Fixed fees agreed before work starts – 18,000+ clients served
At Legal Quotient Consultants, we manage all your resident director services — India requirements, from compliance to strategic planning. Our expert team ensures compliance, maximizes deductions, and optimizes your financial strategies so you can focus on growing your business. Low-cost Resident Director Services — India for Cross-Border & Global Clients with a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written quote today.
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Stay compliant and optimize your financial processes with our specialized resident director services — India services.
| Service | Includes | Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual Cross-Border Tax | T1 + treaty coordination · Foreign income · Credits | FROM- $349 | Explore More |
| U.S. Tax Returns | 1040 / 1040-NR · State returns · FBAR | FROM- $449 | Explore More |
| Corporate International Tax | T2 + foreign affiliate · T1134 · Repatriation | FROM- $999 | Explore More |
| Transfer Pricing Documentation | Local file · Benchmarking · s.247 compliance | FROM- $2,500 | Explore More |
| Cross-Border Estate & Trust | Terminal returns · U.S. estate tax · Clearance | FROM- $799 | Explore More |
Every company incorporated in India must have at least one director who has stayed in India for a minimum period during the financial year — a resident director in the statutory sense — and foreign-owned Indian companies meet the requirement either by relocating a director or by appointing one locally. The appointee holds a director identification number, carries the duties and liabilities of the Companies Act, and is the person the Registrar and the tax authorities address when filings are late: statutory audit, annual returns, board and shareholder meetings, and the tax withholding and goods-and-services-tax compliance that attach to officers.
A resident director engagement in India is therefore paired with the company's secretarial and tax compliance, because the two cannot be separated: the director signs what the compliance produces and is liable for what it misses. For a Canadian or American parent, the Indian subsidiary's transfer pricing on services billed to the parent, the withholding on payments abroad and the foreign-direct-investment reporting to the central bank are the filings that most often need the director's attention.
Can a foreign national be the resident director of our Indian company? Yes, if they meet the stay requirement in India during the financial year and hold a director identification number; the test is presence, not citizenship.
What happens if the resident director resigns and is not replaced? The company is in default of the Act from the day the requirement is unmet, with penalties on the company and its officers until a compliant appointment is made; the replacement is arranged before the resignation takes effect.
Resident Director Services — India: every Indian company, including a wholly-owned subsidiary of a foreign parent, must have at least one director who stayed in India for 182 days or more in the financial year (Companies Act 2013, section 149(3)). Legal Quotient Consultants arranges qualified resident directors and supports the appointment with proper governance, board records and compliance filings, at fixed fees agreed up front.
Send your documents securely through our portal or by email.
We prepare your resident director services — India return and every supporting schedule.
You review each figure and approve before anything is filed.
We file with the CRA and send you the confirmation of receipt.
| Factor | Legal Quotient Consultants | Typical Firm |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Fixed, flat fee | Hourly / unpredictable |
| Experience | 15+ years, 18,000+ clients | Varies |
| Helpline | 24 hours a day, +1 (416) 619-0068 | Office hours only |
| Where we work | Our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE | One office only |
| CRA audit support | Included | Billed extra |
India is the strictest of the three jurisdictions we support on this: section 149(3) of the Companies Act 2013 requires every company — there is no foreign-subsidiary exception — to have at least one director who has stayed in India for a total of 182 days or more during the financial year. The days need not be consecutive, and a foreign national who genuinely meets the day count can qualify; but for most foreign parents setting up an Indian subsidiary, the practical answer is appointing a professional resident director. Default attracts monetary penalties on the company and its officers that accrue for every day the position stays vacant.
The appointment has consequences beyond the register: the resident director sits on a real board, signs real filings, and India expects annual returns, board meetings and statutory registers to reflect it. And where the parent is Canadian or American, who directs the Indian company — and from where — feeds the residence and permanent-establishment analysis under the treaty. We provide the director arrangement together with that cross-border view, so the person satisfying the Companies Act is not quietly creating a tax problem under the treaty, at a fixed fee agreed before anything begins.
Covers: The whole year mapped by entity and jurisdiction, with an owner for every filing, lead times for documents that come from elsewhere, and the filings themselves.
What moves it up: Entity count and jurisdiction count, not turnover. Each entity brings its own year end, its own return and its own information reporting.
