@seccam Yes I am originally from India and am cognizant of Indian Tax system to some extent.
1. Recognizing that for employing a tax professional , you will be acting as intermediary and therefore the tax professional will tend to be careful and use CYA -- just natural ( she/he is not going to risk career on one client.). Thus , if you can do it and trust your relative then it is alright. Note that at the end of the day , IRS is going to hole the taxpayer responsible , no matter whom prepares the return. The starts the finger pointing.
2. Generally agreeing with @rjs on entering the details of the interest earnings - it is always a good idea to collect by issuer name because most foreign banks are required to report to US treasury on all accounts when the owner is US connected ( either SSN or they suspect that the owner is of US origin). Don't have exact knowledge of the transmittal format but I know from the treasury volunteering days that there is sufficient info. So I would do this aggregation nu bank irrespective of the amount.
3. I would choose the simplified method for AMT -- just don't worry about the exact wording for this year and if you are wrong in that this is indeed the "first year" , one can always explain with actual facts in that you had no way to confirm this in time. However , I would still suggest that after the fact you get a transcript to see if it shows anything ( transcript are usually as IRS keeps it in taxpayer's account not a facsimile of the filed forms ).
Is there more I can do for you ?
Namaste ji
pk
