) Do I need to "wake-up" and do something about this now? Or let it be.
2) My FIL was saying recently that PPF is maturing in another 1 year or so. But to withdraw the money my wife needs to have a bank account - which she does in india (that was also open 10-15 years ago and sitting there with minimal balance).
However, the bank now says that to deposit any money (e.g. from PPF), PAN card is required. My wife doesn't have any PAN card. Don't know if we can get it since we're USC now...

Please advise the best course of action.
Thanks
FB

FB, all I know is you can obtain PAN card even though you are USC. Other than that, I do not have answers.

FB2020;296013I stumbled upon this thread by accident and related my situation to this.

My wife had opened PPF 15 years ago back in india (when we were living there). We came to US and got US citizenship a few years ago. But my FIL, kept putting a small amount of money into that PPF every year to keep it "alive" (per what he says is the requirement).

The total amount in there is not a whole lot - around 1.5 L. But I've never tracked that and reported anywhere. I didn't even know it existed until 2-3 years ago.

Questions:
1) Do I need to "wake-up" and do something about this now? Or let it be.
2) My FIL was saying recently that PPF is maturing in another 1 year or so. But to withdraw the money my wife needs to have a bank account - which she does in india (that was also open 10-15 years ago and sitting there with minimal balance).
However, the bank now says that to deposit any money (e.g. from PPF), PAN card is required. My wife doesn't have any PAN card. Don't know if we can get it since we're USC now...

Please advise the best course of action.
Thanks
FB

1. wake up or sleep for some more time is up to you. Why this question ? You know the answer.

2. Yes, USC can apply for PAN card. Banks are tightening the laws. This year if you have interest income and if you did not provide PAN card to the bank, bank may withhold 20% of your interest for TDS. If you are an indian or have indian connection get it fast.

You can apply for PAN online. Check the links in my tutorial on basics of investing in India.

back2desh;273972This brings up a very good question! Are USC/OCI(s) allowed to have PPF account and do the contribution? Do we have anywhere a consolidated information on how a USC/OCI would file taxes both in US and India seamlessly? As USC we are supposed to declare all income and file taxes for rest of the in US time till we work in India, any idea how we can make the tax filing process simple?

Some of the answers are here:
http://www.r2iclubforums.com/forums/showthread.php/459-Public-Provident-Fund-(PPF)-Questions

RRK;2962261. wake up or sleep for some more time is up to you. Why this question ? You know the answer.

2. Yes, USC can apply for PAN card. Banks are tightening the laws. This year if you have interest income and if you did not provide PAN card to the bank, bank may withhold 20% of your interest for TDS. If you are an indian or have indian connection get it fast.

You can apply for PAN online. Check the links in my tutorial on basics of investing in India.

1. RRK - Honestly I didn't know the answer. E.g. Was not sure whether I should start reporting from this year on? Or forget about it since its maturing next year and the amount is not much - less than Rs. 15K of interest per year. If start reporting, then won't it open a can of worms, meaning I will need to go back and amend earlier years tax returns too !!

2. Thank you for the info. Yes family is in india, so I'll speak to them about that.

Thanks for the info. I will look up the your master threads to get more info to "wake up" :emdgust:

Hi,

I am in similar situation as your's. Until now I was not aware that I would need to declare this as part of my tax returns. How did you resolve this, did you include this as part of your income and paid any back taxes, penalties? I would be extremly grateful if you could help me out by providing this information. Could you reply me at my email address [email protected].

Thanks