See this fee pageCovers: The Canadian corporate return with the cross-border schedules that travel with it — foreign income, payments to non-residents, and the foreign affiliate flags.
What moves it up: The number of related-party transactions. A single management fee is manageable; a dozen intercompany flows brings the related-party return and transfer-pricing support with it.
See this fee pageCovers: The foreign corporation's US return with the related-party information reporting, filed on time so deductions and treaty positions are preserved rather than argued for.
What moves it up: Dormancy is not a discount. A foreign-owned US entity with no activity still owes the information return, and the penalty for missing it does not scale with turnover.
See this fee pageProviding tailored resident director services — India services to ensure compliance and maximize deductions.
Our cross-border tax accountants protect your business with complete federal and provincial tax compliance.
A dedicated team that handles your financials quickly and accurately, at a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts.
Dedicated preparation processes built around the countries each client files in.
Documents, questions and signatures in one portal, whichever country you are filing from.
Customized packages designed to grow as your business operations expand.
Start with a free, no-obligation consultation to review your business’s financial, tax filing and compliance needs and outline our affordable solutions.
Receive a comprehensive checklist and securely provide the required financial records and documents.
Our tax accountant and accounting experts carefully prepare your filings, identify all applicable deductions and credits, and conduct thorough reviews.
We file your documents electronically with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on time and provide post-filing support.
Quoted up front, in writing.
Contact UsCA (India), CA (Malaysia)
CA (India)
FCA (India)
CPA (Canada), CPA (USA), CA (India)
CPA (Canada), CA (India)
Resident Director Services — India starts at a fixed fee quoted before any work begins. The quote is locked at the outset and does not change mid-engagement, and you review the deliverable with us before it is filed. Compare every plan on our transparent pricing page.
At minimum: prior-year returns and notices of assessment, your bank and credit-card statements for the fiscal period, payroll records if you have employees, and GST/HST filings. We send a checklist tailored to your situation after the first call to our 24-hour helpline.
Most engagements are completed within 3 to 5 business days once your documents are complete. Catch-up work covering multiple years takes longer, and we tell you the realistic timeline before you commit rather than after.
We respond on your behalf at no extra charge for any return we prepared. Every figure we file is supported by documentation retained in your file, which is what turns a CRA review from a crisis into correspondence. See how our CRA audit support works.
Yes. The late-filing penalty is 5% of the balance owing plus 1% of that balance for each full month the return is late, to a maximum of 12 months (CRA, 2025 tax year). Interest is what compounds, daily, on top. We prioritise catch-up work and, where eligible, file under the CRA's Voluntary Disclosures Program to reduce penalties.
Yes. We work with clients wherever they live, from our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE, and your location does not change the price or the service. Browse our coverage by country and region to find yours.
We work across construction, healthcare, e-commerce, professional services, restaurants, real estate, transportation, technology and non-profits, each with its own deduction profile and the points tax authorities scrutinise. See all industries we serve.
Software applies the rules you told it about. It does not ask whether a treaty caps the withholding on that payment, whether the foreign credit was claimed in the right country, whether an information return was due on an account that earned nothing, or whether your related-party pricing is documented. Those are the questions that move the number on a cross-border file.
Company law in India requires every company to have at least one director who has stayed in the country for a defined period in the recent past, which a wholly foreign-owned subsidiary with only overseas directors cannot satisfy on its own. The requirement applies regardless of how the company is actually managed day to day. We confirm the board composition needed at incorporation and keep it satisfied on an ongoing basis as directors change.
Residency for this specific director requirement is based on the number of days a person has actually stayed in India during the relevant period, which is a distinct test from residency for personal income tax purposes and from immigration status. A director can meet one test and not the other, which is a frequent source of confusion for a foreign parent company. We track the relevant stay calculation separately from any other residency question the individual may have.
No. A resident director is a board-level appointment satisfying a director-residency rule under company law, with the legal duties of a director, while a nominee shareholder holds shares on record for someone else entirely and has no board role at all. Confusing the two roles, or trying to use one to satisfy the other's requirement, does not meet either legal obligation. We keep the two functions separate and staffed by the appropriate person for each.
