RNOR timing starts from your move date · Plan before you land→
NB
NRIBlueprint
Interactive Tool · Section 6 Residency

RNOR Calculator: Check Your Indian Residential Status (NRI / RNOR / Resident)

Answer first. This calculator tells you your Indian residential status for a financial year — Non-Resident (NRI), Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR), or Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR) — using the day-count tests in Section 6 of the Income-tax Act, including the 182-day rule, the 60+365 rule, the 120-day high-income rule and deemed residency. Your RNOR years are the window when most foreign income stays outside the Indian tax net.

By Regi Tom Antony, FCALast reviewed: November 2026 · Updated for AY 2026-27

0 – 366. Count every day where any part of the day was in India.

Sum of days in FY-1 + FY-2 + FY-3 + FY-4.

Key takeaways

  • Residency is decided per financial year on physical-presence day counts under Section 6 — citizenship alone does not decide it.
  • The 182-day test is the headline rule. The 60+365 test catches frequent visitors; situation (a) and most (b) cases are exempted from it.
  • High earners (Indian income > Rs 15 lakh) visiting India face a 120-day threshold, and become RNOR — not ROR — if caught only by that rule.
  • Deemed residency under 6(1A) only applies to Indian citizens not liable to tax anywhere — typically GCC residents — and always produces RNOR status.
  • RNOR, where your facts qualify, can keep foreign-source income outside Indian tax for a limited period. Salary, RSU vesting, share sales, retirement-fund accrual or withdrawal, and repatriation are each reviewed separately. This calculator gives a preliminary estimate, not a full tax analysis.

What is RNOR status and why does it matter?

RNOR — Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident — is a transitional status under Section 6(13) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (earlier section 6(6)). You are technically a Resident, but for the RNOR years your foreign-source income is not taxed in India (the only exception being income from a business controlled in or profession set up in India). For returning NRIs this typically lasts two financial years, and in some fact patterns three. It is the single most valuable Indian tax window and the easiest to waste by mis-timing the move.

How is residential status decided under Section 6?

Section 6(2) (earlier section 6(1)) makes you Resident if either: you were in India for 182 days or more in the financial year; OR you were in India for 60 days or more in the year and 365 days or more across the preceding four years. Explanation 1 carves out Indian citizens leaving India for employment abroad (and crew of Indian ships) — they get the 182-day test only — and gives citizens/PIOs visiting India a 182-day shelter unless they earn more than Rs 15 lakh of Indian income.

What is the 120-day rule for high earners?

Inserted from FY 2020-21, the 120-day rule says: a citizen or PIO visiting India whose total Indian-source income exceeds Rs 15 lakh becomes Resident if present in India for 120-181 days in the year (with 365+ days in the previous four). Section 6(13)(b) (earlier section 6(6)(c)) then automatically labels them RNOR, so foreign income still escapes Indian tax. The rule was designed to catch high-net-worth visitors who were gaming the 182-day line, without dragging their global income into the net.

What is deemed residency (Section 6(7) (earlier section 6(1A)))?

An Indian citizen with Indian-source income above Rs 15 lakh who is not liable to tax in any other country or territory — typically because they live in a zero-tax jurisdiction like the UAE — is deemed Resident in India, irrespective of days. Section 6(13)(c) (earlier section 6(6)(d)) then automatically classifies the deemed resident as RNOR. Practically, this lands Indian income (and business-controlled-from-India income) inside the Indian net, but leaves genuine foreign income outside it.

How long does the RNOR window last?

You stay RNOR for any year in which: you were Non-Resident in 9 of the 10 preceding financial years; or you were in India for 729 days or fewer in the preceding 7 years; or you fall into the 120-day or deemed-resident buckets. For a long-time NRI returning to India this usually produces two clean RNOR years, sometimes three if you land early in the financial year. Push the move from late March to early April and you gain an entire RNOR year — see the RNOR planning page for the full decision tree.

Related reading

This calculator is general information based on the day-count tests in Section 6 of the Income-tax Act and is not professional advice. Edge cases — split-residency facts, treaty tie-breakers (DTAA Article 4), the year of leaving or returning, and interaction between deemed residency and double-tax treaties — can change the outcome. Confirm with a Chartered Accountant before acting. Based on the framework in NRI Tax Blueprint by Regi Tom Antony, FCA.

Using the calculator

How this calculator works

The calculator runs the same two questions the Income-tax Act asks, in the same order. First: are you resident at all under Section 6(2) (earlier section 6(1))? That means 182 days or more in India in the financial year, or 60 days in the year plus 365 days across the four preceding years. For Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin who visit India, the 60-day limb is replaced by 182 days — or by 120 days where income from Indian sources exceeds ₹15 lakh. It then checks deemed residency under Section 6(7) (earlier section 6(1A)) for Indian citizens with Indian income above ₹15 lakh who are not liable to tax in any other country.

Only if you are resident does it ask the second question under Section 6(13) (earlier section 6(6)): ordinarily resident or not? You are RNOR if you were non-resident in nine of the ten preceding years, or spent 729 days or fewer in India across the seven preceding years. People who are resident only because of the 120-day limb or deemed residency are RNOR by law.

The answer is only as reliable as the day counts you enter. Reconcile them against passport stamps or immigration records, and leave a margin: part-days in India, including the days you arrive and leave, are generally counted.

