I work in Dubai and pay no income tax there — does India tax my salary?
It depends on your residence in India, and on almost nothing else. Where the other country charges nothing on salary there is no foreign tax to credit and no treaty argument to have, so the whole answer sits in India's residency tests, which are day counts run on the year in question and on the years before it. If those tests make you resident in India for a year, your worldwide salary belongs on the Indian return for that year, whatever Dubai does with it. If they do not, Indian tax follows Indian-source income only. So the real work is a travel record accurate enough to survive being checked.
How many days can I spend in India before I become resident again?
There is no single number that answers this for everybody, which is why the question causes so much trouble. India's tests count days in the year and also look back over earlier years, and a different combination applies to people returning after a long spell abroad. We run the counts on your actual travel history rather than on a rule of thumb, then tell you what the coming year looks like and how much room is left in it. Keep passport stamps, boarding passes and entry records. A day count you cannot evidence is not a position, it is a hope.
Is there a foreign tax credit to claim if the UAE takes nothing?
No. A credit relieves foreign tax actually paid on the same income, so where no tax has been charged there is nothing to relieve and nothing to claim. Clients sometimes arrive with a credit claim already prepared and a residence position that was never tested; the claim fails and the residence question is still waiting to be answered. Treat the order as fixed. Establish where you are resident, identify the source of each item of income, and only then look at relief. In this corridor the first step usually settles the whole matter.
Do I pay Indian tax on interest on my deposits in India while abroad?
Interest from deposits held in India is Indian-source income, so India can tax it whatever your residence, and banks generally deduct before paying you. What changes with residence is the type of account you are entitled to hold, how the interest is treated, and whether the deduction is the end of the matter or a payment on account to be reconciled on a return. Tell the bank when your status changes. An account that was correct while you were resident and then stayed open unchanged is a common source of both wrong deductions and awkward correspondence.
What changes in the year I move back to India from the UAE?
The year of return is usually the year that costs money, because your status can change while your income has not. A period abroad can end with India treating you as resident for that whole year, which brings worldwide income into the Indian return, and people coming back after a long absence may have a transitional status that treats foreign income differently for a limited window. Which applies depends on the day counts and on how long you were away. Settle that before the move if you can, because the same income can fall inside or outside the Indian net depending on the date you land.
Does selling my flat in India while I live in Dubai change anything?
The gain is Indian-source because the property is in India, so India taxes it whether or not you are resident. What your residence changes is how the tax reaches the authority and what follows: sales by non-residents are generally settled with tax withheld at the transaction, and that is rarely the same as the tax finally due. The difference is recovered on an Indian return, not at the closing table. So prepare the paperwork before the sale, and keep the full cost history, because without it the gain is computed against you.
How is foreign tax credit claimed in India?
By furnishing Form 67 with proof of the foreign tax — the certificate or statement from the other country's authority or payer — and by relieving the income under the specific DTAA article rather than generally. The credit is limited to the Indian tax on that income, and it is computed source by source rather than in one pool. The deadline for furnishing Form 67 has been amended more than once, so we confirm it for the year rather than assume. See foreign tax credit in India.
What is the Liberalised Remittance Scheme?
The Reserve Bank of India framework under which a resident individual may remit up to an annual ceiling for permitted purposes — education, medical treatment, travel, maintenance of relatives, investment in shares or property abroad — with gifts and loans to non-residents inside the same ceiling. You declare the purpose to the bank on Form A2. The ceiling and the excluded purposes are set by the RBI and have changed more than once, so the figure to work from is the one current at the date of the transfer. See Form A2 and LRS remittances.
