@dgee , thank you for the article. Having gone over the treaty again and more readings from a number legal pubs plus GoI, my conclusion is this :
(a) if one can sustain that EPF is equivalent at least mostly to US Social Security;
(b) one follows the same rules as for SSA
and
(c) agrees with the language of the treaty
then ONLY the payor ( in this case India ) has the right to tax this. Thus you should be immune from US taxation.
Then comes my problem --if your monies are not coming from EPF but the amounts held by your employer ( before transferring to the EPF management org., then this is not EPF. It is basically your own contribution. If that is case then I would argue that this return of your own money and not new income and therefore is not taxable or recognizable ( reportable ).
So you need to tell me either I am correct or give me more details about the source of this monies .
I can answer till Sunday morning ( my time as I am out-of-pocket from Sunday after noon through Monday late ( PDT ).
Namaste
pk
