NRI Tax Advisory & Return Filing

Primarily by counting physical presence days in India. You are resident if you are in India for 182 days or more in the financial year, or 60 days or more in the financial year combined with 365 days or more across the preceding four years. For Indian citizens and Persons of Indian Origin visiting India, the 60-day limb is relaxed to 182 days — unless your total Indian income exceeds ₹15 lakh, in which case a tightened 120-day threshold applies under the Finance Act, 2020 amendments. If you fail both tests, you are Non-Resident for that year.

Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR) is an intermediate status under Section 6(6) — typically applying to individuals returning to India after several years abroad, for a transitional period (often the first 2–3 years back). An RNOR is taxed on Indian-source income plus any foreign income derived from a business controlled from India or a profession set up in India, but not on other foreign income such as foreign salary or foreign bank interest — which remains outside Indian tax scope during the RNOR period. This is materially more favourable than full Resident and Ordinarily Resident status.

No — as a Non-Resident, only Indian-source income is taxable in India. Foreign salary, foreign business income, and interest earned on foreign bank accounts are outside the scope of Indian tax and do not need to be disclosed on your Indian return, provided your residential status for that year is genuinely Non-Resident (not Resident or RNOR, where different rules on foreign asset disclosure can apply).

TDS on payments to NRIs is deducted at flat, often high rates under Section 195, regardless of your actual net tax liability. Rent paid to an NRI landlord attracts 30% TDS (plus surcharge and cess) with no basic exemption threshold applied at the point of deduction. NRO account interest similarly attracts 30% TDS with no threshold. This is a gross, conservative withholding mechanism — it is not your final tax liability. Filing a return that correctly computes your actual liability, after deductions, exemptions, and any DTAA relief, is how you recover the difference as a refund.

It is a certificate issued under Section 197 by the Assessing Officer (International Taxation) that fixes the TDS rate at your actual expected tax liability, rather than the default flat rate the payer would otherwise apply. It is commonly used before a large rent payment, property sale, or interest payout, and prevents a large sum being locked up as excess TDS for a year or more pending refund. The application (Form 13) requires supporting computation and takes several weeks to process, so it must be initiated well before the payment event — not after.

Yes — Section 90(2) of the Income-tax Act allows you to be taxed under whichever is more beneficial: the DTAA between India and your country of residence, or the domestic Income-tax Act provisions. To claim a treaty benefit, you generally need a Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) issued by the tax authority of your country of residence, plus a self-declaration in Form 10F filed on the Indian income tax e-filing portal. The specific relief available depends on the income category and the exact treaty article — interest, dividends, capital gains, and business income are often treated differently under the same treaty.

Almost always ITR-2, unless you have business or professional income, in which case ITR-3 applies. ITR-1 (Sahaj) is explicitly not available to non-residents, even if your income profile would otherwise look simple enough for it. Using the wrong form can result in the return being treated as defective.

Regularise the position voluntarily rather than waiting for a notice. We review your prior years' income, TDS credits (some of which may still be reclaimable within applicable time limits), and file the returns that are still within the permissible window. Voluntary regularisation is materially less stressful and less costly than responding to a department-initiated notice for non-filing, especially where Form 26AS/AIS already shows TDS deducted against your PAN with no corresponding return filed.

No. The Section 87A rebate — which under the new tax regime post Budget 2025 provides nil tax up to ₹12 lakh of total income for eligible taxpayers — is available only to resident individuals. Non-residents remain liable to tax computed on their taxable income at the applicable slab rates without the benefit of this rebate, even where their Indian taxable income would otherwise fall within the rebate threshold available to residents.

Under RBI's remittance framework for NRO account balances, an NRI can generally repatriate up to USD 1 million per financial year (covering sale proceeds of immovable property and other assets), subject to payment of applicable taxes. Repatriation of proceeds from residential property is further capped at a maximum of two such properties. Your Authorised Dealer bank will require Form 15CB (CA certificate) and Form 15CA (your declaration on the income tax e-filing portal) before releasing the remittance, along with a full documentation trail — ITR acknowledgments, TDS certificates, and the underlying transaction documents.

Form 15CB is a certificate issued by a Chartered Accountant confirming the nature of a remittance, the tax already paid or provided for on the underlying income, and the applicable DTAA position if relevant. Form 15CA is a declaration filed by the remitter on the income tax e-filing portal, based on the 15CB. Together they are required under Section 195(6) read with the applicable Income-tax Rules for most remittances abroad that relate to taxable income — banks will not process an outward remittance without both, where applicable.

