Why we ask for travel dates
Section 6 doesn't look at just one number — it tests your days in India across three windows: this financial year (182/120/60-day tests), the previous 4 years (365-day test), and the previous 7 years (729-day RNOR test). Give us your departure date and your stays in India, and we compute all three. Every day you were physically present in India counts — including both the arrival and departure days, even part days. Use passport stamps or airline emails to reconstruct dates; close estimates are fine unless you're near a threshold.
What income can India tax?
It depends entirely on your residential status. Complete Step 1, or pick a status below to explore.
The one-line rule
Non-Resident: India taxes only income that arises in India or is received first in India.
RNOR: Same as non-resident, plus income from a business controlled from India or a profession set up in India.
Resident (ROR): India taxes your worldwide income — earned anywhere, received anywhere.
Do I even need to file a return?
As an NRI you generally must file an ITR for FY 2025-26 if your taxable Indian income exceeds the basic exemption limit — ₹4,00,000 under the new (default) regime, or ₹2,50,000 if you opt for the old regime. You should also file (even below the limit) to claim a refund of TDS — banks deduct up to 30% TDS on NRO interest, and buyers/tenants deduct TDS on property sales and rent — or to carry forward capital losses.
Which ITR form should I use?
| Your situation (as an NRI / RNOR) | Form |
|---|---|
| Salary, rent from Indian property, capital gains, interest, dividends — no business income | ITR-2 |
| Any income from a business or profession in India | ITR-3 |
| ITR-1 (Sahaj) / ITR-4 (Sugam) | ❌ Not allowed for non-residents |
How to file — step by step
- Gather documents: PAN (linked with Aadhaar if you have one), passport with entry/exit stamps, Indian bank statements (NRO/NRE), Form 16/16A, interest certificates, property sale deeds, and your Form 26AS + AIS/TIS (downloadable from the portal — they show all TDS deducted against your PAN).
- Log in at incometax.gov.in with your PAN. Update your profile to say you are a non-resident and add a foreign mobile/email if needed.
- Start a new return: e-File → Income Tax Returns → File Income Tax Return → AY 2026-27 → Online → select ITR-2 (or ITR-3).
- Set residential status to "Non-Resident" (or RNOR) in the general information schedule — this is the single most common NRI mistake. You'll be asked your days in India and (for NRIs) your country of tax residence and taxpayer ID there.
- Report income: only Indian income (for NRI/RNOR). Include NRO interest, rent (after 30% standard deduction), capital gains, dividends. Report exempt NRE/FCNR interest under Schedule EI.
- Claim DTAA relief if the same income is taxed in your country of residence — you'll need a Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) from that country and Form 10F filed online.
- Verify TDS against Form 26AS, pay any balance tax (e-Pay Tax), then submit.
- E-verify within 30 days — via Indian bank account EVC, net banking, or by posting the signed ITR-V to CPC Bengaluru. Aadhaar-OTP works if your mobile is linked. Done! Refunds arrive in your validated bank account.
💼 Want a professional to handle it?
Residential status, DTAA relief, and TDS refunds can get tricky. Consult a Chartered Accountant for personalised advice or end-to-end ITR filing.
Common NRI mistakes to avoid
- Filing as "Resident" out of habit — check your status every single year; it can change.
- Not converting a regular savings account to NRO after becoming an NRI (required under FEMA).
- Ignoring TDS refunds — 30% TDS on NRO interest is often far more than the actual tax due.
- Missing the 30-day e-verification window — the return is treated as never filed.
- Assuming NRE interest stays exempt after returning to India permanently — it doesn't.
The law, translated to plain English
Based on Sections 6 and 9 of the Income-tax Act (text from incometaxindia.gov.in). The new Income-tax Act, 2025 takes over from 1 April 2026 (tax year 2026-27), but the residency rules below stay substantively the same.
Who is a "Resident"? (Section 6)
You are a resident of India for a financial year if either:
- You were in India for 182 days or more during the year, or
- You were in India for 60 days or more during the year and 365+ days in total across the previous 4 years.
If neither is true, you are a Non-Resident (NRI) for tax purposes.
The special relaxations (how the 60-day threshold gets substituted)
The second test above is harsh on people with genuine lives abroad, so the law substitutes the 60-day threshold in two situations:
- Leaving India for employment, business or profession abroad (or as crew of an Indian ship), as an Indian citizen: 60 days becomes 182 days in the year you leave — effectively, only the 182-day test can catch you. Courts have held "employment" includes self-employment and business, not just a salaried job (CIT v. O. Abdul Razak, Kerala HC).
