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 are Form 15CA and Form 15CB?
They are the certification pair required before certain remittances leave India. Form 15CA is the remitter's declaration filed online; Form 15CB is the accountant's certificate supporting the tax treatment and the rate applied, including any treaty relief. Which combination you need depends on the nature and size of the payment, and banks will generally not process the remittance without them. See Form 15CA.
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.
