How many days in India make me a tax resident?
India applies two tests, and meeting either one makes a person resident for the whole Indian year. The first is a count of days present in the year itself. The second pairs a shorter stay in the year with presence in India across the preceding years, which is why somebody comfortable about the current year's travel can still be caught by it. Two further sets of rules sit on top of those: one for Indians leaving India for employment, one for visits by people of Indian origin. So the answer for any given year comes out of a count rather than a rule of thumb, and the count has to reach back into earlier years as well as the current one.
Does a long visit home change my Indian residency for the whole year?
There is no part year status under these tests. Residency is decided for the Indian year as a whole, so a stay that tips either test changes the treatment of the entire year, including the months before arrival and after departure. That is the trap in an extended family visit. A trip taken for reasons that have nothing to do with tax, and then extended by a few weeks because of an illness at home, can move a whole year of foreign income into charge. It is also the reason the day count is kept as the travel happens rather than reconstructed at the year end, by which point the decision has been made for you.
I left India for a job abroad mid-year, am I still resident?
Somebody leaving India to take up employment abroad is dealt with under a rule of its own rather than the ordinary count, so the departure year often turns on the character of the departure and the evidence for the employment, not only on the number of days. In practice that means the position has to be supportable from documents: an employment contract, a start date, the work permit or visa relied on, and a departure date consistent with all of them. Where the departure was to look for work rather than to begin it, the ordinary tests apply instead, and the year frequently comes out differently from what the traveller assumed.
Are the residency rules different for NRIs visiting family in India?
Visits to India by people of Indian origin are dealt with under rules of their own, which is why a visiting NRI and a foreign national on an identical itinerary can finish the year in different positions. Those rules bear on the second test, the one that pairs a shorter stay in the year with presence in earlier years, so the length of past visits matters as much as this year's. The first question to answer is therefore not how long am I here, but how long have I been here across the recent years, because that is what decides which of the two tests is capable of biting.
What records prove how many days I spent in India?
Immigration stamps in the passport are the usual starting point, supported by boarding passes, airline records and the tickets themselves. The weakness of stamps alone is that they are sometimes missing, faint or on a passport that has since been replaced, and a count with a gap in it is not a count. A contemporaneous log solves this easily: arrival and departure dates entered as each trip happens, with the travel document reference against each entry. Where the record has to be rebuilt after the event, expect to use several sources together and to note in writing which days rest on inference rather than on a document.
Can I be resident in both India and another country in one year?
Yes. Each country decides residency under its own law, so one year of travel can satisfy two countries' tests at the same time. Where that happens, a treaty between the two countries may decide which of them treats the person as resident for treaty purposes, using tie breaker criteria rather than a day count. That does not by itself switch off the other country's domestic obligations, and it is not automatic: the position has to be worked out, filed consistently in both places and kept supportable. The day count is still the starting point, because a treaty argument built on a disputed count will not survive examination in either country.
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.
How is tax residency decided?
By facts, not by citizenship or the address on your post. Canada weighs your ties — a home available to you, spouse, dependants, then secondary ties like accounts and licences. The US adds a mechanical day-count test alongside its green-card test. India counts days present under its own thresholds. Where two countries both conclude you are resident, the treaty tie-breaker decides one residence: permanent home, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality. See tax residency.
