What period does an Indian tax return actually cover?
India's tax year runs from April to March, so an Indian return never lines up with a Canadian or United States calendar-year return. Income has to be allocated to the Indian year it falls in, which for anyone filing in both countries means one set of receipts is always split across two returns on the other side. Doing that properly at the outset is what allows the credit position between the two countries to be worked out later. Doing it roughly is what makes two returns tell different stories about the same income.
How do I verify my Indian return from Canada?
Verification is an electronic step, and it is separate from submitting the return. A return that has been filed but never verified is treated as though it was not filed, which is the failure that catches most people filing from abroad for the first time. Check that verification has actually completed rather than assuming the submission confirmation covers it. Documents can be exchanged and signed through secure cloud software, so the practical difficulty is usually knowing that the step exists, not carrying it out.
Why has my Indian refund not been paid out?
The most frequent reason is the bank account nominated for it. A refund is paid into an Indian account that has been pre-validated and that stands in the filer's own name, so an account held jointly, held by a relative, or never validated will stop the payment even where the return is accepted and the refund agreed. The return is not the problem in these cases; the payment instruction is. Nominating an account in your own name and completing its validation is usually all that is needed.
Can my Indian refund go into my father's account?
No. The account has to stand in the filer's own name and be pre-validated before a refund can be paid into it. Families often keep one Indian account running for everything once the others have moved abroad, and it is the natural place to send the money, but a refund will not follow it. Where you have closed your own Indian accounts, opening or validating one in your own name is part of the work of claiming rather than an afterthought to it.
Do I need to file in India if tax was already deducted?
Often yes, and usually to your advantage. Deduction at source is applied without regard to the deductions, exemptions and treaty positions that determine what you actually owe, so it routinely exceeds the final liability. Filing is the only mechanism that reconciles the two and turns the excess into a refund. There is also the reconciliation side of it: the department holds its own information statement of what was reported about you, and the return is where your figures are set against that.
Why does the department already have my Indian interest figures?
Because Indian payers report what they pay and what they deduct, and the department compiles it into an information statement for each taxpayer. A return filed from abroad is reconciled against that statement, so an amount omitted by the filer but present in the statement shows up immediately. The practical consequence is to start from the statement rather than from memory or from a drawer of bank letters. Where something is in the statement and not in the return, that difference is what gets asked about.
What is Schedule FA and who has to complete it?
It is the foreign asset disclosure in an Indian return, and the trigger is residential status rather than income: a resident discloses foreign bank accounts, custodial and equity holdings, foreign life insurance with a cash value, immovable property and other assets held at any time in the year, plus any beneficial interest. A non-resident does not. The obligation is disclosure-based, so it applies to an account that earned nothing, and the penalties under the black-money legislation are what make it worth getting right. See Schedule FA reporting.
Can an NRI claim back TDS deducted on Indian income?
Yes, by filing an Indian return for the year. Withholding on rent, interest, dividends, professional fees or a property sale is an advance payment, not a final tax, so where the actual liability is lower — because of the treaty, because of the basic exemption, or because the deduction was computed on gross proceeds rather than gain — the excess comes back as a refund. It needs your PAN, a validated Indian bank account and the deductor's statement filed. See Indian filing and credit claims.
