Do I file in both India and Australia?
Usually yes, at least for the transition year. Emigrants face India's departure-year day count and Australia's arrival position; returning residents face the transitional window and Indian foreign-asset disclosure.
Which return do you prepare first?
Whichever one the credit depends on. Preparing them in the wrong order is the most common reason a credit is claimed in the wrong place, and it is also the most common reason a client ends up paying twice and reclaiming later.
Does the treaty mean I only file once?
No. A treaty allocates the tax; it does not consolidate the filing. Both obligations survive, and in some cases the treaty position itself has to be disclosed on a return before it can be relied on.
What about sub-national tax — states and provinces?
They set their own residency and sourcing rules and are not bound by the federal treaty in the same way. A position that is protected federally can still produce a state or provincial return, which is the single most common surprise in this corridor.
Can you work with my adviser in the other country?
That is how most corridor engagements run. They keep their side, we take ours and the interaction between the two, and the scope boundary is agreed in writing so nothing is duplicated or dropped.
What if I am behind in one country and current in the other?
That is the usual pattern. We map the unfiled years first and check which catch-up routes are open before anything is filed, because the route chosen for one year affects the relief available for the rest.
I moved to Australia, do I still file in India?
Usually yes, for as long as you have Indian income. Leaving changes the basis on which India taxes you rather than ending the relationship. A non-resident is taxed on Indian-sourced receipts, and tax is generally collected at source on those receipts before any exemption or treaty relief has been considered, so the Indian return becomes a reconciliation and often a refund claim rather than a payment. The year of departure is the awkward one, because your status for the whole Indian year turns on a day count that the move itself sits inside.
How do I count days for Indian residency?
By the record, not by memory. The Indian tests work on days physically present in the year, read together with presence in earlier years, so the answer for one year can depend on travel from several years before. We build the count from passport stamps, tickets and entry records rather than from a recollection of when you left, because the tests turn on the count being right at the margin. Where a departure falls near a boundary, the count decides whether the whole year is taxed on a resident or a non-resident basis, which is a far larger difference than the few days themselves suggest.
Will India tax my Australian superannuation?
It depends on your Indian status in the year the money is actually received, which is why the timing of a return to India matters more than the fund does. If the receipt falls in a year when you are non-resident, India is looking only at Indian-sourced income. If it falls after status has changed, the enquiry widens. Returning residents may also hold a transitional status for a period, which affects what foreign income comes into scope and what has to be disclosed. The right sequence is to fix the status year by year first, and then place the receipt.
Why do Indian and Australian tax years not line up?
Because neither of them is a calendar year and they do not begin at the same point. The Indian year runs from April to March, and the Australian one ends in the middle of the calendar year. A single salary, rent or distribution therefore sits inside one country's year and straddles two of the other's. Relief for tax paid in the other country is claimed against the income it relates to, so before anything can be computed the figures have to be restated onto the other calendar. We keep that mapping as a working paper, because it is the first thing a reviewer asks for.
Tax was deducted on my Indian rent, can I recover it?
Often, yes, through the return rather than from the tenant. India collects tax at source on most receipts paid to non-residents, and it does so before any exemption, deduction or treaty position has been taken into account, so the amount taken frequently exceeds the tax actually due on the letting. The way back is the Indian return: the rental result is computed properly, the tax already collected is set against it, and the excess is claimed. It is a reconciliation exercise, and it depends on holding the deduction certificates and matching them to the right Indian year.
What is the transitional status when returning to India?
It is a middle position between being non-resident and being fully resident, which a returning person can hold for a period after coming back. It matters because it affects how much foreign income India looks at, and because the obligation to disclose foreign assets, such as an Australian fund, an account or a property, arrives with it. The window is easy to miss, since people tend to think of themselves as resident from the day they land. We run the status year by year against the day counts and prepare the disclosure for the first year it applies.
What is a permanent establishment, and how easily do we create one?
A taxable presence in another country under the treaty — typically a fixed place of business such as an office, branch, factory or workshop, or a dependent agent habitually concluding contracts on your behalf. Some treaties add a services test measured in days. Purely preparatory or auxiliary activity is excluded, but that carve-out is narrower than it sounds: one senior employee working from home in the other country, with authority, has been enough. See business profits and permanent establishment.
Is double taxation illegal?
It is legal. Two countries can each have a valid claim on the same income — one because the income arose there, the other because you live there — and nothing prohibits both from exercising it. What exists instead is relief: tax treaties allocate the claim, and domestic law gives a credit for foreign tax paid. The relief is not automatic, though. It is claimed on a return, and unclaimed relief is simply lost. See how double taxation is relieved.
