NRI residential status checker for 2026-27

How the checker decides

Residential status is decided separately for each tax year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. From tax year 2026-27 the Income-tax Act, 2025 applies; FY 2025-26 and earlier years still follow Section 6 of the 1961 Act, with the same tests.

Step 1: are you resident at all?

You are resident if you were in India for 182 days or more. You are also resident if you were in India for 60 days or more and for 365 days or more in the four previous years.

The 60-day part changes for some people. Indian citizens leaving India for a job abroad, and Indian citizens or people of Indian origin who live abroad and visit, use 182 days instead. For visitors whose Indian income is above ₹15 lakh, it becomes 120 days, and anyone caught only by that rule is RNOR.

Step 2: the deemed-resident rule

An Indian citizen whose Indian income is above ₹15 lakh and who is not liable to tax in any other country is treated as resident even with no days in India. Such a person is RNOR, so foreign income stays outside Indian tax. This mostly affects Indians in countries with no personal income tax.

Step 3: ordinarily resident or not?

A resident is RNOR if they were non-resident in 9 of the 10 previous years, or spent 729 days or fewer in India in the 7 previous years. Otherwise they are ordinarily resident and taxed on worldwide income.

For a step-by-step explanation with examples, read NRI residential status in 2026. Returning for good? See RNOR status for returning NRIs.