ITR for NRIs: NRI Tax Filing Services in India

Does an NRI need to file an income tax return in India?

Yes, if Indian income crosses the basic exemption limit, and in practice almost every NRI with rent, property sales or NRO interest should file, because it is the only way to recover excess TDS. The filing duty sits in section 263 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961): an individual must file if total income, before certain deductions, exceeds the maximum amount not chargeable to tax. For a non-resident under the default new regime that amount is ₹4,00,000.

You should also file, even below the limit, when:

• Tax was deducted from your income and you want it back. Refunds are only issued against a filed return.
• You made a capital loss (on shares, mutual funds or property) and want to carry it forward. The loss must be shown in a return filed by the due date, or it is lost.
• You want a filing record for a visa, a home loan in India, or to show the source of funds when you repatriate sale proceeds.

When you do not have to file. Two exemptions help NRIs with very simple income. Under section 207(8) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (section 115A(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961), no return is needed if your only Indian income is dividend or certain interest taxed at the special non-resident rates and TDS was deducted at those full rates. Under section 216 (section 115G of the 1961 Act), a non-resident Indian whose only income is investment income or long-term capital gains on foreign-exchange assets, with TDS fully deducted, is also excused. If you have rent, property gains or a refund to claim, neither exemption applies.

How is an NRI's residential status decided?

Residential status is decided each tax year by counting the days you were physically in India, with special rules for Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin. The tests are in section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, and they are the same day counts that section 6 of the 1961 Act applied for FY 2025-26. Nationality does not decide status and neither does your visa. The tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March.

The basic tests

You are resident in India for a tax year if either test is met:

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

If neither test is met, you are a non-resident.

Exceptions that matter for NRIs

• Indian citizens leaving for a job abroad (or as crew of an Indian ship): the 60-day test does not apply in the year you leave, so only the 182-day test counts (section 6(3)).
• Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin visiting India: the 60-day test is replaced. If your Indian income (excluding foreign-source income) is ₹15 lakh or less, only the 182-day test applies. If it is above ₹15 lakh, the 60 days become 120 days, still combined with the 365 days in the previous four years (sections 6(4) and 6(5)). A person of Indian origin is someone who, or either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents, was born in undivided India, so many OCI cardholders are covered.
• Deemed residence for stateless-for-tax Indian citizens: an Indian citizen whose Indian income exceeds ₹15 lakh and who is not liable to tax in any other country because of domicile, residence or similar criteria is deemed resident even without setting foot in India (section 6(7)). This rule does not apply to foreign citizens, and it is overridden if you are already resident under the day tests.

Resident but not ordinarily resident (RNOR)

A resident is not ordinarily resident if they were non-resident in 9 of the 10 preceding tax years, or were in India for 729 days or less in the 7 preceding tax years. Two other groups are RNOR automatically: visitors caught by the 120-day rule who were in India for 120 to 181 days, and anyone deemed resident under section 6(7) (section 6(13)). An RNOR is taxed much like a non-resident: foreign income stays outside Indian tax unless it comes from a business controlled in, or a profession set up in, India. This is the key planning window for NRIs returning to India.

Do not confuse these tests with company-law day counts. The 182-day requirement for a company's resident director under the Companies Act is a separate rule that happens to use the same number. Your personal tax status is decided only by section 6 of the Income-tax Act.

Which ITR form should an NRI file?

Most NRIs file ITR-2; you need ITR-3 only if you have business or professional income in India. The Income Tax Department's guidance for non-resident individuals for AY 2026-27 lists only these two forms.

In the return you declare your residential status and the days you spent in India. A non-resident or RNOR reports only assets located in India in the assets-and-liabilities schedule (where that schedule applies). The duty to report foreign assets falls only on residents who are ordinarily resident (section 263(1)(a)(ix)).

What are the ITR due dates for NRIs?

For FY 2025-26 the original deadline was 31 July 2026 for an NRI without business income; you can still file a belated return until 31 December 2026. The Finance Act, 2026 replaced the due-date table in both Acts. Here are the dates that matter now.

Late fee: ₹5,000 for a return filed after the due date, reduced to ₹1,000 if total income does not exceed ₹5 lakh. This is section 234F of the 1961 Act for FY 2025-26 and section 428(a) of the 2025 Act from tax year 2026-27. Filing late also means you cannot carry forward a capital loss and, where tax is payable, interest runs on it.

What Indian income is taxable for an NRI?

A non-resident pays Indian tax only on income received in India or earned in India, not on salary or investments abroad. The table covers what most of our clients have.

