NRI Income Tax in India: Residency, ITR-2, DTAA, NRE/NRO

As a Non-Resident Indian you pay Indian income tax only on income that arises in India: salary for work done here, rent from Indian property, capital gains on Indian assets, and NRO account interest. Your foreign salary and overseas income stay outside India's net. The first question is always your residential status, because that single test decides what India can tax.

Short on time? Jump to the day-count rules below, then check whether your only Indian income is NRE or FCNR interest, which is tax-free.

Indian tax law sorts every person into one of three buckets for a financial year: Resident and Ordinarily Resident (taxed on worldwide income), Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR, a middle status), and Non-Resident (NRI, taxed only on India-source income). The label is not about your passport or your OCI card. It is decided purely by how many days you were physically in India, under Section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

This trips up returning workers most. A software engineer who spent 200 days in India during a project year can become a Resident for tax, even though she holds a Gulf work visa and an NRE account. Count your days first. Everything else follows.

A note on the law: from 1 April 2026 the new Income-tax Act, 2025 replaces the 1961 Act and introduces the “tax year” term. But your filing in 2026 is for FY 2025-26 (assessment year 2026-27), which is still governed by the 1961 Act, per the Income Tax Department's transition FAQ. So the section numbers below are the 1961-Act numbers you will actually use this season.

You are a Resident for a financial year if you meet either test under Section 6:

1. You were in India for 182 days or more during that year; or
2. You were in India for 60 days or more in that year and 365 days or more across the four preceding years.

If you meet neither, you are a Non-Resident. Two concessions matter for Indians abroad:

1. The visiting / departing concession. If you are an Indian citizen or person of Indian origin who only visits India, or who left India for a job abroad, the second test's “60 days” is read as 182 days. This is what keeps most genuine NRIs non-resident even on long home visits.
2. The 120-day high-income rule. Under the Finance Act 2020, if you are an Indian citizen or PIO whose Indian-source income (excluding foreign income) is above ₹15 lakh, the concession shrinks: 60 days becomes 120 days, not 182. Stay 120 to 181 days in that case and you become RNOR.

There is also a deemed-resident rule in Section 6(1A): an Indian citizen with Indian-source income over ₹15 lakh who is not liable to tax in any other country is treated as Resident (as RNOR), even if present in India for fewer days. This targets “stateless for tax” structures, not ordinary NRIs paying tax in their country of work.

If you are an NRI, India taxes only income that is received, accrues, or arises in India:

• Salary for services rendered in India, or salary paid by the Government of India.
• Rent from house property located in India.
• Capital gains on Indian shares, mutual funds, and property.
• Interest on your NRO (Non-Resident Ordinary) account and on Indian bonds or deposits.

Your foreign salary, foreign bank interest, and overseas business income are outside India's charge while you are an NRI. You do not report them just because you are an Indian citizen.

This is the relief most NRIs care about.

• NRE account interest is exempt from Indian income tax under Section 10(4)(ii), as long as you are a “person resident outside India” under FEMA, 1999. Broadly, that means you genuinely live and work abroad. The exemption is on the interest, not on the deposit.
• FCNR (Foreign Currency Non-Resident) deposit interest is exempt under Section 10(15)(iv)(fa) for a Non-Resident or an RNOR.

The catch: these exemptions ride on your FEMA status, not your income-tax status. The day you return to India for good and become an ordinary Resident under FEMA, fresh NRE interest stops being tax-free. Returning NRIs often keep tax-free FCNR interest for a while because the FCNR exemption extends to RNORs, but NRE interest does not get that grace. Re-designate your accounts when you move back.

Interest on your NRO account is fully taxable in India. The bank deducts TDS at 30% plus applicable surcharge and cess under Section 195. If your country has a tax treaty with India, you can usually get this cut to the lower treaty rate, but only by giving the bank the right paperwork in advance (see DTAA below). Without it, the bank applies the full 30%.

India has Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) with most countries where Indians work. A DTAA lets you avoid paying full tax on the same income in both countries. To claim it, follow Section 90 / 90A and assemble three things:

1. A Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) from the tax authority of your country of residence. This proves you are a tax resident there.
2. Form 10F, filed electronically on the income-tax e-filing portal. The Income Tax Department now requires Form 10F online for non-residents claiming treaty relief, alongside the TRC.
3. The treaty rate, applied to income like NRO interest, dividends, or royalties. Give your bank the TRC and Form 10F so it deducts at the treaty rate instead of 30%.

