Trust Indians to come up with jugaad, even when they no longer live in the country. Faced with a tax on the sale of assets in India, some non-resident Indians in the US are disposing of their property and other holdings after transferring them to family trusts.
The issue stems from an agreement between the US and India in 2015 to implement the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a law aimed at ensuring that tax is paid on income generated from wealth parked overseas. Under the agreement, the two countries will share information about citizens with assets in each other's countries.

In the past few years, some Indian families have sent at least one of their heirs to either the US or Europe with the objective of saving tax in India. However, both Europe (through inheritance tax) and the US (FATCA) have started raising tax queries on the wealth of such families. In addition, Indian tax authorities, equipped with data from Switzerland and the Panama leaks on money stashed abroad, are going after such family structures across the globe. According to government sources, about 4,000 people in the past two years have given up Indian citizenship, fearing that the tax department will go after their unaccounted wealth in India.

Trust Indians to come up with jugaad, even when they no longer live in the country. Faced with a tax on the sale of assets in India, some non-resident Indians in the US are disposing of their property and other holdings after transferring them to family trusts.
The issue stems from an agreement between the US and India in 2015 to implement the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a law aimed at ensuring that tax is paid on income generated from wealth parked overseas. Under the agreement, the two countries will share information about citizens with assets in each other's countries.

In the past few years, some Indian families have sent at least one of their heirs to either the US or Europe with the objective of saving tax in India. However, both Europe (through inheritance tax) and the US (FATCA) have started raising tax queries on the wealth of such families. In addition, Indian tax authorities, equipped with data from Switzerland and the Panama leaks on money stashed abroad, are going after such family structures across the globe. According to government sources, about 4,000 people in the past two years have given up Indian citizenship, fearing that the tax department will go after their unaccounted wealth in India.