{"id":44,"date":"2026-08-25T09:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/?p=44"},"modified":"2026-08-25T12:28:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:28:47","slug":"blog-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/25\/blog-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Am I Still an NRI? 182-Day & 120-Day Rules Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Free Financial Investments Consultation<\/h1><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Free Financial Investments Consultation<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Every year, the same worried message lands in our inbox around June:<\/span><\/p>

“I spent about five months in India last year looking after my parents. Am I still an NRI? Do I have to declare my salary in India now?”<\/span><\/i><\/p>

The honest answer is: it depends on three numbers. How many days you were in India this year, how many days you were here over the previous four years, and how much money you earn from India. Get those three right and your foreign salary stays entirely out of the Indian tax net. Get them wrong, and you could be filing as a resident without realising it, or worse, ignoring an obligation the tax department already knows about from your passport data.<\/span><\/p>

This guide walks through the rules as they stand for 2026, including the one change everyone is asking about: the new Income-tax Act, 2025, which came into force on 1 April 2026.<\/span><\/p>

Applies to:<\/b> NRIs, OCIs and PIOs who visit India regularly \u00b7 Gulf-based NRIs with rental or interest income in India \u00b7 NRIs planning to return to India<\/span><\/p>

Why this one question decides your entire tax year<\/span><\/h2>

Indian tax law sorts every individual into one of three boxes, every single financial year (1 April to 31 March):<\/span><\/p>

Status<\/b><\/p><\/th>

What India taxes<\/b><\/p><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>

Non-Resident (NRI)<\/b><\/p><\/td>

Only income that arises in India: rent from your flat, interest on your NRO account, capital gains on Indian shares or property<\/span><\/p><\/td><\/tr>

Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR)<\/b><\/p><\/td>

Indian income, plus foreign income only if it comes from a business controlled from India or a profession set up in India. Your overseas salary and investments stay out<\/span><\/p><\/td><\/tr>

Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR)<\/b><\/p><\/td>

Your worldwide income. You must also disclose every foreign bank account, share, property and retirement account in your return (Schedule FA), and non-disclosure falls under the Black Money Act<\/span><\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

That third row is the one to avoid accidentally. Moving from NRI to ROR is not a small shift in tax rate; it is a shift in what the Indian government is entitled to know about and tax.<\/span><\/p>

And note the phrase “every single financial year.” Your status is not permanent. You can be an NRI for ten years, become RNOR for one, and go back to NRI the next. Each year is tested on its own facts.<\/span><\/p>

The two basic tests (and the relaxation most NRIs rely on)<\/span><\/h2>

Under Section 6 of the Income-tax Act, you are a <\/span>resident<\/b> of India in a financial year if either of these is true:<\/span><\/p>

Test 1 \u2014 the 182-day rule.<\/b> You were in India for 182 days or more during the year.<\/span><\/p>

Test 2 \u2014 the 60-day rule.<\/b> You were in India for 60 days or more during the year <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> for 365 days or more in total across the four preceding years.<\/span><\/p>

Read Test 2 again, because it is the one that surprises people. If you visit India for two months every year, you cross 365 days in four years easily, and a 60-day visit in the current year would then make you a resident.<\/span><\/p>

That is where the relaxation comes in. If you are an <\/span>Indian citizen or a person of Indian origin living abroad and visiting India<\/b>, or an <\/span>Indian citizen who left India for employment<\/b> (including as crew on an Indian ship), the 60 days in Test 2 is replaced with 182 days. In practice, Test 2 stops mattering and only the 182-day rule applies to you.<\/span><\/p>

So for most NRIs, the working rule is simple: <\/span>stay below 182 days in India in the financial year and you remain an NRI.<\/b><\/p>

Most, but not all. Keep reading.<\/span><\/p>

The 120-day trap: if you earn more than \u20b915 lakh from India<\/span><\/h2>

Since Budget 2020, the relaxation above has a condition attached.<\/span><\/p>

If your <\/span>total income from Indian sources exceeds \u20b915 lakh<\/b> in the year (foreign income excluded), the 60 days in Test 2 is replaced with <\/span>120 days<\/b>, not 182. So if you:<\/span><\/p>

  • earn more than \u20b915 lakh from India (rent, interest, dividends, capital gains, consulting fees, anything Indian-sourced), and<\/span><\/li>
  • were in India for 120 days or more this year, and<\/span><\/li>
  • were in India for 365 days or more across the previous four years, <\/span>you are a resident<\/b> for that year.<\/span><\/li><\/ul>

    The one piece of good news: someone caught by the 120-day rule is treated as <\/span>RNOR<\/b>, not ROR. Your overseas salary and investments still stay out of Indian tax. But your filing obligations, your return form and your disclosures change, and you can no longer describe yourself as a non-resident to your bank, your broker or the tax department.<\/span><\/p>