A separate point on foreign tax credit (FTC): if you have become a Resident and paid tax abroad on the same income, you claim credit for that foreign tax by filing Form 67 under Rule 128, on or before your return due date. FTC via Form 67 is a resident's tool; a pure NRI claiming a lower treaty rate uses the TRC plus Form 10F route, not Form 67.

1. Pick the right form. An NRI with salary, rent, capital gains, or interest, and no Indian business income, files ITR-2. If you run a business or profession in India, you file ITR-3.
2. Report only India income. Enter Indian salary, house-property rent, capital gains, and NRO interest. Leave out exempt NRE and FCNR interest from taxable income (report exempt income in the exempt-income schedule if the form asks).
3. Claim your TDS. Match the TDS shown in your Form 26AS / AIS. If 30% was deducted on NRO interest but a treaty rate applied, claim the refund of the excess.
4. Skip Schedule FA. Schedule FA (foreign assets) is not required for a non-resident or RNOR. Only a Resident and Ordinarily Resident must disclose foreign bank accounts and overseas assets there. As an NRI you do not list your foreign accounts in your Indian ITR. Do not let a generic checklist push you into over-disclosure.

When several India-sourced incomes and treaty positions stack up, it is worth getting a chartered accountant to file the year you change status. A wrong residency call is the costliest mistake.

Yes. Banks deduct TDS at 30% plus surcharge and cess on NRO interest under Section 195, because the standard Section 194A 10% rate is for residents. You can lower it to your DTAA treaty rate by submitting your Tax Residency Certificate and an electronically filed Form 10F to the bank before the interest is paid. If excess TDS is still deducted, claim the refund in your ITR-2.

Up to USD 1 million per financial year from your NRO balance, after taxes are paid, under FEMA's NRO remittance rules. You generally need a chartered accountant's certificate in Form 15CB and an online Form 15CA filing for the bank to process the outward remittance. NRE and FCNR funds are freely repatriable without this annual cap.

Often no, but check carefully. If your taxable India income is below the basic exemption limit, filing is not mandatory on income grounds alone. But you should still file ITR-2 to claim a refund of TDS deducted on NRO interest, and filing is mandatory if you meet other triggers (high-value transactions, owning an asset that requires reporting, or carrying forward a capital loss).

Yes, once you become a Resident under FEMA, fresh NRE interest is no longer exempt. The cleaner step is to re-designate NRE accounts to resident accounts (or to an RFC account) when you return for good. FCNR deposit interest can stay exempt while you are an RNOR, which buys returning NRIs some time, but plan the switch rather than assume the old status holds.

Not if you use the DTAA. The treaty assigns taxing rights and caps the rate, so income like NRO interest is taxed in India at the treaty rate and then either exempted or credited in your country of residence. Keep your TRC, Form 10F, and Indian tax-paid proof, because your foreign tax authority will ask for them when you claim relief there.

• Count your days in India for FY 2025-26. Decide if you are NRI, RNOR, or Resident before anything else.
• List your Indian incomes: salary, rent, capital gains, NRO interest. Mark NRE and FCNR interest as exempt.
• Download your Form 26AS and AIS from the e-filing portal and note the TDS on NRO interest.
• If a treaty applies, request your Tax Residency Certificate now and file Form 10F online; treaty paperwork takes time.

• Income-tax Act, 1961: Section 6 (residence), Section 6(1A) (deemed resident), Section 10(4)(ii) (NRE interest), Section 10(15)(iv)(fa) (FCNR interest), Section 90 / 90A (DTAA relief), Section 195 (TDS on non-resident payments).
• Income Tax Department e-filing portal, Non-Resident Individual help (residency tests, ITR-2): https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/help/individual/return-applicable-0
• Income Tax Department, Double Taxation Relief (TRC and Form 10F): https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/w/double-taxation-relief
• Income-tax Rules, 1962: Rule 128 and Form 67 (foreign tax credit): https://incometaxindia.gov.in/Rules/Income-Tax%20Rules/rule128.htm
• Income Tax Department, Objective and scope of the new Income-tax Act, 2025 and transition FAQ (1961 Act governs FY 2025-26): https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/help/all-topics/e-filing-services/objective-and-scope-new-act

• The new Income-tax Act 2025 and the tax-year change
• Which regulator to complain to: RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and more
• The RTI Playbook

• Form 10F and the Tax Residency Certificate: claim DTAA relief and cut TDS
• Form 15CA and 15CB for sending money out of India
• Schedule FA: disclosing foreign assets in your ITR