Residency planning — can I handle this myself?
Some of it, yes — and we will say so on the call if that is the honest answer. The parts that are worth paying for are the ones where a missed election, a missed deadline or an unverified threshold costs more than the fee: ties, day-counts and treaty tie-breakers determine the outcome, and the transition year carries cost-base resets and prorated credits.
What if I have already filed and got it wrong?
That is a common starting point. We re-derive the position, identify whether an amendment or a disclosure route is the right vehicle, and tell you which one preserves the relief that is still available. The order matters more than the speed.
How long will it take?
It depends on the documents rather than on us. Once the pack is complete most filings turn around inside a fortnight; anything that needs a certificate from a tax authority runs on that authority's timetable, which we tell you at the start rather than at the end.
Can two countries both treat me as a resident in the same year?
Yes, and it is common. Each country applies its own domestic test, and both can be met at once, one counting days while the other looks at where your home and family are. Where a treaty exists between the two, it supplies a tie-breaker that runs in sequence through permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode and finally nationality, stopping at the first test that separates them. You do not choose the answer. You evidence the facts that decide it, which is why the work belongs before the year closes rather than in correspondence afterwards.
How do I prove I actually cut ties when I left?
With dated documents rather than a statement of intention. The usual file is the sale or letting of the home, the closure or redesignation of bank and investment accounts, the surrender of a health card or licence, removal from professional registers, and evidence that a spouse and dependent children moved too. Keep the dates, because both the domestic tests and the treaty tie-breaker turn on when a tie ended, not merely that it ended. Ties kept deliberately are not fatal, but they should be ones you can explain. A property under a long lease to a stranger reads very differently from one kept available for your own use.
Does the date I move affect how my income is taxed?
It affects almost everything in that year. The transition year is split, with one part assessed on worldwide income and the other on a narrower basis. Personal credits are commonly prorated by the length of the resident period, so moving early or late in the year changes what you receive. The cost base of property you hold can reset on arrival, fixing the starting point for every later gain. And income that straddles the move, such as a bonus, a share vesting or a distribution, can fall either side depending on the day. Choosing the date deliberately costs far less than explaining it later.
Should I sell my shares before or after I move abroad?
That is a question about two tax systems at once. A departure can bring a deemed disposal, so the gain is measured whether or not you actually sell. An arrival can reset the cost base, so gains accrued before you came generally fall outside the new country's reach. Sell on the wrong side of the date and you can be taxed in both places, or taxed in the country with the higher rate when the other would not have charged the gain at all. Model the disposal against the intended move date before you instruct a broker, and keep the valuation evidence that supports whichever side it lands on.
My bank wants me to certify my tax residence — what do I put?
Put what the facts support, and make sure it matches what your returns say. Financial institutions collect residence declarations for automatic exchange of information, and the declaration is reported to the tax authority of the country you name. Certifying one country to a bank while filing as a resident of another creates a contradiction inside someone else's records, and it tends to surface as a query years later, when the evidence is harder to assemble. If you are genuinely resident in two places under domestic law, that is a treaty question. Reason it through and write it down before completing the form.
Is residency about where I live or how many days I spend there?
Both, and the order matters. Most systems carry a factual test built on ties, meaning where your home is, where a spouse and children live and where your economic life is centred, alongside a mechanical day count that can apply regardless of those ties. A person can fall outside the factual test and still be caught by the count, or spend very little time in a country and still be resident because the ties never ended. Days are the part clients measure. Ties are the part that decides most disputed cases. Measure both, in both countries, before assuming the shorter stay is the safe one.
What is RNOR status and why does it matter to a returning NRI?
Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident is a transitional Indian status that can apply for a limited period after you return, based on how long you were non-resident before. While it lasts, certain foreign income stays outside the Indian net that would be taxed once you become an ordinary resident — which makes the timing of a return date, and of realising foreign gains, a genuine planning decision rather than an administrative one. See the RNOR window.
What is the US exit tax and who actually pays it?
How much it is depends on your unrealised gains rather than on a rate, because it is the expatriation regime rather than a fee. A citizen who gives up citizenship, or a long-term permanent resident whose status ends, is tested against three conditions; meet any one and you are a covered expatriate, treated as having sold your worldwide assets the day before you left, with an exclusion for a slice of the resulting net gain — $890,000 for 2025. Deferred compensation, retirement accounts and interests in trusts are handled under separate rules rather than the deemed sale. Form 8854 reports it. See Form 8854.