Worked examples

Example 1 — moved for good, still non-resident. An Indian citizen who has worked in London for twelve years lands in India on 10 October to settle, and spends about 172 days in India that financial year. Because she has come back to stay rather than to visit, the 60-day plus 365-day limb applies. Her visits of roughly four weeks a year add up to about 120 days over the previous four years — well short of 365 — so she remains non-resident for the year of return. From the next year she is resident, and having been non-resident in at least nine of the previous ten years, she starts as RNOR.

Example 2 — early landing, resident at once. A US-based engineer returns permanently in May and spends over 300 days in India that year, so he is resident under the 182-day test in the year of return. He was non-resident in each of the previous ten years, so he is RNOR. His RNOR status continues until both Section 6(13) (earlier section 6(6)) tests fail, which for a long-term NRI typically takes two to three financial years.

Example 3 — visitor with high Indian income. A Dubai-based citizen with ₹22 lakh of Indian rent and interest spends 130 days in India in a year, after more than 365 days of visits over the previous four years. Because her Indian income exceeds ₹15 lakh, the 120-day limb applies and she is resident — but only as RNOR, so her Dubai salary stays outside Indian tax. At 119 days she would have stayed non-resident.

Who benefits most from checking

Returning NRIs choosing a landing date get the most out of the result, because a few weeks either side of a threshold can add or remove a whole RNOR year. Frequent visitors with Indian income above ₹15 lakh should check every year, as the 120-day limb catches them sooner than they expect. Residents of no-tax countries such as the UAE should check deemed residency. Anyone holding foreign retirement accounts, employer stock or overseas property should check before selling or drawing on them.

What RNOR protects is specific: income that arises and is received outside India stays outside Indian tax unless it comes from a business controlled in, or a profession set up in, India. Indian-source income — rent, NRO interest, gains on Indian assets — is taxable whatever your status.

Common questions

Answered, candidly.

What is RNOR status and why does it matter?
Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR) is a transitional Indian tax status under Section 6(13) (earlier section 6(6)). For up to two — sometimes three — financial years your foreign-source income (other than income from a business controlled in, or profession set up in, India) is outside the Indian tax net, even though you are technically a resident. It is the most valuable tax window most returning NRIs miss.
How is residential status decided under Section 6?
Section 6 uses physical-presence day-count tests. You are Resident if you were in India for 182+ days in the financial year, or 60+ days in the year and 365+ days across the preceding four years. Citizens leaving India for employment and crew members of Indian ships only face the 182-day test. Citizens/PIOs visiting India face a 120-day threshold instead of 60 if Indian-source income exceeds Rs 15 lakh.
What is the 120-day rule for high earners?
An Indian citizen or PIO visiting India with total income other than income from foreign sources exceeding Rs 15 lakh becomes resident with 120–181 days in India in the year and at least 365 days in the preceding four years. Such a visitor is RNOR; foreign-source income is generally outside Indian tax except income from a business controlled in, or profession set up in, India.
What is deemed residency (Section 6(7) (earlier section 6(1A)))?
Section 6(7) (earlier section 6(1A)) applies to an Indian citizen with total income other than income from foreign sources exceeding Rs 15 lakh who is not liable to tax in another country or territory by reason of domicile, residence or a similar criterion. Absence of tax actually paid is not, by itself, the test. Where applicable, Section 6(13)(c) (earlier section 6(6)(d)) classifies the person as RNOR; foreign-source income from a business controlled in, or profession set up in, India remains within the Indian tax scope.
How long does the RNOR window last?
Usually two financial years, sometimes three, depending on how many of the previous ten years you were Non-Resident and how many days you spent in India in the last seven. Timing your return date (April vs March) can add an entire RNOR year — model it before booking the flight.
Is this calculator a substitute for advice?
No. It applies the Section 6 day-count tests to the inputs you give. Edge cases — split-residency facts, treaty tie-breakers (DTAA Article 4), the year of leaving or returning, deemed-residency interaction with DTAAs — need a Chartered Accountant.
Related on NRI Blueprint

Keep exploring.

Residential status under Section 6→

The day-count tests that decide whether you are NRI, RNOR or resident.

How NRIs file income tax in India→

Step-by-step ITR filing: forms, residential status, Schedule FA and refunds.

Plan your return with a CA→

RNOR sequencing and a personal move-back roadmap.

Returning to India hub→

Sequencing tax, accounts and assets around your move back.

Explore the Return-to-India Readiness Review →
From the author of NRI Tax Blueprint 2025

Regi Tom Antony, FCA — a practicing Chartered Accountant who advises NRIs, OCIs and returning founders on the same questions every week. Every page here is drawn from the book and live engagements, not stock copy.

Reviewed by Regi Tom Antony, FCA, who returned to India himself after around 20 years abroad and leads the NRI Come Back Plan at Regi Tom Antony & Associates: 250+ Come Back Plans in the last 10 years, covering RNOR timing, foreign pensions, Schedule FA, estate tax, FEMA, wills and family transition coaching.

About the author→
Book the call

Planning your return to India? Start with a free first conversation.

A 30-minute NRI Come Back Plan conversation with Regi: your return date, RNOR years, pensions and assets abroad, FEMA accounts and family. No fees, no obligation.

Book a Come Back Plan conversation→
Newsletter

The NRI Blueprint briefing.

One email a fortnight. Corridor updates, deadline alerts, and one written framework worth your inbox.

No spam, no list rental, unsubscribe in one click.