Where do I start if I want to move my own money out of India?
With two separate questions, kept apart. The first is a tax question: is this sum chargeable in India, and on what basis. The second is an exchange-control question: may this particular account send this money at all. People usually begin with the bank, discover the account is the obstacle, and then find the tax position has to be built from scratch anyway. Start instead by identifying which account the funds sit in and how they got there, because that decides the annual limit and the documentation, and then settle the tax characterisation of the sum.
Which account should the money be in before I try to transfer it?
That is the first thing to establish, not the last. Different account types carry different limits and different documentary requirements, and the account the money happens to be in may not be the one that can send it. Before anything is filed, confirm what the account is, when it was opened, and how each significant credit reached it. If funds need to move between accounts first, that step has its own evidence and should be done deliberately rather than at the counter. Getting this wrong is the most common reason a transfer stalls late.
How do I work out how much I am allowed to send in a year?
The limit follows the account and the source of the funds rather than being one figure that applies to everyone. So the sequence is: identify the account, establish how the money came into it, and then read the entitlement that attaches to that combination. Where the money came from can matter as much as where it sits — funds representing the proceeds of an asset, accumulated income and inherited sums are not all treated alike. Settle the account and the source first, and the entitlement question becomes answerable rather than a guess.
Does it matter how the money got into my Indian account?
It matters more than almost anything else in the exercise. The bank and any later review will read the account history, and a credit with no explanation is the thing that stops a transfer. So the early work is tracing: identifying each significant credit, and matching it to a sale, a maturity, an inheritance or income that was returned. Do this before you approach the bank. A history that has already been reconciled and evidenced turns the transfer into a documentation exercise, whereas an unexplained credit found at the counter turns it into an investigation.
What should I have in hand before I approach the bank?
A settled view of what the sum is, and the documents that prove it. The declaration the bank receives describes the payment, so its characterisation has to be decided before anything can be drafted, and the certificate supporting it rests on primary records rather than on assertion. That means the sale deed or the succession papers, the record of any tax deducted at source, and whatever fixes the cost or the origin of the asset. Gather those first. Arriving with a complete file turns the meeting into a check of documents; arriving without one turns it into a sequence of requests, each taking as long as the last.
How far ahead of the transfer should I start preparing?
Far enough ahead that nothing has to be obtained in a hurry. The long pole is almost never the drafting; it is retrieving old purchase documents, succession papers or deduction certificates from institutions that hold them, and reconciling an account history that nobody has looked at in years. Start when the transfer becomes likely rather than when it becomes urgent. Where a lower-deduction authorisation is in prospect, that has to be sequenced ahead of the payment, because it cannot be applied retrospectively to money that has already been withheld.
Does a remote employee create a permanent establishment?
It can. One employee working from home in another country may be enough where the arrangement gives the company a fixed place at its disposal, or where that person habitually concludes contracts. Seniority and function matter more than headcount: a salesperson closing deals is a far greater risk than a developer. The exposure is corporate tax and payroll registration in that country, which is why it is worth testing before the hire rather than after. See PE risk review.
What is RNOR status and why does it matter to a returning NRI?
Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident is a transitional Indian status that can apply for a limited period after you return, based on how long you were non-resident before. While it lasts, certain foreign income stays outside the Indian net that would be taxed once you become an ordinary resident — which makes the timing of a return date, and of realising foreign gains, a genuine planning decision rather than an administrative one. See the RNOR window.
