I moved to Canada this year, so does India tax my salary?
It depends on where you were resident when the salary was earned, and the year of the move is precisely where the general answer breaks down. Part of the year you were in one system and part of it in the other, and India's year runs April to March while Canada's runs to December, so the two split points rarely coincide. The practical work is to fix the residence position in each country, allocate the salary across the split, and make sure the same slice is not treated as fully taxable twice. Do it once, in writing, and both returns follow.
My salary is paid into my Indian bank account, is it taxable there?
Where the money lands is a different question from where the income arose, though the two are constantly confused. What matters is where the work was done and where you were resident while doing it. A credit into an Indian account can still cause trouble, because the bank's records, and any deduction that follows from them, are driven by how the account is designated rather than by the analysis. Expect to explain the arrangement, and expect to correct the account designation as well if you have moved and the records still say otherwise.
Do I report my Canadian salary on an Indian return as well?
If you are resident in India for the year in question, Indian reporting reaches beyond Indian income and the salary has to appear even though Canada has already taxed it. Reporting is not the same as paying twice; relief comes through the credit mechanism once both sides are computed. If you are not resident in India for that year, the salary is not what brings you into the Indian system, although rent or deposit interest may do so on their own. Settle the residence question first, because every other answer moves with it.
How do the Indian and Canadian tax years line up for salary?
They do not, and it is a practical problem rather than a technicality. India runs April to March; Canada runs the calendar year. A single month's pay therefore sits inside one Indian year and one Canadian year that only partly overlap, so any credit claim means splitting the payroll records and rebuilding them on the other calendar. Keep monthly payslips rather than annual summaries. An annual figure from one country can never be dropped straight onto the other country's return, and attempting it is the most common reason a claim gets queried.
Do I have to keep filing in India after I move to Canada?
Often, though not because of the salary. What keeps people in the Indian system after a move is what they left behind: rent from a flat, interest on deposits, a gain on a sale. Tax will have been collected on most of that at source before any exemption was weighed, so the Indian return becomes the place where the position is reconciled and the excess claimed back. Once those sources close, or the deductions match the liability, the obligation may fall away. Until then, filing is how you get your own money back.
Which country taxes my salary first when I work in both?
The country where the work was physically carried out normally has the first claim, with the country you are resident in taxing the same income and giving relief for what the other took. The order matters, because the relief is only ever as good as the evidence of the first tax. Payslips, deduction certificates and proof of the days spent in each place are what support it. Where the days sit close to the line, keep a contemporaneous record; a diary written at the time carries far more weight than one assembled at filing.
Is money received in India from abroad taxable?
Receiving your own money is not income, and a gift from a specified relative is exempt however large. Two things do bite. A gift from someone outside that relative list is taxable to the recipient once the year's receipts pass the threshold in the gift provisions. And money that is really payment for something — fees, rent, interest, a share of profit — is taxed as that income whatever the bank narration says. The paperwork should match the substance. See gifting money to family in India.
How does a remittance actually work, and is it taxed?
A remittance is a transfer of money, not a category of income, and moving your own funds between your own accounts is not what creates tax. What can create tax is the income behind the money and the rules of the country it leaves. India, for instance, collects tax at source when a resident individual remits abroad under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, and requires certification before certain payments leave. The transfer is the trigger for paperwork rather than for tax. See the LRS and tax collected at source.
