Question 1

What's the difference between 'Am I NRI yet?' and 'Am I still NRI?'

Accepted Answer

‘Am I NRI yet?’ is for someone who just moved abroad and wants to know if their tax status has flipped yet, answered by one date per financial year. ‘Am I still NRI?’ is for someone already NRI checking their current-FY status year-by-year, including the 120-day deemed-resident trap and the 60+365 cumulative rule. Use this page for the first case, /tools/residential-status for the second.

Question 2

How does the simple 'one date' rule work?

Accepted Answer

The day-count limb of Section 6 makes you Resident at 182 days or more in the financial year (1 April to 31 March), so you need 181 or fewer. Count it carefully: 1 April to 30 September inclusive is 183 days, not 181. To stay at 181 your last day in India has to be 28 September, and a 30 September or 1 October departure leaves you Resident on this limb. Treat 'around 1 October' as the danger zone, not the safe side of it.

Question 3

What if I moved on or after 1 October?

Accepted Answer

You are almost certainly Resident for the current FY on the day count, and your transition-year ITR is a Resident filing that includes your foreign income up to 31 March. Next year is not automatic though: residential status is retested every year, and after a long spell as Resident you are usually RNOR for the first two years rather than straight to non-resident. That matters, because RNOR keeps foreign income out but is not the same status. Form 41 (formerly Form 10F) and the treaty rate start applying to payments made to you once you are non-resident.

Question 4

Can I be considered NRI even if I moved late in the FY?

Accepted Answer

The day count is only half of Section 6, and the other half usually runs the other way. Section 6(1)(c) also makes you Resident on 60 days in India this year plus 365 days across the four preceding years, which most recent movers meet. That 60 becomes 182 only if you are an Indian citizen who left India for the purposes of employment abroad, or as a crew member of an Indian ship. Leave to start a business, to study, or on a dependant visa and the 60-day limb applies to you, so a July departure can still be Resident. Don't try to argue your way into NRI status. The AO reassesses and it costs interest and penalty.

Question 5

What about the 120-day deemed-resident trap?

Accepted Answer

There are two separate rules here and they are easy to merge by mistake. The 120-day rule needs all three of: Indian citizen or PIO visiting India, more than ₹15 lakh of Indian income, 120 or more days here this year AND 365 or more days across the preceding four years. Miss the 365 and it does not bite. Someone caught only by it becomes RNOR, not fully Resident, so foreign income stays out. Deemed residence under Section 6(1A) is the other one: an Indian citizen with more than ₹15 lakh of Indian income who is not liable to tax in any other country is Resident with no day count at all, which is what catches the Gulf. Run the year-by-year check at /tools/residential-status.

Question 6

Do I need a CA for my transition-year ITR?

Accepted Answer

Strongly recommended, because the transition year mixes Resident and NRI rules in one filing. While you are still Resident and Ordinarily Resident you report foreign income in Schedule FSI, claim treaty relief in Schedule TR, and disclose foreign assets in Schedule FA. Schedule FA has no value threshold at all: one foreign account held for one day triggers it, and the ₹50 lakh figure people quote belonged to Schedule AL, a different schedule, and even there it rose to ₹1 crore from AY 2025-26. All three switch off once you are non-resident, and RNOR is outside Schedule FA too, so the year you move is exactly where filings go wrong in both directions.

Am I NRI yet?

6 things change. Most new NRIs miss at least 3 of them.

Convert bank accounts to NRO / NRE

NRO TDS jumps from your slab to 30%

Indian shares / MFs face NRI rules

Schedule FA mandatory in ITR

Form 41 and a TRC are what unlock the treaty rate

Transition-year ITR is different

Your transition-year ITR is the highest-stakes filing you'll make.