NRIs get the same new-regime slabs as residents (nil up to ₹4,00,000, then 5% to 30% in ₹4 lakh steps, with 30% above ₹24 lakh) but not the rebate under section 156 of the 2025 Act (section 87A of the 1961 Act), which is for residents only. That rebate is why a resident with ₹12 lakh of income pays nothing while an NRI with the same income does. Under the old regime a non-resident's exemption limit is ₹2,50,000 at every age. The higher senior-citizen limits are for residents only. Unused exemption also cannot be set against a non-resident's capital gains: the rule letting the shortfall reduce long-term or short-term gains applies only to resident individuals (sections 196(2), 197(2) and 198(3)). See our guide to NRI rental income and TDS and NRI share and mutual fund investing for more detail.

Worked example: a US-based NRI who sold a flat in Pune

Arjun is an Indian citizen working in Seattle. He spent 35 days in India in tax year 2026-27, so he is non-resident, and the US taxes him as a resident, so the deemed-residence rule does not apply. His Indian income for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027:

Tax actually due (new regime):

• Rent and interest (₹3,23,000) fall under the ₹4,00,000 nil slab: tax nil.
• Long-term gain ₹17,50,000 × 12.5% = ₹2,18,750. Arjun cannot use his unused ₹77,000 of exemption against the gain because that relief is for residents only.
• No surcharge (total income is below ₹50 lakh). Health and education cess at 4% = ₹8,750.
• Total tax: ₹2,27,500.

Refund due: ₹7,81,040 − ₹2,27,500 = ₹5,53,540. Arjun gets it only by filing ITR-2 (due 31 July 2027) and e-verifying it. Had he applied under section 395(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (section 197 of the Income-tax Act, 1961) for a lower-deduction certificate before the sale, the buyer could have deducted tax on roughly the gain instead of the full price, and most of that ₹6,50,000 would never have left his hands. The old regime would not help him: with a ₹2,50,000 exemption limit it produces tax on his rent and interest that the new regime does not.

On the US side, Arjun reports the same gain, rent and interest on his US return. The Indian tax is a foreign tax he can use towards a US foreign tax credit (Form 1116), subject to US limits. That is a US question for his US preparer, and we give them the Indian computation and tax-paid figures they need.

How do NRIs get a refund of excess TDS?

The refund is claimed in the return itself: every rupee of TDS that appears in your AIS and Form 168 is credited against your final tax, and the excess is paid to your pre-validated Indian bank account after the return is processed. The steps that decide whether the refund arrives:

1. Check the TDS actually reached your PAN. Tenants and buyers who deduct tax must deposit it and file a TDS return, Form 144 (formerly Form 27Q) for non-resident payees. If they do not, the credit will not show in Form 168 and cannot be claimed until they correct it.
2. Get the TDS certificates from each deductor and match them line by line to the AIS.
3. Pre-validate an Indian bank account, usually your NRO account, on the e-filing portal. Refunds are paid to a validated account.
4. File and e-verify within 30 days. A return that is uploaded but not verified is invalid.
5. Watch the processing intimation under section 270(1) of the 2025 Act (section 143(1) of the 1961 Act), which shows the refund the Department accepts or any adjustment it proposes.

Property sales: the biggest refunds, and the most avoidable. A buyer paying a non-resident must deduct tax under section 393(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (Table, Sl. No. 17; section 195 of the Income-tax Act, 1961) at the rates in force. Without a certificate, many buyers deduct on the entire sale price because they cannot verify your cost. The fix is a lower or nil deduction certificate from your Assessing Officer before the sale. See our lower-TDS certificate service, and for tenants, how section 395 certificates work. If you have no PAN, TDS can be pushed up to the higher rate for payees without a PAN (section 397).

How do AIS and Form 168 (26AS) reconciliation work for NRIs?

Before filing, every figure in your Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Form 168 (formerly Form 26AS) must be reconciled with your own records, because the Department's systems compare the return against them. For NRIs the usual mismatches are:

• Interest on NRE deposits wrongly reported as taxable, or NRO and NRE interest mixed up by the bank.
• A property sale shown at the stamp-duty value or with the full price as "income", when only the gain is taxable.
• Mutual fund redemptions shown at gross value, needing purchase cost from the account statement.
• TDS deposited against a wrong PAN or a wrong section by a tenant or buyer.
• Dividend and interest entries duplicated across the AIS and the taxpayer information summary.

