Money & Finance
Form 3520 India Gift and Inheritance Checker
Money or assets from family in India? Answer a few questions to flag whether Form 3520, foreign-trust, FBAR/FATCA, or PFIC review may apply — and what to collect.
Educational screening only — not tax or legal advice, and not a filing determination. Full disclaimer below.
Your situation
Tell us about the gift or inheritance
Educational screening
Answer the questions to see your result
Tell us the tax year, whether you're a US person, the transaction and source type, the approximate aggregate value, and what you received — to see your Form 3520 result (with the exact threshold and tax year used), FBAR/FATCA and PFIC flags, the documents to collect, and questions for your CPA and CA.
No names, account numbers, or personal data are collected, and no entered amount is ever sent to analytics.
A US person who receives a large gift or inheritance from a foreign person (like parents in India) may need to report it to the IRS on Form 3520 once the reporting threshold is met. Importantly, reporting a foreign gift is usually informational — it does not by itself mean US tax is owed on the gift.
Money or property received from family in India can trigger a US reporting requirement even when no tax is due. This checker helps you see whether a gift or inheritance likely crosses the Form 3520 threshold so you can report it and avoid steep penalties for a missed form.
- Who this tool is for
- US persons (citizens, green card holders, US tax residents) receiving large gifts or inheritances from parents, relatives, or estates in India.
- Estimated timeline / fees
- Form 3520 is filed separately from Form 1040 — not attached to it. For most calendar-year individuals it is generally due April 15 (June 15 if you live and work abroad), and a valid return extension generally moves it no later than October 15. Reporting rules differ for gifts from foreign individuals, foreign estates, foreign corporations/partnerships, and foreign trusts — verify the current instructions before filing.
Key inputs & documents you'll need
- Who the source was (a nonresident individual, a foreign estate, a foreign corporation/partnership, or a foreign trust)
- The total value received from that person during the year
- Whether it was a gift or an inheritance
- Whether multiple related foreign persons gave amounts that should be aggregated
- The tax year the amounts were received
Last updated: · General educational checker; verify against current IRS guidance and India Income Tax Department rules for the relevant tax year.
After the tool
What your result means
A 'likely reportable' result means the amount may cross the Form 3520 threshold and should be reported — not that you owe tax on the gift. Gifts and inheritances from foreign persons are generally not US-taxable income to the recipient; Form 3520 is an informational report. The main risk is a penalty for failing to file, not tax on the gift itself.
Foreign gifts, inheritances, and reporting
Foreign gift
Money or property given to you by a foreign person (not a US person) with nothing expected in return. Large foreign gifts can trigger Form 3520 reporting.
Inheritance
Amounts received from a foreign person's estate. These are also reportable on Form 3520 when the threshold is met, and are generally not US-taxable income to you.
Parents in India / NRI family transfers
A common scenario: parents in India transfer a large sum to their child in the US. If it exceeds the threshold for gifts from a foreign individual, the US-person recipient reports it on Form 3520.
Reporting threshold
The rule depends on the source. Gifts or bequests from a nonresident individual or a foreign estate use the aggregate $100,000 test; purported gifts from a foreign corporation or partnership use a separate, annually-indexed threshold; and a foreign trust follows Part III rules rather than a gift threshold. Related givers may need to be aggregated. Confirm the current figures before deciding.
Gift tax vs reporting
US gift tax is generally the giver's concern, and a foreign giver usually isn't subject to it. For the US recipient, Form 3520 is a report, not a tax — the two are different things.
Penalties for missing the form
The penalty risk for not filing Form 3520 can be significant, which is why reporting matters even though the gift itself usually isn't taxed. Correcting a missed form is possible.
Example scenario
Parents in India send a down-payment gift to their child in the US
Anjali, a US green card holder, receives a large sum from her parents in India to help buy a home. Because the aggregate exceeds the $100,000 Form 3520 threshold for gifts from a nonresident individual, she files Form 3520 — separately from her Form 1040 — for that tax year. She owes no US tax on the gift itself; it's an informational report, but filing protects her from the steep penalty for a missed form. She keeps the bank transfer records and a short gift letter from her parents.
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Frequently asked questions
Is this a tax calculator?
No. This is an educational screening tool, not a calculator — it never computes any tax or penalty figure. It maps a few situational answers to a Form 3520 result (with the threshold and tax year used), FBAR/FATCA, and PFIC review flags, the documents to collect, and questions for your CPA and CA. Your actual obligations depend on facts and current-year rules only a cross-border professional can confirm.
Is a gift or inheritance from India taxable in the US?
Generally no — receiving a genuine gift or inheritance from a foreign person is not taxable income to you in the US. The catch is reporting: large foreign gifts and bequests can require Form 3520 (a disclosure, not a tax), and the income the assets later earn is taxable. Covered-expatriate gifts and foreign-trust transactions can follow special rules. The checker flags the reporting side.
What is the Form 3520 threshold for a gift from my parents?
Gifts and bequests from a nonresident alien individual or a foreign estate are reported on Form 3520 when the year's total exceeds US $100,000. Purported gifts from a foreign corporation or partnership use a separate, much lower threshold the IRS indexes annually — $20,573 for tax year 2026 and $20,116 for 2025. A foreign trust follows a different rule entirely. The tests are on the aggregate, and related donors can be combined.
Why are foreign trusts treated differently?
A distribution from a foreign trust is reviewed under Form 3520 Part III (and possibly Form 3520-A) — not the ordinary $100,000 gift test. The checker routes a foreign-trust answer to a specialist-review result rather than applying the gift threshold.
Does it matter whether the money landed in India or the USA?
For the Form 3520 test itself, not much — that turns on the gift or bequest. But money or securities held in an Indian account become FBAR/FATCA review items once they're yours, and any later remittance to the US may require bank/FEMA documentation (such as Form 15CA/15CB) depending on the source and route. The checker adds those steps when relevant, without claiming a filing is always required.
Is Form 3520 a tax on the gift?
No. Form 3520 is an information return — a disclosure filed separately from Form 1040. There is generally no US tax on receiving a foreign gift or inheritance. The risk is the penalty for failing to file or filing late, which can be a percentage of the unreported amount, so the filing itself is what matters.
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Disclaimer, assumptions & sources
This tool is for general education and screening only. It is not tax or legal advice and does not provide a filing determination. Form 3520, PFIC, and FBAR/FATCA rules and thresholds change over time and depend on your facts.
- For educational screening only — not a filing determination.
- Not tax or legal advice.
- Thresholds, forms, due dates, and rules can change at any time.
- Verify current rules with the IRS, FinCEN, the RBI, and the Indian Income Tax Department before acting.
- Consult a qualified cross-border CPA (US side) and a Chartered Accountant (CA) (India side) when it matters to your situation.
Verify current rules with the IRS and the Indian Income Tax Department, and consult a qualified cross-border CPA (US side) and a Chartered Accountant (CA) (India side).
See our full site disclaimer for complete terms.