    Who does this catch most often? NRIs in the Gulf, Singapore and Hong Kong who own one or two rented flats in Mumbai, keep large NRO fixed deposits, and spend four months a year in India. That profile crosses \u20b915 lakh and 120 days without ever feeling like they “moved back.”<\/span><\/p>

    Deemed residency: the rule for “residents of nowhere”<\/span><\/h2>

    There is one more test, and it does not look at your day count at all.<\/span><\/p>

    If you are an <\/span>Indian citizen<\/b>, your <\/span>Indian-sourced income exceeds \u20b915 lakh<\/b>, and you are <\/span>not liable to tax in any other country<\/b> because of your residence or domicile there, India deems you a resident even if you spent zero days here.<\/span><\/p>

    This was written for people who structure their lives so that no country taxes them. But it also reaches ordinary NRIs living in countries with no personal income tax, such as the UAE, if their Indian income crosses \u20b915 lakh. Again, the outcome is RNOR, not ROR, so foreign income is still safe. But it changes your status, your return form and your disclosures, and it interacts with the India-UAE tax treaty in ways that need looking at case by case.<\/span><\/p>

    If you live in a zero-tax jurisdiction and earn meaningful income from India, this rule applies to you whether or not you have heard of it.<\/span><\/p>

    RNOR: the halfway house that protects returning NRIs<\/span><\/h2>

    Once you are a resident in a year, the next question is whether you are “ordinarily” resident. You are <\/span>RNOR<\/b> (the protected category) if any of these apply:<\/span><\/p>

    1. You were a non-resident in <\/span>9 out of the 10<\/b> preceding financial years; or<\/span><\/li>
    2. You were in India for <\/span>729 days or fewer<\/b> across the <\/span>7<\/b> preceding financial years; or<\/span><\/li>
    3. You became resident only because of the <\/span>120-day rule<\/b> above; or<\/span><\/li>
    4. You are a <\/span>deemed resident<\/b> under the rule above.<\/span><\/li><\/ol>

      For an NRI moving back to India after a long stint abroad, this creates a window of roughly two to three years in which India taxes only Indian income. That window is the single most valuable planning tool a returning NRI has: it is when you decide what to do with foreign retirement accounts, overseas shares, and property abroad before worldwide taxation kicks in. Miss the window and the same decisions get made under ROR rules, with full disclosure and full tax.<\/span><\/p>

      Three examples from the kind of files we see<\/span><\/h2>

      Rohan, Dubai.<\/b> Indian citizen, works for a logistics company, earns \u20b922 lakh a year from two rented flats in Andheri and NRO deposits. Spent 135 days in India this year, and about 400 days across the previous four. His Indian income is over \u20b915 lakh, so the 120-day threshold applies: 135 days plus 400 days makes him resident. He is RNOR (rule 3 above), so his Dubai salary is not taxed in India. But he files as RNOR, not NRI, and his ITR-2 changes accordingly. Separately, because the UAE has no personal income tax, the deemed-residency rule would have reached him even at 90 days.<\/span><\/p>

      Priya, London.<\/b> Works for the NHS, owns nothing in India except an NRO account earning \u20b92 lakh in interest. Spent 160 days in India this year caring for her mother. Her Indian income is under \u20b915 lakh, so she gets the full 182-day relaxation. At 160 days she remains an <\/span>NRI<\/b>. Her UK salary is irrelevant to India.<\/span><\/p>

      Arjun, moved back from Singapore on 15 September 2025.<\/b> From 15 September to 31 March is 198 days, so he is a resident for FY 2025-26 under the 182-day rule. He was a non-resident for the previous nine years, so he is <\/span>RNOR<\/b>. His Singapore salary earned before the move, and his Singapore investment income during the year, stay out of Indian tax. If he had returned on 1 October instead, his count would sit right on 182 days, and because a permanent return is not a “visit,” the harsher 60-day test could also apply depending on his travel over the previous four years. This is exactly the kind of file where the difference of a fortnight changes the answer.<\/span><\/p>

      What the new Income-tax Act, 2025 changed (and didn’t)<\/span><\/h2>

      The new Act replaced the 1961 Act on 1 April 2026. Three things to know:<\/span><\/p>

      The residency rules did not change.<\/b> The 182-day rule, the 120-day rule, deemed residency and the RNOR categories were carried over as they were, and they even kept their section number: it is still Section 6.<\/span><\/p>

      The vocabulary changed.<\/b> “Previous year” and “assessment year” are gone. The new Act uses a single term, <\/span>“tax year,”<\/b> which is simply the financial year in which you earn the income. This matters when you read the portal or a notice: “Tax Year 2026-27” means income earned between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027.<\/span><\/p>

