RNOR window planner

A returning non-resident is usually resident but not ordinarily resident for a period, and foreign income stays outside the Indian net while that lasts. Enter your day counts and this names your status, the test that produced it, and the earliest year the window can shut.

India and the DTAA Updates as you type Nothing is sent anywhere

Your day counts

days

From 1 April to 31 March. Count the day of arrival and the day of departure.

days

The total across all four, not the average.

days

The total across all seven. This is the figure the second limb of the not-ordinarily-resident test turns on.

years

Count the years you met a residence test, not the years you visited.

days

One hundred and eighty-two days under the current section. Editable in case it moves.

days

Sixty days in the year, read with the four-year figure below.

days

Three hundred and sixty-five days across the four preceding years.

The section reduces the main test for certain Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin above an income threshold. Confirm the current threshold and day count before ticking.

days

Only used when the box above is ticked. Enter the figure your adviser confirms.

For an Indian citizen above an income threshold who is not liable to tax in any other country. Confirm the current wording before ticking.

Residential status

Decided by

Non-resident in nine of the ten preceding years Within the seven-year day limit
Earliest the window can close, in full resident years
Days short of the main test this year
Days over the main test this year
Days of headroom on the seven-year limb

Two questions, in order

Indian residence is decided first, and only then the ordinarily-resident question. You are resident for the year if you were in India for the main day count, or for the shorter count read together with the four-year figure. Miss both and you are non-resident, and nothing below matters.

Once resident, you are not ordinarily resident if either of two limbs holds: you were not resident in nine of the ten preceding years, or you were in India for no more than the day limit across the seven preceding years. Both limbs have to fail before worldwide income comes into the Indian net. That is why the window lasts for more than one year for most people coming home.

What the window is worth, and how to spend it

While it lasts, foreign income that is not derived from a business controlled in India stays outside the Indian charge. That is the period in which a returning family sells foreign assets, converts an overseas retirement pot, closes an overseas business or takes a deferred bonus — with one tax system to satisfy rather than two.

The window is finite and it never widens. The estimate in the readout is deliberately the earliest it can close: it assumes every year from here is a full resident year, which is the fastest the limbs can fail. Take a long trip abroad in one of those years and it lasts longer.

Worked example

A software engineer returns to Pune in October after eleven years in Toronto. She is in India for 200 days in the year of return, has been resident in none of the ten preceding years, and has spent about 500 days in India across the last seven on family visits.

  1. 200 days meets the main test, so she is resident for the year.
  2. She was resident in none of the ten preceding years, so the first limb holds and she is not ordinarily resident.
  3. Her seven-year total is under the day limit, so the second limb holds too. Both have to fail before the window shuts.

Push the resident-years figure up to nine and the first limb fails immediately; the seven-year total then carries the window on its own. That is what the two flags in the readout are showing you.

What this calculator assumes

  • The main day test, the alternative test and the two not-ordinarily-resident limbs follow the current section text and are prefilled from it. Every one of them is editable.
  • The reduced day test and the deemed residence rule both turn on an income threshold this calculator does not assert. Confirm the current figure before ticking either box.
  • The window estimate assumes every year from now is a full resident year of 365 days, which is the fastest the limbs can fail. A year spent largely abroad extends it.
  • Status is decided year by year on that year's facts. This is a projection, not a determination for a future year.

An estimate, not advice. This is an estimate built from what you typed, not advice on your file. Nothing here reads your documents, checks your treaty article or looks at the year you are actually in. Where the number matters, we agree a fixed fee in writing before any work starts.

Where these figures come from

Any figure prefilled in the panel above is stated with the year it belongs to and can be changed. Rates and thresholds move; a calculator that asks you for the current one stays right, and one that hides a guess does not.

Files that look like this one

Case study 1

The Year of Leaving India

The departure year carries a transition status with its own treatment of foreign income, and the position for the following years follows from how it is set. Getting the first year right saves arguing about the rest.

Read how this one runs
Case study 2

The Two-Year Window After Returning to India

Returning residents pass through a transitional status in which foreign income is largely outside the Indian net. The engagement establishes when the window opens and closes, and puts the transactions that benefit inside it.

Read how this one runs
Case study 3

One Employee in a State Nobody Had Registered In

A single person working from home can create payroll registration, withholding and sometimes an income tax filing for the company in that state. The review measures activity against each state's own threshold.

