India — 182-Day Tax Residency Rule
Part of the guide Tax Residency vs Domicile vs Residence Permit: What Each One Means and Where They Conflict
Check your own dates: India Residential Status Calculator
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 2025
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, 2025 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(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 — which replaced the Income-tax Act, 1961 for tax years beginning on or after 1 April 2026, carrying the old Section 6 tests over unchanged — an individual is resident in India for a tax year (the 1 April – 31 March 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
- 1Add up every day you are physically present in India during the financial year (1 April to 31 March).
- 2The days do not need to be continuous — they can be spread across multiple visits within the same financial year.
- 3The Act does not say how arrival and departure days are treated, so count both as days in India to be safe.
- 4The count resets to zero at the start of each new financial year on 1 April; it is not a rolling 12-month window.
- 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. To apply every test — including the 120-day rule and RNOR routes — to your own numbers, use the free India residential status calculator.
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.
- The test does not apply to an Indian citizen who leaves India in the tax year for employment outside India or as a crew member of an Indian ship (Section 6(3)), nor to an Indian citizen or person of Indian origin who lives outside India and comes on a visit (Section 6(4)). For them, only the 182-day test counts.
- Exception to the visitor carve-out: if the visiting citizen or person of Indian origin has total income, other than income from foreign sources, above ₹15 lakh, the test applies with 120 days in place of 60 (Section 6(5)).
Examples
Example 1 — clearly resident by days
You work remotely from Goa from 1 May to 30 November, 214 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 are neither an Indian citizen nor a person of Indian origin. 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. (A visiting Indian citizen or person of Indian origin with the same days would stay non-resident: the 60-day limb would not apply to them, or would need 120 days if their income other than from foreign sources exceeded ₹15 lakh.)
Example 3 — an NRI on the relaxed limit
You are an NRI — an Indian citizen living abroad — who visits family for 150 days this year, with income other than from foreign sources of ₹15 lakh or less. Because the 60-day limb does not apply to visiting Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin in that position, only the 182-day test counts and you stay non-resident — had the general 60-day limb applied, 150 days this year plus similar visits in earlier years 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 (Section 6(7)) 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 does not apply to Indian citizens leaving India in the year for employment abroad or as crew of an Indian ship, nor to Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin visiting from abroad. For visitors whose income, other than from foreign sources, exceeds ₹15 lakh, it applies with 120 days instead of 60.
- 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
The financial year — 1 April to 31 March — not the January-to-December calendar year. This trips up many newcomers, and the count resets to zero every 1 April rather than rolling across 12 months.
No. A second test can make you resident on far fewer days: 60+ days in India this year combined with 365+ days across the previous four financial years. Deemed-residency rules can also apply to certain Indian citizens.
The Act counts days the individual "is in India" but does not say how the day of arrival or departure is treated. Counting both as days in India is the conservative approach.
Once you are a resident, a further test decides whether you are Resident and Ordinarily Resident (taxed on worldwide income) or Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR), whose foreign income is largely outside the Indian net. Non-residents are taxed only on India-sourced income.
Yes. If you are an Indian citizen who leaves India during the tax year for employment outside India (or as a crew member of an Indian ship), the 60-day limb of the second test does not apply to you for that year, so only the 182-day test can make you resident (Section 6(3)). The 60-day limb is also switched off for Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin who live outside India and come on a visit (Section 6(4)) — but if their total income other than from foreign sources exceeds ₹15 lakh, it applies with 120 days in place of 60 (Section 6(5)). A separate deemed-residency rule can also treat some high-income Indian citizens as resident even if they are not taxed anywhere else.
It depends on your sub-status. An Ordinarily Resident is taxed on worldwide income; an RNOR generally is not. A double-taxation avoidance agreement may then reassign taxing rights between India and the other country.
This rule is tracked automaticallyin
Bounded
- Automatically tracks your days for this rule
- Alerts you before you cross the limit
- Records border-crossing days in both countries
- Runs alongside your other visa, tax, and residency rules
Sources
Related rules
For information only. This page is a plain-English summary of publicly available rules, not tax, legal, or immigration advice. Rules change and depend on your personal circumstances — always confirm with the official source above and a qualified professional before acting.