Residential status for NRIs: how the day-count rules work
Whether India can tax your foreign income depends on your residential status for the year. The rules are mostly about days, with a few important twists.
Your residential status is worked out afresh every financial year. It decides whether only your Indian income is taxed in India, or your worldwide income as well.
The basic tests
You are generally resident if you are in India for 182 days or more in the year, or for 60 days or more in the year and 365 days or more in the four years before. Otherwise you are a non-resident.
The twists for Indian citizens and PIOs
- For Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin visiting India, the 60-day test is replaced by 120 days, but only if their Indian income exceeds ₹15 lakh.
- An Indian citizen with Indian income above ₹15 lakh who is not taxable in any other country can be treated as a deemed resident.
- Some residents qualify as "resident but not ordinarily resident" (RNOR), whose foreign income is largely outside the Indian tax net.
Plan your visits
Because the outcome turns on days, planning the timing of visits can make a real difference. Keep a record of travel dates every year. Ask us to work out your status.