FAST-DS 2026: India's offshore crypto disclosure window

This article explains a government scheme. It is not tax or legal advice. Talk to a qualified tax professional before you file anything.

Indian taxpayers holding crypto on offshore exchanges that they never reported have until 31 Dec to use FAST-DS 2026, a one-time scheme for declaring undisclosed foreign assets. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notified the rules on 14 Aug, and the scheme opened on 16 Aug. No declarations will be accepted after the deadline.

The Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers – Disclosure Scheme sits in Chapter IV of the Finance Act, 2026. It lets eligible taxpayers declare certain undisclosed foreign assets or income on payment of a specified tax or fee, News On AIR reported when the rules took effect. The Income Tax Department has published FAQs on the scheme.

Here is what the rules say, what they could mean for crypto holders, and what is still unclear.

What the rule says about FAST-DS 2026

The notification (G.S.R. 732(E)) fixes the deadline in plain terms:

“For the purposes of the Act and these rules, ‘last date’ shall mean the 31st day of December, 2026.”

Assets are valued as of 31 Mar 2026, the “valuation date”. Declarations are filed electronically, in Form 1.

The rules do not mention crypto or virtual digital assets (VDAs) by name. For assets without a specific rule, the notification sets value at the higher of the cost of acquisition or amount invested, and the price the asset “would fetch if sold in the open market on the valuation date in an arm’s-length transaction”. If no market valuation is done, indexed cost is treated as the fair market value.

Tax practitioners quoted by The Economic Times read the scheme as having two categories:

Category B: foreign assets bought with income already disclosed or taxed in India, where only the foreign-asset reporting was missed. A flat fee of ₹1 lakh (about $1,040) applies if the assets’ combined fair market value is no more than ₹5 crore (about $519,000) on 31 Mar 2026, according to Palak Gupta of Jotwani Associates.
Category A: assets bought with income never offered to tax in India, up to a combined ₹1 crore (about $104,000). The effective cost is 60%: 30% tax plus a penalty equal to 100% of that tax, Gupta told ET.

These category figures are expert readings reported by ET. They have not been independently confirmed by CryptoWatchDesk against the Finance Act text.

Location matters too. Holdings on Indian platforms registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit–India (FIU-IND) would have a domestic situs and fall outside the scheme, Gupta said, while accounts on unregistered offshore platforms could count as undisclosed foreign assets.

Why it matters: offshore platforms serving Indians are already under scrutiny. FIU-IND sent non-compliance notices to 15 offshore platforms on 9 Sep.

What it means for you

Illustrative examples only, based on the expert readings above. Not tax advice.

Taxed salary, unreported holding. You bought crypto on an offshore exchange with salary already taxed in India, and it was worth ₹40 lakh (about $41,500) on 31 Mar 2026, but you never listed it in your return’s foreign-asset schedule. On the Category B reading, you would pay the flat ₹1 lakh fee (about $1,040).
Untaxed trading gains. Your offshore account, worth ₹20 lakh (about $20,700) on 31 Mar 2026, was funded from crypto gains you never declared. On the Category A reading, 60% of ₹20 lakh is ₹12 lakh (about $12,400).
Mixed money. If part of a portfolio was bought with taxed income and part with untaxed income, Gupta says the holdings must be separated by source. That needs records: exchange statements, wallet addresses, bank transfers and the price used on 31 Mar.
Several holdings. The thresholds are tested across all your undisclosed foreign assets and income together, not one asset at a time, according to Nangia Global partner Abheet Sachdeva.

A valid declaration gives immunity from further tax, penalty and prosecution under the Black Money Act for what it covers, Sachdeva told ET. Assets left out of the declaration are not covered.

What’s still unclear

Which price? The rules set no crypto-specific method. Sachdeva notes there is no guidance on which exchange price to use when a token trades on several venues, or when trading is thin.
Foreign exchange law. FAST-DS does not give immunity under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), according to Sachdeva. Declaring an offshore holding does not, by itself, settle any FEMA question about buying or holding it.
Long swap histories. ET’s experts list records of crypto-to-crypto trades among the documents to keep. The rules do not say how a years-long swap history should be rebuilt when records are missing.

The deadline does not move: 31 Dec 2026, after which the scheme closes.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.