Indian Government Clarifies Income Tax Returns for NRIs
- Government of India has clarified that Indian expats have to provide their foreign bank account details only if they don’t have a bank account in India, when applying for income tax refunds
- The government’s official statement has put to rest the confusion regarding the new requirement for NRIs to furnish details for their overseas bank accounts in the income tax return forms
- NRIs who are not claiming refund and NRIs who are claiming refund but having a bank account in India need not furnish details of their foreign bank accounts when filing their income tax returns
- A facility has been provided in return utility for reporting of details of bank accounts by NRIs, who do not have bank accounts in India and who are claiming income-tax refund
- An Indian citizen who stays abroad for employment/business or vocation outside India, or stays abroad for an uncertain duration of time is considered a non-resident
- In India, the concept of non-resident is not uniform, but quite different under the exchange control laws, from that prevailing under income-tax laws
- A person would be a resident of India for income-tax purposes if he/she is in India for more than 182 days during the fiscal year, beginning 1st April and ending 31st March of the following calendar year
- Types of non-resident bank accounts in India include Ordinary Non-Resident Accounts [NRO], Non-Resident (External) Accounts [NR(E)], Foreign Currency (Non-Resident) Account (Bank) Scheme [FCNR(B)] and Non-Resident Non-Repatriable Rupee Account [NR(NR)]
- Income tax deductions and exemptions are available for NRIs, such as life insurance premium payment, children’s tuition fee payment, principal repayment on house loan and unit-linked insurance plan (ULIPS)
