Do I have to file at home while living in India?
It depends on residence, not on address — except for US citizens and green-card holders, for whom the answer is yes regardless of where they live. We settle the residence question first, because every other answer follows from it.
Is there a treaty between my country and India?
Possibly, and the version in force for your year is the one that matters — protocols and multilateral-instrument positions change what a treaty does without changing its name. We check it against the authority rather than a summary. Where no treaty applies, domestic relief takes over.
I own property in India. Where is the rent taxed?
In India, because that is where the property sits. The complication is the base: gross-rent withholding takes no account of mortgage interest, tax or repairs, so a leveraged property can face tax on turnover. An election onto net profit, where it exists, is what fixes that — and it has its own timing.
Why was tax deducted on my Indian interest before any exemption?
Because India collects on most non-resident receipts at the point of payment, before anyone considers whether an exemption, a treaty rate or a lower effective rate applies. The payer deducts on the gross amount and remits it; your entitlement to a reduction is asserted afterwards, by you, on a return. That is why an Indian filing for a non-resident is usually a reconciliation and refund exercise rather than a payment exercise. It also means doing nothing has a price: if no return is filed, the deduction simply stands as the final outcome and any excess collected stays collected.
India's tax year runs April to March, how does my Canadian return work?
The two calendars do not line up, so the work is a mapping exercise. Your home return reports income for the calendar year, while the Indian year straddles two of them, and the Indian assessment that finally fixes the tax often arrives after the home return is due. The practical consequence is sequencing. Foreign tax credit is claimed against the home tax on the same income, so if you claim against a deduction that India later refunds in part, the credit has been overstated and needs correcting. Keep a schedule that ties each Indian receipt and deduction to the home period it belongs in.
I am moving back to India, when is my foreign income taxed there?
Not necessarily from the day you land. India has run a transitional residency status for people returning after a long period abroad, under which some foreign income sits outside the Indian charge for a limited window fixed by the year of return. The window is set by your arrival, not by choice, so the first task is to establish the date and status on evidence — travel records, immigration stamps and employment dates — and then plan around what the window actually covers. Restructuring foreign holdings before that is settled is the common and expensive mistake, because it cannot usually be undone afterwards.
Do I need to file in India if tax was already deducted?
Often yes, and it is usually in your interest. Deduction at source is collection, not assessment: it is taken on the gross receipt before exemptions, treaty entitlements and the actual computation of what you owe. The return is where the real liability is worked out and any excess is reclaimed. There is a second reason. Your home country will give credit for Indian tax you have genuinely borne, and the Indian assessment is what evidences that figure. Without the filing you have a deduction you cannot fully reclaim in India and may struggle to support at home.
I inherited a flat in India, does that create an Indian filing?
Inheriting it is one question; what the property then does is another. Once it is yours, the income it produces is yours to report, and a tenant or a bank paying you will generally deduct at source on the way. If the estate itself received income before the transfer, that belongs in a different return from yours, so the date ownership actually passed matters. Get the succession documents and the transfer date in order early. They set the cost history you will need if the property is ever sold, and reconstructing that decades later from missing papers is the hardest part of these files.
How do I claim credit at home for Indian tax deducted at source?
By evidencing what India finally kept, not what was first deducted. Credit is given for foreign tax properly payable on the income, so a deduction that you later reclaim on an Indian return was never your tax and cannot support a credit. Prepare the Indian filing first where the timing allows, so the home claim rests on the assessed position rather than on a deduction slip. Where the home return falls due before the Indian assessment arrives, file on the figure the evidence supports and correct it once the assessment issues. That correction is ordinary practice, not an admission of error.
What is a foreign tax credit?
A credit against your home-country tax for income tax you already paid to another country on the same income, so the same amount is not taxed twice at full rates. It is capped: you cannot credit more than your home country would have charged on that income, which is why a higher foreign rate leaves an unused balance rather than a refund. In the US it is claimed on Form 1116, in Canada on the T2209 and T2036, in India on Form 67. See Form 1116.
How do I claim the foreign tax credit?
You report the foreign income, the foreign tax paid on it and the category it falls into, then compute the limit — the credit cannot exceed your own country's tax on that same income. You need evidence the foreign tax was actually paid or accrued, not merely withheld on paper. The form differs by country: Form 1116 in the US, T2209 and T2036 in Canada, Form 67 in India, and the Indian form must be filed before the return. See Form 1116.