NRIs cannot open a new PPF account, and existing PPF accounts opened while resident generally cannot be extended in 5-year blocks once NRI status is acquired, though the account can typically continue to maturity under the original terms in many cases — the exact treatment has been subject to periodic clarification and should be confirmed for your specific account. NSC and certain other small savings schemes are similarly restricted or unavailable to NRIs for fresh investment. Section 80C deductions for NRIs are therefore more commonly claimed through life insurance premiums, ELSS mutual funds, and principal repayment on a home loan for Indian property, rather than through PPF/NSC.

As a genuine Non-Resident, your foreign income is outside the scope of Indian taxation and is not required to be disclosed in your Indian return. However, if your residential status for a given year is actually Resident or RNOR (rather than Non-Resident, as you may assume), different disclosure obligations — including Schedule FA foreign asset reporting under the Black Money Act framework — can apply. This is precisely why the residential status determination at the start of the engagement matters so much; it is the single fact that decides what you must and must not disclose.

Brokers and Asset Management Companies withhold TDS on capital gains at the time of redemption or sale for NRI investors — a materially different mechanism from resident investors, where such TDS generally does not apply at the point of sale for listed securities. Long-term capital gains on listed equity above the ₹1.25 lakh per financial year exemption (where STT is paid) are taxed at 12.5%, and short-term gains at 20% post the 23 July 2024 rate change — the same headline rates as for residents, but the TDS-at-source mechanism means an NRI experiences the cash-flow impact immediately, at the point of sale, rather than only at year-end filing.

You forgo any refund you may be entitled to, since TDS on NRI payments is structurally designed to over-withhold relative to actual liability in most cases. You also leave an unreconciled TDS credit sitting against your PAN in Form 26AS/AIS with no return to explain it — a pattern that increasingly draws automated scrutiny from the tax department's data-matching systems, even though no return was legally mandatory below certain income thresholds in some cases.

The India-UAE DTAA provides relief mechanisms and, for certain income categories, more favourable withholding positions than would otherwise apply, along with a framework to avoid the same income being taxed twice. Because the UAE does not levy personal income tax on individuals, the practical benefit for most UAE-based NRIs centres on ensuring Indian-source income is taxed correctly under the treaty framework and that the Tax Residency Certificate and Form 10F documentation are properly filed to substantiate the treaty position — since UAE residence alone, without the correct certification, does not automatically secure treaty benefits.

Advance tax is the requirement to pay estimated tax liability in instalments during the financial year itself, rather than as a single payment at return-filing time. It applies to any taxpayer, including NRIs, whose tax liability for the year — after subtracting TDS already deducted — exceeds ₹10,000. Given how much TDS NRIs typically have deducted at source already, many NRIs do not have a residual advance tax liability, but this needs to be verified each year rather than assumed.

Under Section 49 of the Income-tax Act, your cost of acquisition for an inherited asset is generally the cost to the previous owner (the person from whom you inherited it) — not the fair market value on the date of inheritance. The holding period for determining short-term versus long-term treatment also includes the previous owner's holding period. This is a frequently misunderstood point that materially affects capital gains computation on a future sale.

Once you become a Non-Resident, you are required under FEMA to convert your resident savings account to an NRO (Non-Resident Ordinary) account, or open a fresh NRO/NRE account as appropriate. Continuing to operate a resident savings account after acquiring NRI status is a FEMA compliance breach, separate from the income tax implications, even though the income tax consequences of the underlying transactions remain largely the same.

Filing is generally mandatory if TDS has been deducted and you wish to claim a refund, if your total income (before certain deductions) exceeds the basic exemption threshold, or in specific circumstances prescribed under the Income-tax Act regardless of income level (such as certain high-value transactions). Even where filing is not strictly mandatory, if any TDS has been deducted on your Indian income, filing to claim the refund is almost always financially worthwhile.

The entire engagement is designed for remote delivery — document exchange, TRC/Form 10F preparation, computation review, and e-filing are all completed without requiring your physical presence in India. Video calls, secure document sharing, and digital signature/verification wherever the process requires it are standard. Our Dubai desk additionally provides a physical point of contact for UAE-based clients who prefer an in-person meeting.