      There is a transition.<\/b> Income earned in FY 2025-26 is still filed under the old Act as “AY 2026-27,” on the old ITR forms. The 31 July 2026 due date for individuals filing ITR-2 (which is most NRIs) has passed. If you missed it, a <\/span>belated return can still be filed until 31 December 2026<\/b>, with a late fee of \u20b91,000 if your total income is under \u20b95 lakh and \u20b95,000 otherwise. Returns for Tax Year 2026-27 will be the first under the new Act, and are not due until July 2027.<\/span><\/p>

      Two things that trip up even careful NRIs<\/span><\/h2>

      Tax residency and FEMA residency are different tests.<\/b> The rules above decide how India taxes you. Whether you may hold an NRE account, buy agricultural land, or invest under the NRI route is decided by FEMA, which looks at your <\/span>intention and purpose<\/b> of stay rather than a day count. The moment you return to India for good, FEMA treats you as a resident from that day, and your NRE\/NRO accounts must be redesignated, even if the Income-tax Act still calls you a non-resident for the year. Many returning NRIs get one test right and the other wrong.<\/span><\/p>

      Two countries can both call you a resident.<\/b> If India and your country of residence both treat you as resident under their domestic law in the same year, the tax treaty between them breaks the tie: permanent home first, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality. Treaty residence must be claimed properly, with a Tax Residency Certificate and Form 10F, and it is not automatic.<\/span><\/p>

      A five-minute checklist before 31 March<\/span><\/h2>
      1. Count your days honestly.<\/b> Use passport stamps and airline itineraries. Count both the day you land and the day you fly out; the law does not spell this out and tribunals have generally treated both as days in India, so that is the safe assumption.<\/span><\/li>
      2. Add up your Indian income.<\/b> Rent (gross, before the 30% standard deduction), NRO interest, dividends, capital gains, professional fees. If the total could cross \u20b915 lakh, your threshold is 120 days, not 182.<\/span><\/li>
      3. Add up the previous four years.<\/b> If you are over 365 days, the 120-day rule has teeth.<\/span><\/li>
      4. If you live in a zero-tax country<\/b>, check the deemed-residency rule against your Indian income.<\/span><\/li>
      5. If you are moving back<\/b>, pick the date deliberately, and map out your RNOR window before you land.<\/span><\/li><\/ol>

        Frequently asked questions<\/span><\/h2>

        Do days in transit count?<\/b> If you cleared immigration and entered India, that day counts. Airside transit without entering the country generally does not.<\/span><\/p>

        I was an NRI for 15 years and came back in 2025. Do I have to declare my foreign bank accounts now?<\/b> Not while you are RNOR. Schedule FA (foreign assets) and the Black Money Act apply to ordinarily residents. Use the RNOR years to decide what to keep abroad and what to bring back.<\/span><\/p>

        My employer says I’m an NRI because I have an NRE account. Is that enough?<\/b> No. Your bank applied the FEMA test when it opened the account. The Income-tax Act applies its own test every year based on your days and your income. The two can disagree.<\/span><\/p>

        Does the \u20b915 lakh test include NRE interest?<\/b> NRE interest is exempt for a non-resident, so it does not count towards the \u20b915 lakh. Rent, NRO interest, dividends and capital gains all do.<\/span><\/p>

        I crossed 182 days because of a medical emergency. Is there an exception?<\/b> No general exception exists in the law for medical stays. The only relief the CBDT has granted was for COVID-era stranded travellers in FY 2019-20. Plan the count assuming no relief.<\/span><\/p>

        Not sure which box you’re in this year?<\/span><\/h2>

        Residential status is the first line of every NRI’s return, and everything downstream depends on it: which form you file, whether your foreign income is disclosed, whether TDS on your Indian income was deducted at the right rate, and whether your bank has you on the right kind of account.<\/span><\/p>

        CA Chauhan & Co works with NRIs across the Gulf, UK, US, Canada, Singapore and Australia on exactly this: a residential-status assessment for the year, a plan for the RNOR window if you are returning, and the return itself, including belated returns for FY 2025-26 until 31 December 2026. The entire process runs remotely; no India visit is required.<\/span><\/p>

        Send us your travel dates and a summary of your Indian income on WhatsApp, and we will tell you where you stand.<\/b> [WhatsApp us] \u00b7 [Book a consultation]<\/span><\/p>

        This article is for general information as of August 2026 and is not a substitute for professional advice on your specific facts. Tax laws and their interpretation change; please confirm the position with a qualified professional before acting.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Free Financial Investments Consultation Free Financial Investments Consultation Every year, the same worried message lands in our inbox around June: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_canvas","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cachauhan.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}