Moving back to India

Everything for the move back, in the order it happens.

Returning to India is not one decision. It is a sequence of them, each with its own deadline, and most of them are set in motion by the date you land. These are our guides and calculators arranged the way the move actually unfolds rather than by topic.

The window

Two to three financial years in which foreign income stays outside Indian tax — and it never comes back.

The trap

FEMA residency changes the day you land. Income tax residency does not. Two clocks, two answers.

The order

Almost everything here has a deadline attached to a date you choose. Sequence beats effort.

Where are you?
12 to 6 months out

Before you book the flight

The decisions with the longest lead times sit here. Your landing date sets the length of everything that follows, and both foreign holdings and Indian property are easier to deal with while you are still non-resident.

Calculator3 min RNOR & Return to India Planner Start here. Works out exactly how long your RNOR window lasts and how moving your landing date changes it. Open Calculator2 min US Estate Tax for NRIs: The $60,000 Exemption If you hold US shares or US-listed ETFs, deal with this before you land. The exemption is $60,000, not $15 million. Open RegistryReference PFIC Status of Indian Mutual Funds For US citizens, green-card holders and US tax residents. Clean this up before your position gets more complicated. Open Guide8 min NRI Selling Property in India — TDS Guide Selling before you return means NRI rates of TDS. Selling after means resident rates. The timing is worth real money. Open Calculator3 min NRI Lower Deduction Certificate (Form 13) If you are selling Indian property while still non-resident, this is how you avoid TDS far above your actual liability. Open Calculator4 min ESOP & RSU Tax Calculator Foreign employer equity that vests around the move is split between two tax systems by where you performed the work. Open
The month you arrive

The month you land

This is FEMA territory, not income tax. Your residential status flips the day you arrive intending to stay, regardless of how many days you have counted.

Calculator3 min NRI Repatriation & TDS Planner Moving money and closing out NRI positions in the weeks around your arrival. Open Calculator1 min RNOR Status Checker A single-year answer. Non-resident, RNOR or ordinarily resident for the year you are in. Open Guide9 min NRI, OCI and PIO Investing What your status permitted, and what changes about it the day you become resident again. Open Guide9 min NRE, NRO and RFC Accounts on Return The day-one obligations. NRE interest stops being exempt on arrival, not when RNOR ends — plus three things people change that they shouldn't. Open
Two to three years

Inside your RNOR window

The window where foreign income stays outside Indian tax. It is short, it never repeats, and most of what should happen in it carries a deadline.

Guide9 min 401(k) and IRA When Returning to India The Section 89A election and Form 10-EE. Irrevocable, and due before your first relevant return. Open Calculator3 min GIFT City Route Decision Now that you are resident, whether an IFSC vehicle beats an LRS remittance or an Indian feeder fund. Open Calculator3 min Capital Gains Set-Off & Carry-Forward The window to realise gains against accumulated losses, before foreign income comes into the Indian net. Open Guide7 min Mutual Fund Taxation in India You are investing onshore again. Holding periods, rates and what changed after 2024. Open
Year three onward

Once you are ordinarily resident

Worldwide income becomes taxable and foreign asset reporting begins. This is also your first full Indian tax return as a resident.

Guide7 min Schedule FA: Foreign Asset Reporting Calendar-year basis, SBI TT rates, and the one obligation where the penalties are heaviest. Open Guide4 min Which ITR Form Should I File? Your first return as an ordinarily resident uses a different form from the one you filed as an NRI. Open Calculator3 min Advance Tax Calculator Indian income is now fully taxable, which usually brings quarterly advance tax with it. Open Calculator3 min Income Tax Calculator Resident slabs, old regime against new, once your worldwide income is in scope. Open
No fixed date

Settled, and putting the house in order

The work nobody schedules: what your family would actually find, and what happens to it.

ReferenceReference Nomination vs Will in India What a nominee actually gets across fourteen asset classes. In twelve of them, nothing but trusteeship. Open Playbook10 min How to Find Forgotten Shares and Funds Five portals, two categories with no search at all, and the order to work through them. Open Calculator2 min Gift Tax Calculator Transfers within the family once you are resident, and where Section 56(2)(x) bites. Open Calculator4 min Property Capital Gain Tax Calculator Selling Indian property as a resident, with the exemptions under Sections 54, 54F and 54EC. Open

Not sure which phase you are in?

Start with the planner. It works out your window from your landing date and visit history, and points you at whichever of these matters next.

Open the planner

Idopia Services Pvt Ltd is an AMFI Registered Mutual Fund Distributor, ARN-331653. The tools and guides linked here are educational and do not constitute investment, tax or legal advice. Residency, treaty positions and reporting obligations depend on individual facts and should be confirmed with a qualified chartered accountant.