An NRE (Non-Resident External) account holds foreign earnings remitted into India and is fully repatriable, with interest earned on NRE deposits exempt from Indian tax for a genuine non-resident. An NRO (Non-Resident Ordinary) account holds Indian-sourced income (rent, dividends, etc.) and interest earned on NRO deposits is taxable in India with TDS deducted at source. Choosing the correct account for the correct income source is not just a banking convenience — it directly determines your Indian tax exposure on the interest earned.

Do not ignore it and do not respond without professional review — NRI notices often relate to a TDS/return mismatch, a high-value transaction reported by a bank or registrar, or a residential status question. We review the notice, reconstruct your residential status and income history for the relevant year(s), and prepare a considered response or, where appropriate, file the return(s) that trigger the resolution of the matter.

Yes — this is one of the highest-value conversations to have before relocation, not after. Timing the sale of assets, restructuring Indian investments, understanding which resident-only tax benefits (like the Section 87A rebate or certain 80C instruments) you will lose on becoming non-resident, and planning the transition-year residential status all benefit from advance planning rather than after-the-fact correction.

PNPC has operating offices in Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, and a dedicated Dubai desk. For clients with an India-UAE tax profile, we coordinate the India-side residential status, DTAA, and ITR filing with an awareness of the UAE tax residency certificate process and any UAE reporting relevant to the client's position — as one coordinated engagement rather than two disconnected advisors handling each side in isolation.

PNPC charges a fixed, agreed fee discussed and confirmed in writing before any work begins, scaled to the complexity of your income sources — a single rental property and one NRO account is a materially simpler engagement than multiple income streams, a DTAA claim, and a Lower Deduction Certificate application in the same year. We are not the cheapest portal-based option; the value is in the residential status accuracy, DTAA optimisation, and the refund recovery that a properly conducted review typically identifies.

A filing app applies a standard template to whatever numbers you enter — it does not independently verify your residential status, does not proactively identify a Lower Deduction Certificate opportunity before a payment is made, does not coordinate a TRC/Form 10F filing with your country of residence's tax authority, and is not available to represent you if a notice arrives. PNPC is a practising CA firm with a 1986 track record specifically in NRI and cross-border taxation — we are present before the transaction, through the filing, and for any follow-up the tax department raises.

Effective for transfers on or after 23 July 2024, long-term capital gains on most assets are taxed at 12.5% without indexation, and short-term gains on STT-paid listed equity at 20%. Critically, the transitional indexation election (choosing between 12.5% without indexation and 20% with indexation) available under the 2nd proviso to Section 112(1)(a) for land/building acquired before 23 July 2024 applies only to resident individuals and HUFs — NRIs are not eligible for this election and pay the flat 12.5% without-indexation rate on land/building gains regardless of acquisition date. This is a frequently misunderstood distinction that changes the computation meaningfully for NRIs holding property purchased long ago at a low cost.

Indian tax treatment follows the Indian residential status test under Section 6 independent of your US tax status — you can be Non-Resident under Indian law while being a US tax resident under US citizenship-based taxation (FATCA/worldwide income rules) at the same time. The two systems are assessed separately, and the India-US DTAA provides mechanisms for relief where the same income might otherwise be taxed by both countries. We coordinate the Indian side of this; for the US filing side (FBAR, Form 8938, US return), we recommend and can coordinate with a qualified US tax preparer.

Retain your ITR acknowledgment, computation sheet, Form 26AS/AIS as filed, TDS certificates, TRC/Form 10F, and any Form 15CA/15CB issued, for at least the period during which the return can be reopened for assessment under the Income-tax Act — commonly several years, and longer in cases involving foreign assets or larger transactions. For property or securities, retain the original purchase/acquisition documentation indefinitely until the asset is eventually sold, since cost of acquisition proof is needed only at that point, sometimes decades later.

Refunds are credited to a PAN-linked, validated Indian bank account — an NRO account in your name works for this purpose, provided the account is correctly validated on the income tax e-filing portal (bank account pre-validation, matching name and IFSC details). A common cause of refund delay for NRIs is an unvalidated or mismatched bank account on file.

An OCI card confers certain travel and residency privileges in India but does not, by itself, change your Indian tax residential status determination — the Section 6 day-count and deemed-residency tests apply based on your actual physical presence and citizenship-linked provisions (some of which specifically reference Indian citizens/PIOs, a category OCI holders may or may not fall into depending on their specific circumstances). We assess this individually rather than assuming OCI status has a fixed tax consequence.