I moved back to India this year — what do I actually have to file?
Start by separating three things, because returning starts three clocks at once. The first is residency, which is decided by day-count tests applied to the tax year of your arrival. The second is the transitional status, which limits what foreign income India taxes for a period. The third is foreign-asset disclosure, which applies from the first year of full residency. Your filing set is whatever those three conclusions require, in that order: establish the status for the arrival year, then report the income India taxes on that footing, then disclose foreign holdings from the year the obligation begins.
Do I have to declare foreign assets on my first Indian return?
Foreign-asset disclosure applies from the first year of full residency, so whether your first return carries it depends on which status that year falls into. That is the conclusion to reach before drafting anything. Once the year is identified, the schedule needs every foreign holding for that year: bank accounts, investments, employer retirement plans, property interests and anything held jointly with a spouse or a parent. Ownership is attributed on the documents rather than on who uses the account. Assembling it while the statements are current is far easier than reconstructing it in a later year.
Is there a minimum value before a foreign asset has to be disclosed?
No. Foreign-asset disclosure applies with no value threshold at all, which surprises almost everyone who has filed in a country that sets one. A dormant account with a trivial balance, a small holding left with a former employer's plan, an old joint account with a parent abroad: each belongs on the schedule once the obligation applies to the year. In practice this is where the real work sits, because the small and forgotten holdings are the ones nobody lists. The reliable method is an inventory built from statements rather than from memory.
Does the number of days I spend in India decide my residency?
Residency is determined by day-count tests, so yes, the count of days is what decides it, applied to the tax year rather than to a rolling period. Two things follow. The first is that the tests can be planned around, because the arrival date is often the most movable item in a move and the count on either side of it can differ materially. The second is that the count must be evidenced rather than estimated: passports, immigration records and travel documents are what support the conclusion the return states. Keep them for the years in question.
My foreign employer still pays me — where does that income go?
Whether India taxes it turns on the status of the year in which it is earned, because the transitional status limits what foreign income India taxes for a period. So the income is mapped after the status is settled, never before. Where the same income is also taxed in the country paying it, the relevant treaty decides which country has the first claim and which is asked to relieve. That makes the order of work matter: the Indian position is established, then the two filings are reconciled so both describe one set of facts rather than two.
What do I file for the year I actually arrived in India?
The arrival year is the one most often filed wrongly, because it straddles two footings. The return has to state a residency conclusion for the whole tax year, reached on the day-count tests, then report income on the footing that conclusion produces, then carry the foreign-asset disclosure if that year is the first year of full residency. Work it in that sequence and it is one return. Work it by copying whatever was filed abroad and adding Indian income, and the status, the income mapping and the disclosure year can each end up wrong together.
I work remotely from another country for a company back home — who taxes me?
Usually the country you are physically in, because employment income is generally sourced where the work is done, with your residence country taxing it as well if you are resident there and giving credit. Three things follow: your employer may acquire withholding and social security obligations where you sit, a treaty tie-breaker may be needed if both countries call you resident, and a short trip that becomes a long stay can cross a residence threshold nobody was watching. See remote workers and digital nomads.
Is the foreign tax credit refundable?
No. It reduces your tax to nil at most; it never pays out beyond that. Where foreign tax exceeds the credit you are allowed, the excess is generally carried back or forward within its own category rather than refunded — so a high-tax year abroad can leave a balance you use in a later year. Tracking those balances matters, because an unused carryforward can expire. Our carryforward tracker keeps the running position.
