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Residential Status

How your days in India are counted, and the 120-day rule

The safe limit used to be 182 days. For a high-earning visiting NRI it can now be just 120. And both travel days count.

You are an NRI who spends time in India each year, and you want to know how many days you can stay before you become resident and expose your income to Indian tax. Most people know the 182-day figure, but there is a trap: for a visiting NRI with substantial Indian income, that limit dropped to 120 days a few years ago. And how the days are actually counted has its own catch. Here is how the day count works and the rule that catches high earners.
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Last reviewed: 26 July 20266 min readReviewed by Preetesh Maloo, CA

The short answer

You are resident in India for a year if you spend 182 days or more here, or if you spend 60 days or more in the year and 365 days or more across the previous four years. For most visiting NRIs the 60-day limb is relaxed to 182 days, so the practical limit was long thought of as 182. The trap is that from the 2021-22 year this relaxed figure was cut to 120 days for a visiting Indian citizen or person of Indian origin whose Indian income, leaving out foreign income, is more than ₹15 lakh. So a high-earning visitor who stays 120 days or more, even under 182, becomes resident. The saving grace is that such a person is treated as Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident, so their foreign income still is not taxed, only their Indian income. On counting, the safe convention is that both your day of arrival and your day of departure count as days in India, though there is a taxpayer-favourable argument that the arrival day can be excluded. Because the margins are tight, counting carefully matters.

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The tests, and the 120-day trap

Your residency turns entirely on days. Under Section 6, you are resident in India for a year if either of two tests is met: you are in India for 182 days or more in that year, or you are in India for 60 days or more in that year and for 365 days or more across the four preceding years. For an NRI visiting India, the second, easier-to-trip 60-day test is normally relaxed up to 182 days, which is why the safe figure has long been thought of as 182.

The trap arrived with a 2020 change, effective from the 2021-22 year. For a visiting Indian citizen or person of Indian origin whose Indian income, counting everything except foreign-source income, is more than ₹15 lakh, that relaxed figure was cut from 182 to 120 days. So a high-earning visitor who stays 120 days or more, even if well under 182, becomes resident for the year. This catches exactly the people who tend to spend long stretches in India, those with significant Indian income from property, business or investments. Note this is separate from another rule, the deemed-resident rule, which can catch an Indian citizen with over ₹15 lakh of Indian income who is not taxed anywhere in the world, covered on its own page.

The RNOR cushion, and how days are counted

There is an important cushion. A person who becomes resident only because of the 120-day rule is treated not as an ordinary resident but as Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident. That status matters a great deal, because an RNOR is not taxed on foreign income, only on Indian income. So being pulled into residency by the 120-day rule does not suddenly expose your overseas salary or investments, it mainly means your Indian income is taxed as a resident's. The same not-ordinarily-resident status generally applies for the first years after a returning NRI moves back, under separate tests based on your recent years abroad.

How the days themselves are counted has its own catch, because the margins can be tight. The safe, conservative convention, and the one the tax department applies, is that both the day you arrive in India and the day you leave count as days spent in India, so a part-day at each end still counts as a full day. There is a taxpayer-favourable position, supported by some tribunal decisions, that the day of arrival can be excluded, but it is contested, so you should not plan on it. When you are close to a threshold, count both ends and keep a clear record of your travel dates from your passport. A practising CA works out your residency correctly, including whether the 120-day rule catches you and whether the not-ordinarily-resident cushion protects your foreign income.

What's involved

What the CA actually does

  1. 1

    We count your days correctly

    We work out your exact days in India on the safe convention, so your residency is not miscalculated.

  2. 2

    We test the 120-day rule

    We check whether the reduced 120-day limit catches you, given your Indian income.

  3. 3

    We apply the RNOR cushion

    Where you become resident, we confirm whether not-ordinarily-resident status keeps your foreign income untaxed.

  4. 4

    We plan your stay

    We advise how many days you can safely spend before a threshold flips your status.

What to have ready

Documents you'll typically need

  • Your travel dates in and out of India, from your passport
  • Your Indian income for the year
  • Your days in India over the previous years
  • Your citizenship or PIO status

Your destination country can change the details

Requirements differ from one consulate, university and visa route to the next, how recent the figures must be, how long funds must have been held, and which certificates are mandatory. We assemble the documents around the exact checklist you're applying under. To see how India's tax treaty with your country of residence affects related filings, set your country below or compare all 46 countries.

References on this page

  • You are resident if in India 182 days or more, or 60 days or more in the year plus 365 days or more over the previous four years
  • From 2021-22, the relaxed 182-day limit for a visiting NRI drops to 120 days if Indian income (excluding foreign income) exceeds ₹15 lakh
  • A person caught by the 120-day rule is Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident, so foreign income stays untaxed, only Indian income is taxed
  • The safe convention counts both the day of arrival and the day of departure; excluding the arrival day is a contested, taxpayer-favourable position

Frequently asked questions

Common questions

Generally up to 182 days. But for a visiting NRI whose Indian income, excluding foreign income, is over ₹15 lakh, the limit dropped to 120 days from 2021-22. So a high earner who stays 120 days or more, even under 182, becomes resident for the year.