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Case study 4

Options Granted in India and Exercised Elsewhere

Where the grant, the vesting and the exercise happen in different countries, each may claim part of the same gain. Apportioning it across the period worked is what prevents the whole amount being taxed twice.

Read how this one runs
Case study 5

An IRS Notice for a Year the Client Believed Was Settled

Most notices are proposals rather than assessments, and they carry a response window that is shorter than it looks. The engagement reads what is actually being proposed, gathers the support, and replies inside the window with the position rather than a request for time.

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Case study 6

Green Card Kept, Moved to Canada — Both Returns Still Due

Holding a green card does not end the US filing obligation, and living in Canada starts a Canadian one. The engagement fixes residence under the treaty tie-breaker, then decides which return the relief is claimed on so the two do not contradict each other.

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Case study 7

Paying a Dividend Up to a Foreign Parent

The withholding rate depends on the treaty, on the size of the holding, and on whether the parent is the beneficial owner rather than a conduit. Establishing all three before the payment is what secures the lower rate at source.

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Case study 8

Getting Sale Proceeds Out of India

Repatriation runs on certification from an accountant and on the account the funds sit in, and the banking rules and the tax rules are separate gates. Both are cleared in sequence rather than together.

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All case studies — every published engagement in one place.

Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services

International Tax Planning & Advisory

Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.

One coordinating team: filings on every side of the border are sequenced so treaty relief and foreign tax credits are claimed once — and in the right country.

U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns

Dual filers: U.S. citizens in Canada and Canadians with U.S. income run two parallel systems — we prepare both, in the right order, every year.

Expat & Emigration Tax

The move year is its own project: the elections and valuations filed that year decide the next decade of both countries’ returns.

Non-Resident Canadian Tax

Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.

Transfer Pricing & BEPS

Documentation prepared with the return is the cheapest insurance in international tax; reconstructing it during an audit is the most expensive.

Cross-Border Estates & Trusts

Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.

Cross-Border Corporate Tax

Expansion raises the same four questions every time — entity, PE, repatriation, payroll. We answer them before the tax authorities do.

India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents

The deduction is taken on the sale price, not the gain — which is why an NRI property sale strands cash unless the certificate is applied for before closing.

Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element

Residency is decided on facts, not on a form — and the year you arrive or leave is the one where the largest amounts turn on the smallest details.

UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country

A zero-tax country is only half the answer — the question that decides the bill is whether the country you came from still treats you as resident.

Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
Professional Services Firms
Cross-Border Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Investment Funds & Holding Companies

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces

Cross-border tax for sellers shipping worldwide: marketplace withholding, foreign registrations and inventory nexus handled before they become audits.

Marketplaces withhold, remit and report in their own right, so the tax position of a single sale is decided by where the stock sat, where the buyer was and which platform collected — not by where the company is registered. We reconcile the platform's own filings against the returns before either is submitted.

  • Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
  • Marketplace withholding reviews
  • Inventory nexus & PE analysis
  • Multi-currency books reconciled
Explore E-commerce & Marketplaces

Technology & SaaS

  • Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
  • IP structuring with real substance
  • Equity for cross-border teams
  • U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Explore Technology & SaaS

Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers

  • Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
  • Customs value vs transfer price
  • Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
  • Country-by-country reporting
Explore Trade & Manufacturing

Athletes, Artists & Entertainers

  • Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
  • Multi-state & country calendars
  • Touring income allocation
  • Royalty & image-rights withholding
Explore Athletes & Entertainers

Remote Workers & Digital Nomads

  • Residency analysis before moving
  • Employer payroll exposure
  • Totalization & social security
  • Foreign tax credits
Explore Remote Workers

Investment Funds & Holding Companies

  • Treaty access & PPT reviews
  • FAPI & surplus computations
  • Withholding-efficient routing
  • Governance & substance
Explore Funds & Holdcos

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Frequently asked questions

While you are resident but not ordinarily resident, foreign income is outside the Indian charge unless it is derived from a business controlled in or a profession set up in India. Indian-source income is taxable throughout.
Until both limbs of the test fail: you have been resident in nine of the ten preceding years and you have spent more than the day limit in India across the seven preceding years. For most returning non-residents that is two or three years, sometimes longer.
Yes, because the day count for the year of return depends on the date. Returning after the main day test can no longer be met keeps you non-resident for that year and pushes the whole sequence back a year.
If you have Indian income or meet a filing trigger, yes. The status changes what is taxable, not whether a return is due.
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