Your salary abroad may not be taxable in India, but your rental income, capital gains, and NRO interest usually are — and each comes with its own TDS rate, DTAA relief and reporting requirement. LegalDev handles NRI tax filing, TDS certificates and repatriation paperwork so nothing gets taxed twice, and nothing gets missed.
The most common misunderstanding among NRIs is assuming that because they live and work abroad, their entire income sits outside India's reach. In reality, India taxes only the income that is actually earned, accrued, or received in India — rent from a flat in Mumbai, interest credited to an NRO account, capital gains on shares or property, and salary for any period actually worked in India, even if paid overseas.
The complication is that this India-sourced income is often taxed twice at the source — once through TDS deducted by the payer at a flat, conservative rate, and potentially again in your country of residence, unless DTAA relief is claimed correctly and the resulting excess is recovered through a return.
Before anything else can be computed, your residential status for the year has to be settled, because that determines what India can tax at all. The primary test is whether you spent 182 days or more in India during the financial year. If you did not meet that threshold, a secondary test applies — 60 days or more in the year, combined with 365 days or more across the preceding four years, subject to relaxations for Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin visiting India, and a separate deemed-residency provision for high-income Indian citizens who are not liable to tax anywhere else. Getting this test right at the start avoids reworking the entire computation later.
You are a resident of India, and not an NRI, if you spend 182 days or more in India during the financial year, or if you spend 60 days or more in that year and 365 days or more across the preceding four years. Certain exceptions apply to Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin visiting India, and to Indian citizens with high India-sourced income who may be treated as deemed residents even without meeting the day-count test.
An NRI is taxed in India only on income that is earned or accrued in India — such as rental income from Indian property, capital gains on Indian assets, interest on NRO accounts, and salary for services rendered in India. Foreign income, including salary earned and received abroad, is not taxable in India for an NRI.
Yes, NRIs are taxed at the same slab rates as resident individuals on their India-sourced income. However, NRIs cannot claim certain resident-specific benefits, such as the higher basic exemption limit available to senior citizens, since that status is tied to residency.
India has Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements with many countries. Where the same income could otherwise be taxed both in India and in the NRI's country of residence, DTAA provisions allow either a lower withholding rate or a tax credit for tax already paid in one country against the liability in the other, provided a valid Tax Residency Certificate is furnished.
Payers are required to deduct TDS on payments to NRIs at rates that assume the maximum applicable rate for that type of income, without factoring in deductions, DTAA benefits or slab-based computation. This often results in excess TDS, which is why many NRIs either apply for a lower or nil deduction certificate under Section 197, or file a return to claim a refund of the excess.
Form 15CA is a declaration and Form 15CB is a chartered accountant's certificate, both required before certain remittances are made out of India to a non-resident, such as sale proceeds of property or accumulated NRO balances. Banks require these forms to confirm applicable tax has been accounted for before releasing the funds.
Share your income details and country of residence — we'll confirm your residential status, apply DTAA relief where it applies, and handle the filing and repatriation paperwork end to end.