The resident director carries the same statutory duties as any other director under Indian company law, including responsibility for the company's regulatory filings and, in some circumstances, personal exposure where the company fails to meet its obligations, rather than serving as a title held only to satisfy the residency rule. The duties attach to the person, not just the position. We make sure the person filling this role understands the actual scope of what they are taking on before appointment.
The exemption is an Indian one, and it does not travel. Your new country of residence taxes worldwide income under its own rules, and several — the United States in particular — may treat the annual growth in a foreign retirement or savings plan as currently taxable and separately reportable, whether or not you withdrew anything. So an account that is genuinely tax-free in India can be a taxable, reportable asset where you now live. See Indian pensions received abroad.
It depends on the country, and a day count is only ever the start. Many use a threshold in a tax year, some also look at averages across several years, and some have no day test at all and decide on where your home and life are. Two countries can both conclude you are resident, which is what the treaty tie-breaker exists to settle. Counting days without checking the tie-breaker is how people end up filing as resident nowhere. See the residency tie-breaker.
Still have questions? View our FAQ page or contact us.
A Canadian parent was incorporating a subsidiary in India and had planned to staff the board entirely from head office. We set out the residency condition, the period over which it is measured, and the two realistic options: appoint an existing person who would genuinely be present, or recruit locally for the seat. The parent chose the second. The engagement produced a board composition that satisfied the requirement from incorporation, the registrations the new appointee needed before filing, and a calendar tied to the Indian financial year rather than the group's own.
A company discovered late in the year that its India-based director had travelled far more than expected and would not meet the presence test. Nothing could change days already gone. We established the actual position from the travel records, set out the consequences candidly, and worked through what could still be done for the year then running and the one following. The engagement produced a documented account of the shortfall, an appointment that restored compliance for the next period, and a tracking sheet the company now reviews at each board meeting.
A director resident in Canada was being paid for board service to an Indian company, and tax had been deducted in India without anyone agreeing who would handle the paperwork. We obtained the Indian deduction records, established the treaty basis on which relief was available, and matched the Indian amounts to the correct Canadian reporting period. The engagement produced a Canadian return claiming credit for the foreign tax deducted, the supporting certificates filed with it, and an instruction sheet for the company covering the deduction and reporting cycle.
After appointing a director in India, a foreign-incorporated company began holding most of its board discussions there while continuing to sign the minutes abroad. The parent asked whether that created an Indian residence exposure. We reviewed the board papers, meeting locations, correspondence and decision trail across a full year. The engagement produced a written analysis of where the key management and commercial decisions were being taken, a revised meeting protocol, and minute-taking instructions so that the record reflects the practice instead of contradicting it.
A group held an Indian company with no trading activity but continuing statutory obligations, including the residency condition on its board, and the director holding the seat wanted to resign. We mapped the annual filings the entity owed regardless of activity, arranged a replacement appointment with the registrations in place beforehand, and filed the change. The engagement produced an unbroken board position, the year's statutory filings made on time, and a written schedule the group can run against without reopening the question every year.
A resident director resigned partway through the Indian financial year, leaving a gap on a board that had to carry one, and the replacement's registrations had not been started. We sequenced the work so that the identification number, the tax account and the digital signature were all in hand before the resignation took effect, and drafted the resolutions and filings for both changes together. The engagement produced a continuous board, registry records that match the minute book, and a note of the presence test now running against the incoming appointee.
An Indian entity with international related-party transactions needs an accountant's report filed by a date of its own, ahead of the return. The work is reconciling the transactions to the books first, because the report is only as defensible as that reconciliation.
Read how this one runsWithholding on a sale by a non-resident is applied to the sale value rather than to the gain, so it routinely exceeds the tax due. A lower-deduction certificate obtained before completion avoids locking the difference up until a return is assessed.
Read how this one runsAll case studies — every published engagement in one place.
Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.
Holding structures live or die on treaty access, beneficial ownership and substance — the MLI's principal-purpose test now sits over every arrangement.
A holding structure is only as good as its reporting. Foreign affiliates, accrued passive income and distributions each carry their own return, and the penalties on those attach to the form rather than to any tax being owed — so a structure that saves tax can still cost money if the information returns are late.
Where our partners studied — CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), AICPA, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.
