Leaving India — becoming an NRI: what part of this actually needs a professional?
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: departure timing determines the status for the year, which determines whether foreign salary earned after leaving is taxable in India.
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.
What decides whether I am resident in India in the year I leave?
A day count, applied to the whole tax year rather than to the part of it you spent in India. There is no split year in law: you are either resident or non-resident for all of it, and the count of days present decides which. That is why the departure date matters so much. It is the one input you can still influence before you go, and it governs the treatment of everything that happens later in that year, including salary earned abroad after you have left.
Is my foreign salary taxable in India in the year I move abroad?
It depends on your residential status for that whole year, which the day count decides. If you remain resident for the year of departure, salary earned abroad after you leave can still fall into the Indian return. If you are non-resident for the year, generally it does not. This is the single largest consequence of the departure date, and it is usually worth far more than anything else in the year, so it is better settled before the flight than at the next filing.
Do I have to change my Indian bank accounts when I move abroad?
Yes. Resident accounts have to be redesignated once you cease to be resident under the exchange control rules; they do not simply carry on as they were. This is separate from your tax status, and it changes on departure on its own footing, so the two can be out of step for a period. Leaving accounts on their old designation is what later produces deduction at the wrong rate, refused remittances, and a record that describes you as someone you are no longer.
Does becoming an NRI take effect the moment I leave India?
Under the exchange control rules the change follows from your leaving for employment or for an indefinite stay abroad, and it takes effect on departure. Under the tax rules your status for the year is settled by the day count once the year has ended. So the honest answer is that you can be non-resident for one purpose and resident for the other over the same period. The two regimes run on their own rules, and both have to be dealt with on their own terms.
What should I do about my Indian investments before I leave?
The main work is records rather than transactions. Every folio, account and property record needs to carry the right status and usable contact and bank details after you go, because changing them once you are abroad is markedly harder. Where income will continue, such as rent, interest or dividends, the questions are how it will be deducted once you are non-resident and whether that deduction will exceed what you actually owe. Both are easier to arrange before departure than to correct afterwards.
Do I still have to file an Indian return after I leave India?
Often yes, for as long as Indian income continues. Rent, interest on Indian deposits and gains on Indian assets stay taxable in India whatever your residence, and they usually carry deduction at source at non-resident rates, which makes the return the place where the position is finally settled and any excess reclaimed. The year of departure itself almost always needs a return, because it is the year your status changes and the treatment of the whole year turns on it.
How does an NRI prove residence to get the treaty rate?
With a tax residency certificate issued by the country you are resident in, plus Form 10F giving the details the certificate does not carry, plus a PAN in the payer's records. The certificate has to cover the period of the payment, and the payer needs it before paying, not afterwards. Missing any of the three and the deductor is obliged to withhold at the domestic rate, which turns a rate reduction into a refund claim. See TRC against Form 10F.
What is TCS on foreign remittance?
Tax collected at source. When a resident individual remits money abroad under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme — or buys an overseas tour package — the bank or seller collects an amount of tax on top and deposits it against your PAN. It is not a cost and it is not a final tax: it appears in your annual tax statement and is set off against the tax on your return, with the excess refunded. The rates and the purposes they attach to have been amended repeatedly, so we confirm them for the remittance year. See LRS limits and TCS.