No. A person made resident by the 120-day rule is treated as Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident, so foreign income is not taxed, only Indian income. Being pulled into residency this way does not expose your overseas salary or investments.

On the safe convention, yes, both the day you arrive and the day you leave count as days in India, so a part-day at each end is a full day. There is a contested argument that the arrival day can be excluded, but do not plan on it. Near a threshold, count both.

The day count is a fact you have to evidence, and the burden is yours. The primary record is your passport, specifically the immigration entry and exit stamps, and the Bureau of Immigration holds the underlying travel history that an assessing officer can pull. Around that, keep what corroborates it: boarding passes or airline records, the lease or hotel receipts showing where you were actually living, an employer letter if you are relying on the left-for-employment limb, and ordinary utility or phone bills in the other country. None of it settles the question alone. Together they show a pattern instead of an assertion. There is a live practical problem worth knowing before your next trip. India has been rolling out biometric e-gates at major airports, and a traveller who uses one can pass through without receiving an ink stamp at all, which leaves a hole in exactly the record your day count depends on. The Bureau of Immigration does publish a travel-history report, but it has been running behind. Two habits protect you: ask for a manual stamp at the counter whenever your stay is anywhere near a threshold, and keep your own dated record of arrivals and departures with the boarding passes to match. Reconstructing a year of travel from memory, after a notice arrives, is the version that goes badly.

This is where the counting rule bites, and the intuition is wrong by two days. Count it: April 30, May 31, June 30, July 31, August 31, September 30. That is 183 days from 1 April to 30 September inclusive, not 181. So if you are in India on 30 September you are already at 183 and resident on this limb, and leaving on 1 October is worse, not better. To land at 181 your last day in India has to be 28 September. The reason is the rule above, that both the arrival day and the departure day count, and it is easy to lose two days to it when you are planning a departure around a round-numbered date. And remember this is only the day-count limb; the 60-days-plus-365 test can still make you resident even if you clear it.

No, they are separate. The 120-day rule is about days spent visiting with high Indian income. The deemed-resident rule can catch an Indian citizen with over ₹15 lakh of Indian income who is not taxed in any country, regardless of days. Either can apply, so both are worth checking.

The exceptions that change the answer

Where the general rule stops applying to you

Every rule below has a carve-out, a cut-off date or a condition that flips the answer. These are the ones that decide real cases.

Primary residence test: days in India

Right now: 182 days

Where it works differently

The person is an Indian citizen leaving India for employment abroad, or as a crew member of an Indian ship
Only the 182-day test applies. The 60-day secondary test is disabled.
Explanation 1(a) to s.6(1)
Counting days
The day of arrival AND the day of departure both count as days in India.
Settled administrative practice; partial days count as whole days.
The financial year straddles a move
Residence is decided for the WHOLE financial year, not from the date of the move. India has no split-year concept, unlike the UK.
s.6 is a full-year test.

Commonly got wrong

  • You become an NRI the day you leave India. True for FEMA, false for income tax. Under FEMA residence changes on departure with intent; under the Income-tax Act it is a full-year day count.Name which law you mean. Say 'non-resident under FEMA from the day you leave' or 'non-resident for income tax if you are in India under 182 days in that financial year'.
  • India has split-year treatment. It does not. Only the treaty tie-breaker resolves a dual-residence year.Point to Article 4 of the relevant DTAA.

Secondary residence test: 60 days plus 365 days over four years

Right now: 60 days in the year + 365 days across the 4 preceding years

Where it works differently

A visiting NRI crosses 120 days AND has Indian income above Rs 15 lakh
Resident, but RNOR under s.6(6), so foreign income stays out of the Indian net.
The 120-day limb feeds the RNOR category, not full residence.
Indian income is Rs 15 lakh or below
The old 182-day threshold applies to a visiting NRI. The 120-day rule never engages.
The Rs 15 lakh gate is a precondition.

Commonly got wrong

  • Every NRI visiting India for more than 120 days becomes a resident. Only if Indian income exceeds Rs 15 lakh AND the 365-day-over-4-years limb is also met.State all three conditions together.

RNOR qualification tests

Right now: Non-resident in 9 of the 10 preceding years, OR in India for 729 days or less in the 7 preceding years

Where it works differently

A long-term NRI returns to India permanently
Typically RNOR for two financial years, sometimes three depending on the return date and prior visits.
Both limbs are tested each year; the exact count depends on actual travel history.
The NRI visited India frequently while abroad
RNOR may last only one year, or not apply at all.
The 729-day limb is cumulative across seven years.

Commonly got wrong

  • RNOR always lasts three years. It depends on actual day counts. Two years is the common case; three is not automatic.Say 'usually two years, sometimes three, depending on your travel history', and compute it.
  • RNOR status exempts NRE interest. NRE exemption is tied to FEMA non-residence, which usually ends on permanent return, before RNOR does.Separate the two: RNOR covers foreign income; NRE exemption ends with FEMA residence.

Related

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Working remotely from India for a foreign employerSalary earned abroad but credited to an Indian accountWorking out your residential status in the year you moveNRI ITR filing (we file for you)DTAA TDS recoveryRepatriation unblock (15CA / 15CB)DTAA rate lookupForm 10F generator

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