India ↔ United States — DTAA article by article: do I need an adviser, or can I do it alone?
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: articles allocate taxing rights and cap withholding on dividends, interest, royalties and technical services, with specific provisions for students and teachers.
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.
I am a US citizen living in India — does the treaty exempt my income?
Not in the way most people expect. The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, so an article that removes income from tax for a resident of India does not necessarily remove it for a US citizen who is resident there. The agreement has to be read alongside that, which is why the reconciliation happens through the credit rather than through exclusion, and why a position taken under an article often has to be disclosed on the US return. The order of work is to establish residence, apply the allocation article, then work out what remains taxable in the United States and what relieves it.
Does the treaty cap the Indian withholding on my dividends and interest?
The agreement caps withholding on several classes of passive income — dividends, interest, royalties and fees for technical services among them — but a cap applies only where the claimant qualifies and the paperwork reaches the payer before the payment is made. The caps differ by class of income, which makes characterisation the first question rather than the last: a payment described loosely in an invoice may fall into a different article from the one assumed. Where a deduction has already been made at the domestic rate, the excess is recovered through the Indian return rather than from the payer.
I teach in India on a US contract — is there a provision for that?
The agreement carries specific provisions for students and teachers, which is one of the few places it deals with a category of person rather than a category of income. Those provisions have their own conditions and their own limits, and they are commonly remembered as being broader than they are. Read the text against your actual arrangement — who pays, for what period, under what invitation and for what purpose — before relying on it. And remember the citizenship point: a provision that relieves tax for a resident does not necessarily relieve a US citizen, whose return still reports worldwide income.
Do I have to tell the IRS that I am relying on the treaty?
Treaty positions are disclosed where the rules require it, and that requirement is separate from whether the position itself is right. Disclosure exists so the position is visible on the return rather than buried inside a number, and taking a position quietly is what turns an arguable treatment into a problem later. The practical approach is to write the position down at the time it is taken: which article, which income, what facts it depends on, and what evidence supports them. That note then serves as the basis for the disclosure and, if the position is ever questioned, as the file.
Can I claim a foreign tax credit for the Indian tax I paid?
The credit is the mechanism left to reconcile worldwide taxation with income another country was entitled to tax, so yes in principle, and the difficulty sits in the detail. The credit depends on the income being treated as foreign source, on the Indian tax being of a kind that qualifies, and on the amount being the tax India was actually entitled to charge rather than whatever happened to be deducted. An over-deduction at source in India is recovered from India, not credited in the United States. Keep the Indian filing and assessment evidence, because that is what supports the figure claimed.
Which country taxes my Indian salary if I moved mid-year?
Start with residence for each part of the year under the treaty's tests, not with where the payroll happened to run. The employment article then allocates by reference to where the work was performed and the conditions attached to it, and the result applies to periods rather than to a whole calendar year. Citizenship sits over all of it for a US citizen, whose worldwide income stays reportable regardless of the allocation, with relief coming through the credit. Record the periods and the days contemporaneously; that evidence is what the apportionment rests on, and it is difficult to rebuild later.
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.
Is double taxation legal?
Yes. Nothing prevents two countries from taxing the same income under their own domestic law — each is exercising its own jurisdiction. What treaties and credit systems do is relieve the outcome rather than prohibit the charge, and relief is generally something you must claim on a return or a form, not something applied automatically. Miss the claim and the double charge stands. Double taxation explains the mechanism.
