Which country taxes my UK salary first if I live in India?
Employment income is generally taxed first where the duties are physically performed, so UK work is taxed in the UK at source. India then taxes you on your worldwide income as a resident and gives credit for the UK tax on that same income, which makes India the country that relieves rather than the country that goes first. The difficulty is almost never the principle. It is the arithmetic, because the two countries measure the same salary over different year-ends. Settle which UK months fall into which Indian year before anybody computes a credit.
What is a tax residency certificate and who issues mine?
It is a certificate from the revenue authority of the country you are resident in, confirming that residence for treaty purposes over a stated period. India's system also expects a self-declaration from the taxpayer alongside the certificate, giving details the certificate itself does not carry. Together they are what a payer relies on to apply a treaty rate instead of the domestic deduction rate. They cover a defined period, so they need renewing, and they need to be in the payer's hands before payment. Afterwards, the only route left is a refund claim.
The UK year and the Indian year do not match — how do I split income?
By apportioning the income itself, not by choosing whichever year is convenient. The UK year runs April to April and India's April to March, so the two overlap for most of their length and part company at the edges. Income is allocated to each country's year on the basis of when it arose or was received under that country's own rules, and the credit claim then has to match the year in which the other country taxed the same income. Most disputed credits in this corridor come from a mismatch at those edges rather than from any disagreement about the treaty itself.
I am UK resident with a flat in India — where is the rent taxed?
In India first, because rental income is taxed where the property is. India will generally tax the rent as income arising there, and where the tenant is required to deduct on payment you may find it collected before you see it. The UK then taxes the same rent as part of your worldwide income and gives credit for the Indian tax properly payable. Two things make this go wrong: claiming credit for more than India was entitled to, and computing the Indian rental profit on UK rules rather than India's, which allow different deductions.
Why was tax deducted in India when I already pay UK tax?
Because deduction at source is a collection mechanism, not a judgement about which country is entitled to the tax. An Indian payer deducts at the domestic rate unless it holds evidence letting it apply the treaty rate, and without your residency certificate and declaration its system has no basis to apply anything else. Once deducted, the money is recovered through an Indian return or credited on your UK return, depending on who was entitled to it. Neither route is quick, which is the argument for getting the documents to the payer before payment rather than after.
Do I have to file in both India and the UK every year?
Usually, for as long as you have income or assets in both, and the two obligations are independent of each other. Residence in one country does not switch off a source-based filing in the other, and a year in which nothing is owed after credit is still a year in which the return establishes that credit. Skipping the return on the side where the tax ends up at nil is the most common cause of a later problem, because the claim you want to make in the other country then has nothing to point at.
What is RNOR status?
Resident but not ordinarily resident — a transitional category in India between non-residence and full residence, reached on the day counts after returning from a period abroad. While it lasts, certain foreign income stays outside the Indian tax base, which makes the timing of a return to India worth planning rather than leaving to chance. It is temporary, and the window is set by the day-count rules. See RNOR status.
What is a DTAA?
Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement — India's name for a tax treaty. It does the same work as any treaty: allocates taxing rights between India and the other country, caps Indian withholding on payments abroad, and sets out whether relief comes by exemption or by credit. To use one you generally need a tax residency certificate from the other country, Form 10F, and a PAN in the deductor's records. See DTAA relief between India and Canada.
