India repatriation limit planner
Check headroom under the annual remittance limit and the forms the bank needs.
Open itA 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.
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.
- 200 days meets the main test, so she is resident for the year.
- She was resident in none of the ten preceding years, so the first limb holds and she is not ordinarily resident.
- 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
- current text India — Income-tax Act, section 6, Income Tax Department
- current guidance India — non-resident benefits allowable, Income Tax Department
- current portal India — filing portal, residential status help
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
RNOR window forecast for an executive planning a return to India within two years
An executive working abroad was planning a return to India within a couple of years and wanted to understand what transitional shelter would be available once they moved back. We reviewed their residency history to date, projected the length of the RNOR window under different return dates, and helped them plan the timing of the move.
Case study 2
Foreign asset realisation planned within an established RNOR window
A returning NRI had qualified for RNOR status and held several foreign investment holdings accumulated over years abroad. We reviewed the holdings against the transitional shelter's scope, identified which realisation steps needed to happen before the window closed, and sequenced the work accordingly.
Case study 3
RNOR eligibility confirmed after a client's residency history was more complex than assumed
A client assumed they would qualify for the full RNOR window based on a rough recollection of their years abroad, without having the exact residency history checked. We reconstructed the actual history from travel and employment records, confirmed a shorter window applied than the client had assumed, and adjusted their planning accordingly.
Case study 4
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 5
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 6
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.
Read how this one runs
Case study 7
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 8
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.
Read how this one runsAll 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.
Tax Treaties & Withholding
Relief is only as good as the paperwork claiming it — we build treaty positions that survive review on both sides.
Cross-Border Estates & Trusts
Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.
Global Investments & Reporting
Information returns carry the sharpest penalties — $25 a day whether or not any tax is owing. We keep them clean and on time.
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
Who We Serve:
Technology & SaaS
- Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
- IP structuring with real substance
- Equity for cross-border teams
- U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
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Professional Services Firms
- Reg 105 / 102 waivers
- Permanent establishment risk
- Partner mobility planning
- Cross-border withholding recovery
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Cross-Border Real Estate
- Section 216 rental returns
- FIRPTA withholding recovery
- Section 116 clearance
- Treaty credit optimization
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Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
- Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
- Customs value vs transfer price
- Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
- Country-by-country reporting
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Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
- Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
- Multi-state & country calendars
- Touring income allocation
- Royalty & image-rights withholding
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Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
- Residency analysis before moving
- Employer payroll exposure
- Totalization & social security
- Foreign tax credits
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Investment Funds & Holding Companies
- Treaty access & PPT reviews
- FAPI & surplus computations
- Withholding-efficient routing
- Governance & substance
Who We Serve:
