Why are my RSUs taxed when I did not sell anything?
Because the taxing event is generally the vest, not the sale. When the restrictions lapse and the units settle into shares, you have received something of value, and the value at that moment is employment income even though the shares are still sitting in the account. The sale is a separate event later, measured against the value already taxed. This catches people out twice: once because tax is owed in a year with no cash, and again because the broker's statement shows a sale of shares to cover it, which looks like a second taxable transaction and is not.
I moved countries before my RSUs vested, who taxes them?
Both may. The award is generally taxed when it vests, but it was earned over the period running up to that date, and if that period spans a move, each country tends to claim the portion earned while you were working there. So the country you left can tax part of an amount that arrives after you have gone, and the country you have arrived in taxes the rest. The practical problem is that only one of them is likely to see any withholding, so one return shows a balance owing and the other an over-payment.
Do I still file where I used to work if I have left?
If part of the vested amount is sourced to that country, generally yes, and the filing is usually a non-resident one covering the year of vest rather than a full resident return. People assume the obligation ended with the move, and then a slip appears much later. Deal with it in the year it arises. Filing late in one country while a credit has already been claimed in the other means the credit claim has to be revisited too, and the years in which each is claimed then have to be reconciled by hand.
What value is my RSU income based on?
Generally the value of the shares on the day they vest and settle, not the value on the day they were granted and not the price you eventually sell at. The grant-date value is a plan figure and has no bearing on the employment income. Everything that happens to the share price after the vest date belongs in a different computation. Confusion here is common because plan statements and brokerage statements report different things, and it is worth setting the two side by side before either return is prepared.
Why did my broker sell some of my shares automatically?
Many plans settle a vest net of an amount withheld for tax, either by holding back units or by selling enough shares to fund it. That is a withholding mechanism rather than a decision you made, and the shares arriving in your account are already net of it. Two things follow. The amount treated as employment income is the full value that vested, not the net you received. And the shares sold to fund the withholding are a disposal in their own right, usually at close to the value just taxed, so they should produce very little further gain if reported correctly.
Does my employer's withholding cover what I actually owe?
Rarely, where a move is involved. Withholding is calculated by a payroll system in one country, on the assumption that the whole amount belongs there, and it does not know which months you spent working elsewhere. It may also be applied at a flat supplemental rate that bears no relation to your marginal position. Treat the withheld amount as a payment on account in one country only, and work out the real liability in each country from the sourced split. Waiting until both returns are prepared before spending the proceeds is sensible.
Is the sale of foreign property taxable where I live?
For a resident, yes — worldwide gains are taxable, and the gain is computed in your own currency, so the exchange rate at purchase and at sale changes the number even when the local-currency price did not move. The country where the property sits usually taxes it too, often with a withholding or clearance step before closing, and that tax becomes a credit. A principal residence relief may apply to a home abroad on the same terms as one at home. See principal residence and foreign property.
Do NRIs pay tax on money sent to India?
Sending your own funds to India is a transfer of capital, not income, so the remittance itself is not taxed. What is taxable is income the money then earns in India — interest, rent, capital gains — under the rules for the account type it sits in. Sending money out of India is the direction that needs certification before the bank will act. See NRE, NRO and FCNR accounts.
