Local resident director services in India — 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: the engagement confirms the requirement as it stands for the current financial year, arranges a qualifying resident director under a written agreement with due diligence on both sides, and completes the registrations and filings that make the appointment effective.
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.
Does my Indian company need a director who is resident in India?
An Indian company is required to have a director who has stayed in India for the qualifying period, so for most foreign-owned structures this is not optional and it is not something to solve after incorporation. The requirement is stated in terms of days of stay, so it is satisfied by a person's actual presence rather than by their nationality or by a declaration. We confirm how the requirement stands for the current financial year before recommending anybody, because the point of the appointment is that it holds up when somebody checks it.
What is a director identification number and does our director need one?
It is the identifier an individual must hold before they can be appointed a director of an Indian company, and it attaches to the person rather than to any one company. Obtaining it is a registration in its own right, with identity and address documentation behind it, and it has to be in place before the appointment can be made effective. Founders are often surprised that this sits on the critical path. We treat it as the first item in the sequence rather than as paperwork that can catch up later.
Can we appoint a nominee director we have never actually met?
We would not arrange one on that basis. A director of an Indian company is an officer with duties owed to the company and with personal responsibilities that follow the office, not the fee. Anybody willing to accept that without diligence on who they are acting for is not a person you want on your board, and the reverse is equally true. We run diligence in both directions, document the scope, the indemnity and the exit before anything is signed, and decline arrangements where the parties will not put their terms in writing.
Our resident director wants to resign — what does the company have to do?
Plan the replacement before you accept the resignation. The company's obligation to have a qualifying resident director does not pause while you look, so the sequence matters: identify and clear the incoming director, get their identification number in place, appoint, then take the resignation, then file. Done in the other order you have a period where the board does not meet the requirement and a public record that says so. The services agreement should already set out the notice the outgoing director must give, which is one reason it is worth writing properly.
Does an Indian resident director affect where our group is taxed?
It can, which is why the appointment is planned with the tax position rather than separately from it. Who manages a company, and from where, feeds the residency conclusion, and residency in turn drives what the company is taxed on and how payments out of it are withheld. A director who genuinely takes decisions moves those facts. A director who is described as taking decisions but does not creates a mismatch between the documents and the reality, which is worse than either. We look at both together before the appointment is made.
What filings follow once a director has been appointed in India?
The appointment is not complete when the person agrees. Their consent has to be obtained and held, the company's register of directors updated, and the registrations that record who the company's officers are brought current, so that the public record matches the board that actually exists. Those obligations then recur while the appointment lasts. We set out who is responsible for each one in the engagement, because the common failure is not a refusal to file but an assumption on both sides that the other party was doing it.
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.
What are Form 15CA and Form 15CB?
They are the certification pair required before certain remittances leave India. Form 15CA is the remitter's declaration filed online; Form 15CB is the accountant's certificate supporting the tax treatment and the rate applied, including any treaty relief. Which combination you need depends on the nature and size of the payment, and banks will generally not process the remittance without them. See Form 15CA.
