What the UK's four-year FIG window actually does
Until 5 April 2025 a UK resident who was not domiciled in the UK could use the remittance basis, foreign income and gains were taxed only if brought into the UK. That regime is gone. From 6 April 2025 the UK taxes residents on their worldwide income and gains as they arise. New arrivers get one transitional shelter: the FIG regime.
If you were not UK-resident in any of the 10 tax years before you arrived, you can claim FIG relief for your first four UK-resident tax years. For those years, the foreign income and gains you claim on. Indian dividends, Indian capital gains, foreign interest, are not taxed in the UK, and it no longer matters whether you remit the money. This is what makes timing matter: a gain sold inside the window can be UK-tax-free when the same gain would not be once the window closes.
The relief is not automatic. You claim it on a UK Self Assessment return, and it has a price. You give up your UK personal allowance and your CGT annual exempt amount for that year. Whether the trade pays off, and which gains to bring into the claim, is your UK accountant's judgement.
Why the UK shelter doesn't touch your Indian tax
It's easy to read "four years tax-free" and assume the gain is tax-free everywhere. It isn't. The FIG regime is a UK relief. It has no effect on India's right to tax a gain that arises in India.
Sell Indian listed shares or equity mutual funds, and India taxes the gain under its own rules (long-term gains over the annual threshold, short-term gains separately). Sell Indian property, and India taxes the gain and the buyer must deduct TDS. None of that goes away because the UK is, for now, leaving the same gain alone.
So for many people in the window the picture is: little or no UK tax on the gain for four years, but the normal Indian tax still due in India. That makes the Indian computation the main event, and it's squarely India-side work.
A worked example: Meera, in her first FIG year
Meera moved to London in May 2025 after eleven years in Singapore, so she clears the "10 years non-resident" test and her 2025/26 tax year is her first FIG year. She holds Indian equity mutual funds bought in 2016 and wants to sell some to fund a UK deposit.
Her UK accountant's view: selling inside the FIG window keeps the gain out of UK tax if she claims FIG relief for the year. But India still taxes it. We compute her Indian long-term capital gain under Section 112A, original cost, units sold, sale value, and the Indian tax on the slice above the annual exemption, and we set out the TDS / advance-tax position so nothing is missed in India.
Meera ends up with one India-side pack: the gain, the Indian tax payable, and the supporting figures. Her UK accountant uses it to confirm the gain qualifies for FIG relief on her UK return. The two sides agree because the numbers came from one source.
| Side | Who handles it | What it produces |
|---|---|---|
| India | TrustNRI (CA) | Indian gain, Indian tax, TDS / advance-tax position |
| UK | Meera's UK accountant | FIG claim on the Self Assessment return |
What you hand your UK accountant
What goes wrong most often isn't the law. It's two advisers working from two different sets of numbers. Your UK accountant needs the Indian gain stated clearly, with the cost basis and dates behind it, so the FIG claim and the India return describe the same transaction.
We build that hand-off on purpose. The Indian computation states the asset, the acquisition cost and date, the sale value and date, the head of gain (listed equity, other asset, property), and the Indian tax position. Where it helps, we add an indicative GBP conversion with the exchange basis stated, while the figures that bind in India stay in rupees.
We don't file your UK return, advise on the FIG claim, or act as your UK tax agent. That's your UK accountant's role. We make the India side accurate and complete so their FIG decision rests on solid ground.