IN · rule v2026.1 · last verified 2026-08-29
Indian residential status calculator
Work out your Indian residential status: Resident, RNOR or Non-resident, with the limb that decided it and how far you are from the next threshold.
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is transmitted.
Enter the days you were in India in each financial year. The Indian financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March.
Enter your days in India to evaluate.
Indian residential status: resident, RNOR and non-resident explains the rule in full.
The calculator above asks for your days in India per financial year and reports your status along with the limb that decided it. It runs the same engine as the Residay app.
The financial year is not the calendar year
India’s tax year runs from 1 April to 31 March. Everything below is counted within that year, and the four-year lookback is counted in the same units. People arriving from calendar-year jurisdictions routinely misplace a trip by a whole year because of this.
IN · v2026.1
Indian residential status
You are resident in India for a financial year (1 April to 31 March) if you spend at least 182 days in India that year, or at least 60 days that year plus at least 365 days across the preceding four years. The 60-day limb rises to 182 days for Indian citizens leaving for employment or as crew, and sits at 120 days for visiting citizens and persons of Indian origin whose Indian income exceeds the statutory threshold. Residents who were non-resident in nine of the preceding ten years, or present for 729 days or fewer across the preceding seven, are Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident and are taxed only on Indian income.
| Reference period | tax year (from 1/4) |
|---|---|
| Territory | 1 states counted together |
How days are counted
- Any part of a day present counts as a full day.
The two limbs
You are resident for the year if either limb is satisfied.
Limb one is a straight count: at least 182 days in India during the financial year.
Limb two combines the current year with your recent history: at least 60 days this year and at least 365 days across the 4 preceding years.
The aggregate in limb two excludes the current year, which is the detail that makes this rule awkward to model and easy to miscalculate by hand. It is a total across those preceding years, not a rolling window and not an average.
Two relaxations of limb two
The second limb’s current-year threshold moves for two groups, and both changes are generous:
- An Indian citizen leaving India for employment abroad, or as a member of the crew of an Indian ship, gets 182 days instead. In practice this means the second limb rarely catches someone in their year of departure.
- A visiting citizen or person of Indian origin gets the same relaxed threshold, unless their Indian-source income exceeds the statutory threshold, in which case it is 120 days.
The second of these is the one that reshaped planning for high-income non-residents visiting India, and it is why the calculator asks about income rather than days alone.
RNOR is where the value sits
Residents are not a single class. Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident is a resident status with a much narrower tax base — Indian income is taxable, foreign income generally is not — and there are two routes into it: being non-resident in nine or more of the ten preceding years, or spending 729 days or fewer in India across the seven preceding years.
For someone returning to India after a long period abroad, RNOR usually applies for the first couple of years and then lapses. Those transition years are the most consequential planning window most returnees have, and the reason to know your status in advance rather than at filing time.
What the calculator does not do
It decides status from days and the answers you give it. It does not compute your tax, apply a treaty tie-breaker, or account for the specifics of the deemed-residency provisions beyond the question it asks. Where a treaty applies, residence for treaty purposes can differ from residence under domestic law, and that is a question for an adviser rather than a calculator.
Last reviewed 2026-08-29
Not tax or legal advice. Verify with a qualified professional.
Common questions
How do I calculate my residential status in India?
Two limbs make you resident for a financial year, which runs 1 April to 31 March. Either you were in India for at least 182 days that year, or you were there at least 60 days that year and at least 365 days across the four preceding years. Residents are then split into Ordinarily Resident and Not Ordinarily Resident.
What is RNOR status and why does it matter?
Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident is a resident status with a narrower tax base: you are taxed on Indian income but generally not on foreign income. It applies if you were non-resident in nine or more of the ten preceding years, or spent 729 days or fewer in India across the preceding seven. For someone returning to India after years abroad it is usually the most valuable status available, and it lasts only a couple of years.
How many days can an NRI stay in India?
It depends on your income and why you are here. The general second limb engages at 60 days, but an Indian citizen who left for employment abroad gets 182 days instead, and a visiting citizen or person of Indian origin gets 120 days if their Indian income exceeds 15 lakh rupees and 182 days if it does not.
Does the Indian tax year follow the calendar year?
No. The financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March, so a single trip can straddle two years of counting. This is a common source of error for people used to calendar-year jurisdictions.
What is deemed residency?
An Indian citizen with Indian income above the threshold who is not liable to tax in any other country by reason of domicile or residence is deemed resident regardless of how many days they spent in India — including none at all. Deemed residents are always RNOR.