- Visiting India (Indian citizen or Person of Indian Origin living abroad): 60 days becomes 182 days — unless your Indian income (excluding foreign income) exceeds ₹15 lakh, in which case it becomes 120 days instead.
The 365-days-in-4-years condition still has to be met alongside whichever threshold applies.
Left on a tourist/visit visa and found a job abroad — does that count as "leaving for employment"?
Usually yes — if your purpose when leaving was to work or find work, and you can prove it. The Act never says you need an employment visa; courts look at your real purpose and the paper trail:
- No job in hand needed: "employment" has no technical meaning — leaving India to earn a livelihood, including self-employment or business, qualifies (CIT v. O. Abdul Razak, Kerala HC, 337 ITR 267).
- Job hunting counts: days spent abroad searching for a job are "for the purposes of employment" (M. Gulati, Mumbai ITAT, 2025). So the common route of flying out on a visit/jobseeker visa, getting an offer, and converting to a work residence visa in-country (standard and legal in the UAE) is covered.
- Visa category isn't decisive: even leaving as an investor on an occupation permit got the 182-day benefit (Nishant Kanodia, Mumbai ITAT, affirmed Bombay HC 2024).
- ⚠️ But mismatches get punished: a settled Indian businessman making repeated trips on tourist/social visas while running his businesses from India was held resident despite 182+ days abroad — the tribunal preferred FRRO immigration records over passport stamps and treated the visa-purpose mismatch as a red flag (DCIT v. M. Mahadevan, Chennai ITAT, 2025). And a consultant with no employer-employee relationship was denied the benefit (K. Sambasiva Rao, Hyderabad ITAT, 2014).
Keep evidence: a short gap between landing and your job search/offer, the visa status change itself, offer letter and contract dates, residence visa & Emirates ID, salary credits, tenancy, and your Indian resignation letter. What hurts: months of "visiting family" before any job activity, salary still running in India, or a business still controlled from India.
Remember: this question only matters in your year of departure, and only if you spent 60–181 days in India that year (with 365+ days in the previous 4). Under 60 days in India, you're a non-resident regardless of why you left.
"Deemed resident" — the stateless-income rule
Even if you fail every day-count test, you are deemed a resident if all three apply: (1) you are an Indian citizen, (2) your Indian income exceeds ₹15 lakh, and (3) you are not liable to tax in any other country because of your domicile or residence (common for people in zero-tax countries like the UAE without tax residency elsewhere). The silver lining: a deemed resident is automatically RNOR, so foreign income still stays out of India's net.
What is RNOR? (Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident)
A halfway status — resident, but taxed almost like an NRI. You are RNOR if you're a resident this year and any of these apply:
- You were a non-resident in 9 of the previous 10 financial years; or
- You spent 729 days or less in India across the previous 7 financial years; or
- You're a citizen/PIO earning >₹15 lakh Indian income who stayed 120–181 days (the visit rule above); or
- You're a deemed resident.
RNOR is a valuable transition status for returning NRIs — typically it protects your foreign income for 2–3 years after you move back.
What counts as "Indian income"? (Section 9)
Income is treated as arising in India — and taxable even for NRIs — if it comes from:
- Any asset, property, or source of income in India (rent, deposits, shares…)
- Salary for services rendered in India (where you worked matters, not where you're paid)
- Salary paid by the Indian Government to an Indian citizen, even for work abroad
- Transfer of a capital asset situated in India (property, Indian shares/mutual funds)
- Dividends from Indian companies
- Interest, royalties, or technical-service fees paid by the Government or an Indian resident (with narrow exceptions)
- A "business connection" in India — including agents concluding contracts for you in India, or a "significant economic presence" (large digital sales/user interaction in India)
"Income from foreign sources" — the ₹15 lakh fine print
For the ₹15 lakh tests above, you count total income excluding income that arises outside India — except that income from a business controlled in India or a profession set up in India counts as Indian income even if earned abroad.
New Income-tax Act, 2025 — what changes?
From 1 April 2026, the Income-tax Act, 2025 replaces the 1961 Act. "Financial Year + Assessment Year" merge into a single "Tax Year". The residency tests (now Section 6 of the new Act) and the deemed-income rules (Section 9) carry over with the same substance — 182 days, 60+365, the ₹15 lakh/120-day rule, deemed residency, and RNOR all remain. Your return for FY 2025-26, filed in 2026, is still under the 1961 Act.