Where the AIS is wrong you can submit feedback on the portal, and we document the correct figure in the return so the difference is explained rather than flagged. See our glossary note on the annual tax statement.

How do NRIs claim DTAA relief in their Indian return?

A treaty rate applies only if it is lower than Indian law and you hold a Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) from your country of residence, filed with Form 41 (formerly Form 10F). Section 159(4) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (section 90(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961) applies whichever of the Act or the treaty is more beneficial. Section 159(8) (section 90(4) of the 1961 Act) makes a TRC a condition of any treaty relief for a non-resident. Form 41 is filed on the e-filing portal, and a PAN is not mandatory to file it.

Where the treaty helps and where it does not:

• Interest on NRO deposits: domestic TDS is 31.2%; the general treaty cap on interest is 15% under the US, UK, Singapore, Canada and Australia treaties and 12.5% under the UAE treaty. Give the bank your TRC and Form 41 and it can deduct at the treaty rate.
• Dividends: the domestic rate is 20%; the treaty rate for an individual shareholder is 10% under the UK and UAE treaties and 15% under the Singapore and Australia treaties; under the US and Canada treaties the portfolio rate is 25%, so the domestic 20% already applies.
• Rent and gains on Indian property: every one of these treaties leaves India the right to tax income from, and gains on, immovable property in India. The treaty does not cut the Indian tax; your home country gives the credit.

Our DTAA master guide, TRC guide and Form 41 (10F) filing walkthrough go deeper. Country treaty pages: USA, UK, UAE, Singapore, Canada, Australia.

Do NRIs need Form 67 or Form 44 for a foreign tax credit?

Usually not: India's foreign tax credit is for residents, so an NRI normally claims relief for Indian tax in their country of residence, not in India. Rule 76 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 allows the credit to "an assessee, being a resident". It matters when you become resident again, for example after returning to India, and have income taxed both abroad and in India.

• Tax year 2026-27 onwards: the statement is Form 44 under rule 76. It is due within twelve months from the end of the tax year, provided the return is filed by the due date or as a belated return, or with the return itself for an updated return. It must be verified by an accountant as defined in the Act where the foreign tax equals or exceeds ₹1,00,000.
• FY 2025-26 and earlier: the statement was Form 67 under rule 128 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, due by the end of the assessment year (31 March 2027 for FY 2025-26) when the return is filed by the original or belated deadline. Which form a filing made after 1 April 2026 for FY 2025-26 must use, Form 67 or Form 44, is not settled by the notified Income-tax Rules, 2026, which contain no transitional provision. Check the form the e-filing portal enables before filing.

More on the mechanics in our foreign tax credit glossary entry.

How do NRIs e-verify the return?

Verify within 30 days of uploading, or the return is treated as filed on the date you verify (with late-filing consequences) or not filed at all. NRIs without Aadhaar-linked Indian mobiles usually verify through net banking on an Indian account, an electronic verification code generated through a pre-validated bank or demat account, or a digital signature certificate. The fallback is to sign the ITR-V and send it by post to the Centralised Processing Centre, Income Tax Department, Bengaluru 560500. The 30 days count to the date CPC receives it, so post from abroad early.

What happens after filing: notices NRIs commonly receive

Most NRI notices come from mismatches between the return and third-party data, and nearly all can be answered online if you respond in time.

• Processing intimation (section 270(1); section 143(1) of the 1961 Act): shows any adjustment to income, TDS credit or refund. Check it. An unexplained TDS disallowance usually means the deductor's TDS return has an error.
• Defective return notice (section 263(7); section 139(9) of the 1961 Act): typically a wrong form (for example, business income reported in ITR-2) or missing schedules. You get 15 days to fix it, or the return is treated as invalid.
• Proposed adjustments and scrutiny on high-value transactions: property sales, large NRO credits or share sales reported in the AIS without matching entries in the return.
• Residential-status queries: officers may ask for passport stamps or travel history to support a non-resident claim.

Respond through the e-filing portal within the time stated in the notice. We prepare and file the response with supporting documents.

