Last reviewed: · Reviewed by Regi Tom Antony, FCA
NRI planning starts with the event in front of you: a move, a property sale, a retirement withdrawal, a family transfer or a company decision. The articles here explore those events without treating residence, withholding and banking as interchangeable answers. An overseas account does not settle the source of income; a tax deduction does not settle the final liability; an OCI card does not determine tax residence. Start with the topic that matches your decision, then follow the linked guide for the wider framework. Check the review date and the financial year before applying an example. RNOR depends on residence history, and treaty relief depends on the income and the facts. These notes are general information from Regi Tom Antony, FCA, not a substitute for a coordinated review of your position in India and the other country. Keep transaction records and travel dates alongside your reading, so the next question is specific rather than speculative.
Residence comes before deciding which overseas income belongs in an Indian return. Review the 182-day or 60-days-plus-365-days tests, applicable exceptions and residence history. RNOR is not an automatic benefit of moving home; salary, vesting, sales and retirement withdrawals require their own source and timing analysis.
Start with where the money came from and the account through which it travels. NRE, NRO and FCNR serve different purposes. Follow the cluster for redesignation, family transfers and repatriation, keeping FEMA residence separate from Indian income-tax residence and the status printed on an OCI card.
A sale creates several files: ownership and acquisition records, buyer withholding, the seller's capital-gains calculation and the bank's remittance evidence. The property hub connects them. Read before fixing the payment timetable, especially where a lower-deduction certificate, inheritance history or mixed NRO balances need attention.
Treaty relief begins with residence evidence and the income category, not a generic promise of lower tax. The guide explains TRC, Form 41 (earlier Form 10F) and credit documentation. Compare the Indian return with overseas tax records and distinguish a treaty limit from a credit for tax already paid.
Work backwards from the move to connect departure obligations, foreign assets, banking and India arrival. Country checklists give the corridor context; they are not interchangeable. Schedule FA is reviewed from ROR, while account changes follow FEMA residence. Keep those timelines separate even when they meet in one financial year.
Keep a list of the assets and decisions that cross your departure and arrival dates. An article about a withdrawal may answer the income question but not the bank's documentation request. An account guide may explain the permitted money flow but not the overseas filing treatment. Read the linked topics together, noting which records support each conclusion. Where two countries are involved, confirm both positions before completing a sale, withdrawal or transfer.
Rs 10 lakh threshold, 20% vs 2% rates after Budget 2026, and how to claim the TCS credit back at filing.
Read →June 23, 2026The US$250,000 LRS limit, which gifts are tax-free under Section 92 (earlier section 56(2)(x)), and how to route the money through NRO cleanly.
Read →June 23, 2026The US$1 million NRO ceiling, Form 145/146 (formerly 15CA/15CB) mechanics and the succession paperwork that moves inherited assets cleanly out of India.
Read →June 23, 2026What is tax-free, what is repatriable, the 30% NRO TDS and DTAA relief, plus investing in G-Secs via RBI Retail Direct.
Read →June 23, 2026When NRIs need one, the documents required, and why it must carry a practising CA's UDIN to be accepted.
Read →June 23, 2026A connected review of residence, spending currencies, retirement accounts and family protection before a move.
Read →October 19, 2026RNOR timing, Section 158 (earlier section 89A) relief, the India-US DTAA and the US early-withdrawal penalty — the 401(k) decisions for returning NRIs.
Read →October 19, 2026Vesting perquisite, 12.5% LTCG on foreign shares, Schedule FA and the federal-only foreign tax credit — RSUs for NRIs moving to India.
Read →October 19, 2026Indian mutual funds as PFICs for US persons, Form 8621, and India's Schedule FA duty on US assets after you return.
Read →November 5, 2026The tax forms were the easy part. Nine lessons from my own return to India and from 250+ NRI Come Back Plans since.
Read →November 5, 2026Returning in 2027? The arrival month decides your RNOR years. A month-by-month plan from 250+ NRI Come Back Plans.
Read →A 15-minute NRI Tax Discovery Call to scope your situation and the right next step.
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