NRI, RNOR or resident: how is your tax status decided?
Draft: not yet reviewed by a CA.
Your tax status depends mainly on the days you spend in India each April to March. At 182 days or more you are resident. A 60-day test also exists, but it usually becomes 182 days for Indian citizens working abroad or visiting, or 120 days if their Indian income is above ₹15 lakh.
Why does it matter?
Your status decides which income India can tax. A resident is taxed on income from anywhere. An NRI is taxed only on income earned or received in India. RNOR sits between the two.
What are the tests?
You are resident for the year if either is true:
- You were in India for 182 days or more that year.
- You were in India for 60 days or more that year, and 365 days or more in the previous four years.
What changes for people working abroad?
If you are an Indian citizen leaving India for a job abroad, the 60 days becomes 182 days. If you are an Indian citizen or person of Indian origin visiting India, it also becomes 182 days, unless your Indian income is above ₹15 lakh. Then the figure is 120 days.
What is RNOR?
Someone who is resident but has recently been abroad can be "resident but not ordinarily resident". You are RNOR if you were non-resident in 9 of the last 10 years, or spent 729 days or fewer in India in the last 7 years. It often applies in your first years back.
Can you be taxed as resident without visiting?
Yes, in one case. An Indian citizen with Indian income above ₹15 lakh, who is not liable to tax in any other country, can be treated as resident, and as RNOR. Many Gulf countries have no personal income tax, so check this if your Indian income is high.
Use the residential status calculator with your passport dates.
Estimate for planning, not tax advice.