Tax & Residency · Explainer + Calculator
Indian tax residency runs on counted days.
Spend 182 days or more in India in a financial year and you are resident, full stop. Under that, a second test can still catch you — and for citizens and persons of Indian origin, that second test quietly runs on a different number: 182 or 120 days, never the plain 60 most explainers quote. This page walks the actual tests in order, then lets you run your own numbers.
01 — The 182-Day Test
The one rule everyone gets right.
An individual is resident in India for a financial year if they were physically present in India for 182 days or more during that year.1 That is the whole test in this case — no income threshold, no lookback to earlier years, no citizenship question. Cross 182 days and every other test on this page becomes irrelevant for the year: you are resident.
Residency is assessed separately for every financial year (1 April to 31 March), on your presence in that specific year. A year in which you cross 182 days does not carry forward or backward on its own — each year is its own count.
02 — The 60-Day Alternative
Under 182 days is not automatically safe.
A second, independent test can still make you resident even if you stayed under 182 days: presence of 60 days or more in the financial year, combined with 365 days or more in India across the four financial years immediately before it.1 Both halves have to hold — 60 days this year alone does nothing without the 365-day history behind it, and a long history does nothing without at least 60 days this year.
This is the test that catches people who assume a few short trips home each year, well under six months, keep them safely non-resident. If those trips add up to 60+ days in the current year and you have a substantial presence history in the four years before it, you can be resident without ever coming close to 182 days.
03 — The Citizen/PIO Exceptions
For citizens and PIOs, 60 is never the real number.
The 60-day figure in the test above is legally replaced for three specific situations — and if any of them applies to you, quoting "60 days" is simply the wrong test.
- An Indian citizen leaving India in the year for employment abroad, or as crew on an Indian ship: the 60-day figure is replaced with 182 days.1 In effect, the second test collapses into the first — you need 182 days either way, so this group is protected from the shorter alternative test entirely.
- An Indian citizen or person of Indian origin (PIO), living abroad, who visits India in the year, with income other than from foreign sources of ₹15 lakh or less: the 60-day figure is also replaced with 182 days.1 Same protection, same reasoning.
- An Indian citizen or PIO visiting India in the year whose income other than from foreign sources exceeds ₹15 lakh: the 60-day figure is replaced with 120 days, not 182.1 This is the group the Finance Act, 2020 specifically tightened the rule for — higher-income citizens and PIOs who visit India get a shorter runway than everyone else in this list, though still longer than the plain 60-day default.
In every one of these three cases, the 365-day condition (presence in the four preceding years) still has to be satisfied too — only the day-count-this-year figure changes.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Category | Citizen, visiting India, income > ₹15L |
| Days present this FY | 150 |
| Days present, preceding 4 FYs | 400 |
| 182-day test | 150 < 182 — fails |
| Applicable alternative threshold | 120 days (not 60, not 182) |
| Alternative test | 150 ≥ 120 and 400 ≥ 365 — both hold |
| Result | Resident — and automatically RNOR (section 05) |
04 — The ₹15L Deemed-Resident Rule
A rule with no day count at all.
Separate from every day-based test above: an Indian citizen is deemed resident in India, regardless of how many days they were physically present, if their income other than from foreign sources exceeds ₹15 lakh in the financial year and they are not liable to tax in any other country or territory by reason of domicile, residence, or a similar criterion.1
This rule exists to close a specific gap: a high-income Indian citizen who structures their life to avoid tax residency everywhere, not just in India. It does not apply to someone who is genuinely tax-resident somewhere else — it targets the narrower case of being tax-resident nowhere.
05 — RNOR
Resident is not one single status.
Becoming resident under any test above does not automatically mean full worldwide taxation from day one. A resident individual is further classified as either Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR) or Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR) — and the difference is real money.
An RNOR individual is taxed in India on Indian income and on foreign income only if it comes from a business controlled from India or a profession set up in India — ordinary foreign salary, foreign investment income, and foreign business income unconnected to India generally stay outside the Indian tax net for that year. A ROR individual, by contrast, is taxed on worldwide income without that carve-out.1
You qualify as RNOR if either of two independent tests is met:
- You were non-resident in India in 9 of the 10 financial years immediately before the current one; or
- You were present in India for 729 days or less in total across the 7 financial years immediately before the current one.
Two further groups are RNOR automatically, without needing to satisfy either test above: anyone who becomes resident under the ₹15 lakh deemed-resident rule in section 04, and a citizen or PIO who becomes resident specifically via the 120-day path in section 03 (visiting India, income above ₹15 lakh, present 120–181 days, and 365+ days in the preceding four years).1
06 — The Calculator
Run your own numbers.
Enter your days of presence and category; the calculator applies the tests above in order and shows which one, if any, makes you resident. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere.
07 — FAQ
Real questions, short answers.
Do 182 days automatically make me a tax resident of India?
Yes. Presence in India for 182 days or more in a financial year makes an individual resident on its own, regardless of any other test.
I'm under 182 days — am I automatically a non-resident?
Not necessarily. A second test can still make you resident: 60 days or more in the financial year combined with 365 days or more across the preceding four years. For most people who left India for foreign employment, or who are citizens or persons of Indian origin visiting India, that 60-day figure is legally replaced with a higher one — 182 or 120 days depending on your situation — which is exactly what this page and its calculator walk through.
What is the ₹15 lakh deemed-resident rule?
An Indian citizen whose income other than from foreign sources exceeds ₹15 lakh in a financial year is deemed resident regardless of how many days they were physically present, if they are not liable to tax in any other country by domicile, residence, or a similar criterion. It exists to stop a stateless-for-tax-purposes outcome, and it overrides the day-count tests entirely.
What does RNOR actually mean, and why does it matter?
Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident is a resident status with a lighter tax scope — broadly, foreign income stays out of the Indian tax net unless it comes from a business controlled from India or a profession set up in India. It typically applies to people who have spent most of recent years outside India and are only now becoming resident again, giving a transition period rather than full worldwide taxation from day one.
Do the day of arrival and the day of departure both count as days in India?
This specific point has produced conflicting guidance across different CBDT circulars and tribunal rulings over the years, and is not a settled, one-line answer. The safe approach is to count conservatively, keep your own travel record — boarding passes, passport stamps, immigration records — and confirm the treatment for your exact dates with a chartered accountant rather than assume either way.
Is this page or its calculator a substitute for filing advice?
No. This explains the public rules and does arithmetic on the numbers you enter — nothing is saved or sent anywhere. Your actual residential status depends on your complete facts across the year and prior years; confirm it with a chartered accountant or the Income Tax Department before you file or make a cross-border decision on the strength of it.
08 — Sources
Where every figure on this page comes from
- Income Tax Department, Ministry of Finance, Government of India — "Residential Status" reckoner: the 182-day and 60-day/365-day tests, the citizen/PIO exceptions at 182 and 120 days, the ₹15 lakh deemed-resident rule, and the RNOR tests (9-of-10 years, 729 days in 7 years, and the automatic-RNOR categories).incometaxindia.gov.in — Residential Statusincometaxindia.gov.in · page's own admin date 27 May 2026 · accessed 25 Jul 2026
About this page: every threshold is quoted directly from the department's own reckoner page. It does not cover HUFs, companies, or firms — only individuals — and it does not cover the day-counting dispute (arrival/departure days) referenced in the FAQ, which is not settled in a single official source. Income Tax law changes; verify anything material on the official portal or with a chartered accountant before you file or plan around it.
The Line
Know the rules. Then go.
Nothing on this site will help you undercount a day or dodge a residency test. Right status, counted days, filed returns, insured health — that is the version of this life that lasts.