Common mistakes in NRI tax returns

1. Filing as a resident by default, or on last year's status, without counting this year's days. Status changes year to year.
2. Using ITR-1, which is for residents only, and misstating your residential status to fit it.
3. Declaring NRE interest as taxable, or forgetting that NRE interest becomes taxable once you return and become resident under FEMA and the account is redesignated.
4. Claiming indexation on property bought before 23 July 2024. That option is available to resident individuals and HUFs only.
5. Taking credit for the resident-only rebate under section 156 (87A). Software defaults sometimes apply it.
6. Not claiming TDS that sits in Form 168, or claiming TDS the deductor never deposited.
7. Missing the due date and losing the right to carry forward capital losses.
8. Not e-verifying within 30 days.
9. Assuming the treaty cuts tax on property rent or gains. It does not; it decides where the credit is given.
10. Ignoring the deemed-residence rule when you are not liable to tax in your country of residence (a question to check in no-income-tax countries) and your Indian income tops ₹15 lakh.

Country notes for NRIs abroad

Your Indian return is the same wherever you live; what changes is how your home country treats the Indian income and tax. These notes are for orientation. Take home-country advice from a local preparer, and we will give them the Indian figures.

United States

US citizens and residents report worldwide income, so Indian rent, interest and gains go on the US return as well. Indian tax paid can support a foreign tax credit claimed on IRS Form 1116, within US limits. US persons whose foreign accounts (NRO, NRE, FCNR, demat-linked bank accounts) exceed US$10,000 in aggregate at any time in the calendar year must file an FBAR. Indian mutual funds can be passive foreign investment companies for US purposes, which brings Form 8621 reporting. The Indian tax year ends on 31 March and the US year on 31 December, so income is often split across two US returns.

United Kingdom

UK residents normally pay UK tax on all their income, wherever it arises, with relief for foreign tax under the India-UK treaty. The remittance basis ended on 6 April 2025. Qualifying new residents (after 10 consecutive years of non-residence) can instead claim the 4-year foreign income and gains regime. The UK tax year runs 6 April to 5 April. See our India-UK DTAA claiming guide.

United Arab Emirates

The UAE does not levy personal income tax on individuals' wages or personal investment income, so Indian tax is usually the final cost and there is no home-country credit to claim. Two points follow. First, if your Indian income exceeds ₹15 lakh, check the deemed-residence rule, which targets Indian citizens not liable to tax elsewhere. A deemed resident is RNOR, so UAE salary still stays outside Indian tax, but return-filing and TDS positions change. Second, a UAE TRC is still worth obtaining to use the India-UAE treaty rates on interest and dividends. See our India-UAE DTAA guide and Middle East NRI guide.

Singapore

IRAS states that overseas income received in Singapore by individuals is generally not taxable there; the exceptions include income received through a partnership based in Singapore. For most Singapore-based NRIs the Indian tax is therefore the final tax, which makes reclaiming excess Indian TDS more important. The India-Singapore treaty caps Indian tax on interest at 15% where the lender is not a bank.

Canada

Canadian residents report worldwide income and claim a foreign tax credit for Indian tax. If the total cost of your specified foreign property (for example Indian bank deposits, shares and mutual funds) exceeds C$100,000 at any time in the year, Form T1135 is also required. See our Canada-India DTAA guide.

Australia

Australian residents for tax purposes must declare foreign income, including Indian rent, interest and gains, and can claim a foreign income tax offset for Indian tax paid. The Australian income year runs 1 July to 30 June, a third calendar to reconcile against India's April to March. See our Australia-India DTAA guide.

OCI cardholders and foreign citizens with Indian income

Tax status follows days in India, not passport, so an OCI cardholder or foreign citizen with Indian rent, gains or interest files exactly like an NRI. Two differences: the deemed-residence rule applies only to Indian citizens, and the 120-day visitor rule applies to persons of Indian origin as well as citizens. A foreign citizen needs a PAN, which non-residents apply for with passport and overseas-address proof. See NRI vs OCI vs PIO.

What our NRI tax filing service includes

We take the return from travel dates to refund, including the pieces most online filers skip.

• Residential-status determination for the year from your passport and travel dates, including the 120-day, deemed-residence and RNOR tests.
• Line-by-line reconciliation of AIS, taxpayer information summary and Form 168 against bank, broker, tenant and property documents.
• Capital-gains computation for property, shares and mutual funds, with cost records and transfer expenses.
• Old-versus-new regime comparison and the right ITR (ITR-2 or ITR-3).
• Treaty review, TRC and Form 41 where they reduce tax, and Form 44 or Form 67 if you are resident with foreign-taxed income.
• Filing, e-verification support, refund tracking and responses to intimations and notices.
• Before a property sale: the lower-TDS certificate; after it, repatriation support via Forms 145 and 146 (see repatriation guide).

For broader planning (returning to India, structuring Indian investments, starting a business) see our tax advisory service and the complete NRI taxation guide.