NRIs: Three changes to tax rules that decide residential status

News, NRI, Taxation

A large number of Indians work outside India or have businesses outside India. They visit India, at times for an extended period, or after a stint abroad, even return to India. Tax Liability in India in such cases depends on whether a person is a resident or a non-resident. If an individual is not a resident in India, only then is the income that is earned in India or which is received in India is taxable in India. So, to avoid world income becoming taxable in India, one must be careful about the period of stay in India.

The Finance Minister, in the Budget that she presented last month, has proposed three changes to the rules for deciding the residential status of an individual.

New Resident Rules:

An individual becomes a resident in India if he satisfies any one of the following conditions: (i) he has stayed in India for 182 days or more in the financial year; or (ii) he has stayed in India for 60 days or more in the financial year and his total stay in the earlier four financial years is for 365 days or more.

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