FAST-DS 2026: the six-month window to fix unreported foreign assets.

A one-time disclosure scheme lets taxpayers regularise unreported foreign assets with immunity from Black Money Act penalties — and it closes on 31 December 2026.

Budget 2026 opened something India offers rarely: a clean exit. The Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers – Disclosure Scheme, 2026 (FAST-DS) is a one-time, six-month window to declare foreign assets and income that never made it into your returns — with statutory immunity from the Black Money Act's penalties and prosecution in exchange for a defined payment. It closes on 31 December 2026.

Why this matters: the default is brutal

The Black Money Act does not do proportionality. An unreported foreign account or asset carries a flat ₹10 lakh penalty for non-disclosure in Schedule FA — per year, per failure — and where undisclosed foreign income is assessed, tax at 30% plus a penalty of three times the tax, with prosecution exposure on top. Since India now receives automatic information from over a hundred jurisdictions under CRS and FATCA, "they will not find out" has stopped being a strategy.

Who this typically catches

In our practice, unreported foreign assets are rarely deliberate. The recurring cases:

• Returning NRIs who became ordinarily resident and did not realise Schedule FA now applies to accounts and investments they have held abroad for years.
• Tech employees holding unexercised or vested ESOPs and RSUs of a foreign parent — reportable in Schedule FA, and missed constantly.
• Inherited foreign accounts and old term deposits from a stint abroad.
• US brokerage and retirement accounts kept running after the return to India.

What the scheme offers

• Immunity from Black Money Act penalty and prosecution for disclosed assets, against payment at the prescribed rate.
• Alongside the scheme, a standing relief: small non-immovable foreign assets up to ₹20 lakh in aggregate get protection from prosecution, subject to conditions.
• A defined, six-month timeline — the window closes 31 December 2026 and nothing in the scheme's design suggests an encore.

Disclose, or just start filing correctly?

The judgement call at the heart of every FAST-DS conversation: an asset that was never taxable in India (acquired as a non-resident, from foreign income) may need only correct Schedule FA reporting going forward — while an asset fed by untaxed income, or one that generated unreported Indian-taxable income during resident years, is squarely what the window exists for. The classification decides whether you pay a scheme levy or simply amend behaviour — and it turns on residency history, source of funds and the asset's income trail. Get it assessed before December, not in December.

How Advisory Monks Consulting helps

Our Pravasi Desk and Founders Tax teams reconstruct the residency and source-of-funds history, classify each asset against the scheme's conditions, and prepare the disclosure or the corrected Schedule FA position — quietly and before the window closes.

General information, not advice. Scheme conditions are as announced in Budget 2026 — eligibility turns on prescribed rules and your facts.

This note is general guidance, not tax or legal advice. Positions depend on your specific facts — speak with a partner before acting.