When I move back to India, how long am I RNOR, and what should I do before it ends?
Enter the tax year you move back and your days in India to see each year as NR, RNOR or ROR under the Income-tax Act, 2025, the date RNOR ends, and what people time before it.
Your citizenship
While you live abroad, a visit to India makes you resident only at 182 days or more (120 days with 365 in the four years before, if your Indian income is over ₹15 lakh).
Indian income over ₹15 lakh a year, not counting income from abroad?
Income from foreign sources means income that arises outside India, other than from a business controlled in or a profession set up in India (section 6(14)). Rent, interest and gains in India count.
Enter your days for each of the last seven years?
TAX YEARS AS RNOR
2years
Moving back in tax year 2027-28 with 270 days in India that year, you are RNOR for 2 tax years (2027-28 and 2028-29). RNOR ends on 31 March 2029 and you are ROR from 1 April 2029, at these inputs.
RNOR ends
31 Mar 2029
ROR from
1 Apr 2029
2027-28 status
RNOR
Days, 7 yrs before
210
UNDERSTAND YOUR RESULT
When does RNOR end?
- BeforeNon-resident (NR) abroad10 years abroad; from 2017-18: NR
- 2027-28RNOR270 days, 182 or more; non-resident in 10 of the 10 years before
- 2028-29RNOR, ends 31 Mar 2029365 days, 182 or more; non-resident in 9 of the 10 years before
- 2029-30ROR from 1 Apr 2029365 days, 182 or more; non-resident in 8 of the 10 years before and 785 days in the 7 before
2 RNOR tax years from 2027-28, ending on 31 March 2029; ROR from 1 April 2029. Indian rules as published in the Income-tax Act, 2025 (read on 2 October 2026); check with a Chartered Accountant.
How each tax year is tested
| Tax year | Days in India | Days, 4 yrs before | NR years of 10 before | Days, 7 yrs before | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 30 | 120 | 8 of 10 | 210 | NR |
| 2026-27 | 30 | 120 | 9 of 10 | 210 | NR |
| 2027-28 | 270 | 120 | 10 of 10 | 210 | RNOR |
| 2028-29 | 365 | 360 | 9 of 10 | 450 | RNOR |
| 2029-30 | 365 | 695 | 8 of 10 | 785 | ROR |
Resident at 182 days, or 60 days with 365 in the four years before (for a visitor from abroad, 182 only, or 120 days with Indian income over ₹15 lakh); a resident is RNOR when non-resident in 9 of the 10 years before or in India 729 days or fewer in the 7 before. The first year after the return here is 2027-28: RNOR.
What people time before RNOR ends
| When | What | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| On return (2027-28) | NRE accounts: should be designated as resident accounts, or the funds may be moved to an RFC (foreign-currency) account, at your option | RBI FAQ, accounts of non-residents |
| On return | NRO accounts: redesignated as resident accounts | RBI FAQ, accounts of non-residents |
| On return | FCNR(B) deposits: may run to maturity at the contracted rate, then become resident rupee or RFC deposits | RBI FAQ, accounts of non-residents |
| Until 31 Mar 2029 | US share and fund sales, 401(k) and IRA withdrawals, US rent: income arising abroad is left out in India unless received in India or from a business controlled in, or a profession set up in, India | Income-tax Act, 2025, s.5(1)(c) |
| From 1 Apr 2029 | Income from everywhere is taxed in India | Income-tax Act, 2025, s.5(1) |
| Every year | US citizens and green-card holders stay taxed by the US on worldwide income; after leaving, an H-1B holder is a nonresident alien taxed by the US on US income such as 401(k) payouts | IRS Publication 519 |
In your 2 RNOR years, until 31 March 2029, India taxes income that arises or is received in India; income that arises and is received abroad is left out unless it comes from a business controlled in or a profession set up in India. This lists what people time; it is not advice.
What India taxes in each status
| Income | NR | RNOR | ROR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arises in India, or received in India | Taxed | Taxed | Taxed |
| Arises abroad and received abroad | Not taxed | Not taxed | Taxed |
| Arises abroad, from a business controlled in or profession set up in India | Not taxed | Taxed | Taxed |
Section 5 of the Income-tax Act, 2025: a resident is taxed on income from everywhere, an RNOR leaves out income arising outside India unless it comes from a business controlled in or a profession set up in India, and a non-resident is taxed only on income arising or received in India. Tax treaties and exemptions are not shown.
