India — 182-Day Tax Residency Rule

Summary

Day threshold

182 days

Window

Financial year (1 Apr – 31 Mar)

Triggers on

Day 182

Second test

60 days + 365 over 4 prior years

Basis

Section 6, Income Tax Act 1961

If you are physically present in India for 182 days or more during a financial year (1 April to 31 March), Section 6 of the Income Tax Act treats you as an Indian tax resident for that year. To stay outside this test, keep your total days in India at or below 181 — residency is triggered the moment you reach day 182. A separate 60-day / 365-day test can also make you resident on far fewer days, so 181 is not a guaranteed safe harbour.

Who it applies to

This matters most if you are:

• A remote worker, digital nomad, or frequent traveller spending long stretches in India.
• A non-resident Indian (NRI) visiting family for extended periods each year.
• An expat relocating to or from India mid-year, where days straddle the April–March boundary.
• An Indian citizen working abroad whose India visits are creeping up year on year.

The day-count test applies to individuals regardless of nationality — residency here is about physical presence, not citizenship or visa type. Some relaxations and a deemed-residency rule do, however, treat Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin differently.

The rule — and why it exists

Under Section 6 of the Income Tax Act 1961, an individual is resident in India for a financial year if either of the following is true:

• The 182-day test. You are in India for 182 days or more in the financial year (1 April – 31 March).
• The 60-day test. You are in India for 60 days or more in the financial year and 365 days or more in total across the four preceding financial years.

Why it exists: countries use physical presence as a proxy for where your economic life actually sits. The primary 182-day line captures people who effectively live in India for most of the year, while the second, history-based test stops someone from repeatedly spending just under six months each year to sidestep residency while still being present very substantially over time.

Counting the days

1. 1Add up every day you are physically present in India during the financial year (1 April to 31 March).
2. 2The days do not need to be continuous — they can be spread across multiple visits within the same financial year.
3. 3Days of presence are counted, and in practice the days of arrival and departure are both generally treated as days in India.
4. 4The count resets to zero at the start of each new financial year on 1 April; it is not a rolling 12-month window.
5. 5Reaching 182 days in the year makes you a resident for that year.

The financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March, not the calendar year — a distinction that trips up many newcomers who assume a January-to-December count.

The second (60-day) test

The 182-day rule is not the only route to residency. The alternative prong of Section 6 can catch you on far fewer days in a single year:

• You are resident if you spend 60 or more days in India in the current financial year and a total of 365 or more days across the four preceding financial years.
• This depends on your five-year history, so a simple current-year day count cannot flag it — you have to look back four years as well as at this one.
• For Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin visiting India, the 60-day figure is relaxed to 182 days — or to 120 days where Indian-source income exceeds ₹15 lakh.

Examples

Example 1 — clearly resident by days

You work remotely from Goa from May to December, about 210 days in the financial year. You cross 182 days, so you are an Indian tax resident for that year under the primary test.

Example 2 — caught by the second test

You spend only 70 days in India this financial year — comfortably under 182 — but you were also there roughly 100 days a year for the previous four years, well over 365 days in total. The 60-day / 365-day test makes you resident even though you never came close to 182 in any single year.

Example 3 — an NRI on the relaxed limit

You are an NRI who visits family for 150 days this year. Because the 60-day limb is relaxed to 182 days for visiting Indian citizens and PIOs (with no large Indian-source income), you stay non-resident — a general 60-day threshold would have made you resident.

Exceptions & edge cases

• Resident sub-status (RNOR). Being resident is only the first step. A further test splits residents into Ordinarily Resident (taxed on worldwide income) and Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR), whose foreign income is largely kept outside the Indian net.
• Deemed residency. A separate rule can treat certain high-income Indian citizens as resident (as RNOR) if they are not liable to tax in any other country, even without meeting the day tests.
• Relaxed thresholds for citizens and PIOs. The 60-day limb is extended to 182 or 120 days for Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin depending on their Indian-source income.
• Double-taxation avoidance agreements. If you are resident in two countries, the relevant treaty tie-breaker (permanent home → centre of vital interests → habitual abode → nationality) assigns a single treaty residence and divides taxing rights.

Common misconceptions

• "It's the calendar year." No — the count runs over the financial year, 1 April to 31 March, and resets each 1 April.
• "Under 182 days and I'm safe." Not necessarily — the 60-day / 365-day test can make you resident on far fewer days in the current year.
• "Resident means all my worldwide income is taxed." Only if you are Ordinarily Resident. An RNOR's foreign income is generally outside scope.
• "The days have to be one continuous trip." No — you add up every day of presence across all visits in the financial year.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Income Tax Dept — Residential status calculator
• Income Tax Act 1961 — Section 6 (residence in India)