Faulty Schedule FA Tax Documents from Vested – Missing Table A2 Can Lead to Serious Compliance Issues
I wanted to bring attention to what appears to be a serious issue with the tax documents generated by Vested for Indian investors.
As many of you know, when filing an Indian Income Tax Return (ITR), Schedule FA requires reporting foreign assets. For foreign brokerage accounts, Table A2 is used to report the details and value of the foreign custodial account/broker account, while Table A3 is used to report equity and other interests held in foreign entities.
Recently, I downloaded my tax documents from Vested. Surprisingly, the tax package included Table A3 but did not include Table A2.
When I contacted Vested customer support, they repeatedly told me that Table A2 is only applicable for private equity investments, which is inconsistent with the Schedule FA reporting requirements for foreign brokerage accounts.
To verify this further, I checked another Vested account (my wife’s account), and her tax documents did include both Table A2 and Table A3. When I pointed out this inconsistency, I did not receive a satisfactory explanation. Instead, my questions were repeatedly avoided.
This raises several concerns:
- Why is Table A2 generated for some Vested customers but not for others?
- On what basis is Vested deciding that a customer does not require Table A2?
- Why is customer support providing explanations that appear inconsistent with the Income Tax reporting requirements?
- Has anyone else experienced missing Schedule FA tables in their Vested tax documents?
This is not a minor documentation issue.
Under the Indian Income Tax Act, incorrect or incomplete reporting of foreign assets can have serious consequences. In certain cases involving non-disclosure of foreign assets, penalties under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act can be extremely severe, potentially running into ₹10 lakh for specified reporting failures, depending on the facts and applicable law. Because of this, investors rely on brokers to provide accurate tax documentation.
I’m not claiming that Vested’s tax documents are universally incorrect, but the inconsistency between accounts and the inability of customer support to explain why Table A2 is missing is concerning.
I’d appreciate hearing from other Vested users:
- Did your tax package include both Table A2 and Table A3?
- If Table A2 was missing, what explanation were you given?
- How are you handling Schedule FA reporting in your ITR?
I hope Vested investigates this issue and provides a clear explanation, as accurate tax documentation is essential for Indian investors with foreign assets.