What moves the needle
Each row re-runs the calculation with one change. Click to apply.How it's computed
FORMULA
Resident (s.6(2)) = at least 182 days in the tax year, OR at least 60 days and at least 365 days in the 4 tax years before
Living abroad and visiting, a citizen or person of Indian origin (s.6(4), 6(5)): 182 days only, or 120 days + 365 if Indian income is over ₹15 lakh
RNOR (s.6(13), formerly s.6(6) of the 1961 Act) = resident AND (non-resident in 9 of the 10 tax years before OR at most 729 days in India in the 7 before)
ROR = resident and not RNOR · NR = not resident
- Indian rules are the Income-tax Act, 2025 (in force from 1 April 2026), section 6 as published on incometaxindia.gov.in and read on 2 October 2026. A tax year is 1 April to 31 March. Check your own status with a Chartered Accountant.
- Years before the 10 tax years abroad are treated as years you lived in India all year, and years after the one you move back as years you live in India all year. Each year abroad is tested as a visit, at your average of 30 days unless you entered the days year by year.
- The year you move back is tested as moving back for good (182 days, or 60 days with 365 in the four years before), not as a visit. The year you left India is tested like your other years abroad; if you left for a job and were in India 60 to 181 days that year, section 6(3) applies to it.
- Deemed residency (section 6(7)) applies only if you say you were not taxed as a resident where you lived; a US tax resident is. How a day of arrival or departure is counted is not settled by the Act; use your passport stamps and ask a Chartered Accountant about the edge days.
- Tax residency under the Income-tax Act is not the same as residency under FEMA, which decides your bank accounts: the RBI’s FAQ has NRE accounts designated as resident accounts (or the funds moved to an RFC account) on your return, and lets you designate NRO accounts as resident accounts to take up a job or on a change in residential status, whatever your tax status.
- No tax is computed. Tax treaties, exemptions, Indian reporting of foreign assets and the US side are not modelled beyond the notes on this page.
WORKED EXAMPLE · SAMPLE NUMBERS
2027-28: 270 days, 182 or more; non-resident in 10 of the 10 years before, so RNOR. 2028-29: 365 days, 182 or more; non-resident in 9 of the 10 years before, so RNOR. 2029-30: 365 days, 182 or more; non-resident in 8 of the 10 years before and 785 days in the 7 before, so ROR. RNOR ends on 31 March 2029.
SOURCES
[1]Income-tax Act, 2025, section 6: Residence in India (read 2 October 2026)Income Tax Department, Government of India[2]Income-tax Act, 2025, section 5: Scope of total income (read 2 October 2026)Income Tax Department, Government of India[3]FAQs: Accounts in India by Non-residents (as on January 16, 2025)Reserve Bank of India[4]Master Direction – Deposits and Accounts, Resident Foreign Currency (RFC) AccountReserve Bank of India[5]Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for AliensInternal Revenue ServiceHSBuilt by Hussain Sehorewala · checked against worked examples · Oct 2, 2026
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Questions about this result
RNOR (resident but not ordinarily resident) is a resident of India for tax who, in that tax year, was a non-resident in 9 of the 10 tax years before, or was in India 729 days or fewer in the 7 tax years before. It is section 6(13) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (section 6(6) of the 1961 Act). A resident who meets neither is ROR, resident and ordinarily resident. This is the Act as published in 2026; check your own case with a Chartered Accountant.
It depends on your days in India, year by year. For someone who lived abroad for most of the last ten years and visited briefly, RNOR usually covers the tax year of return and the next one, and a third year when the return year has few days in India. Landing late in a tax year can make that year non-resident and move the RNOR years later. Someone abroad only a few years may have no RNOR year at all.
Under section 5(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, income that arises outside India is left out of an RNOR’s total income unless it comes from a business controlled in or a profession set up in India; income received in India is taxed whatever the status. Once you are ROR, income from everywhere is taxed in India. The US side does not change with Indian status: US withholding on a 401(k) payout still applies.
The Reserve Bank of India’s FAQ (16 January 2025) says NRE accounts should be designated as resident accounts, or the funds may be moved to a Resident Foreign Currency (RFC) account, immediately on return to take up a job or on a change in residential status. NRO accounts may be redesignated as resident accounts. FCNR(B) deposits may run to maturity at the contracted rate and then become resident rupee or RFC deposits.
No. RNOR and ROR are tax statuses under the Income-tax Act and depend on days in India. Your bank and investment accounts follow residency under FEMA, the foreign exchange law, which the RBI applies from your return to take up a job or on a change in residential status. You can be RNOR for tax and already a resident for your accounts.
No. A US citizen or green-card holder is taxed by the US on worldwide income wherever they live. Someone on an H-1B or other visa who leaves the US becomes a nonresident alien after leaving, usually with a dual-status year, and is then taxed by the US on US-source income such as 401(k) payouts (IRS Publication 519).
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