Tax on NRI India-sourced income.
Total tax (incl 4% cess)
—
Effective rate
—
Your breakdown
Updates live as you type| Slab | Rate | Tax |
|---|
What India actually taxes for an NRI
The governing principle is source. A Non-Resident Indian is taxed in India only on income that accrues, arises, or is received in India, never on the salary earned and kept abroad. So your Dubai or Singapore paycheck is outside the Indian net, but the rent from your Bengaluru flat, the capital gain on Indian shares or property, the interest on an NRO account, and any India-based consultancy fee are all taxable here. This calculator applies the new-regime slabs for FY 2025-26 plus the 4% health and education cess to your India-sourced taxable income, and crucially it does not apply the Section 87A rebate, because non-residents are not entitled to it.
The 87A gap that surprises returning Indians
A resident with 12 lakh of income pays zero tax thanks to the 87A rebate. An NRI with the same 12 lakh of India income does not get that rebate, so tax starts biting much earlier. This is the most important difference the tool captures, and it catches a lot of people who assume NRI status is purely advantageous. It is not. You lose the rebate, and on top of that, tax is collected from you up front through TDS.
Tax on 15 lakh of Indian rental and capital-gains income
Say an NRI has 15 lakh of taxable India income for the year. The new-regime slabs build up as below, and there is no rebate to knock it down.
The tax is 1,09,200, an effective rate of 7.28%. The bars show the slab build-up that gets you there.
TDS, refunds, and the DTAA shield
Here is where the practical pain lives. Tax on an NRI’s India income is usually deducted at source before you see the money, and often at flat rates higher than your eventual slab liability. A tenant paying rent above 50,000 a month to an NRI must deduct TDS under Section 195, and a buyer of property from an NRI deducts TDS on the sale consideration. If too much was withheld, the only way to get it back is to file an Indian return and claim a refund, which is one big reason NRIs should file even when they think they owe nothing. You can also use the relevant Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement between India and your country of residence, claiming a lower treaty rate or a foreign tax credit, but to access treaty benefits you need a Tax Residency Certificate from your resident country and to file Form 10F.
Who counts as an NRI for tax in a given year?
Residential status is decided year by year on days of physical presence in India, not on your passport or visa. Broadly, you are non-resident if you are in India for fewer than 182 days in the financial year, with a tighter 120-day test for Indian citizens or persons of Indian origin whose India income exceeds 15 lakh. There is also a deemed-resident rule for high-income Indian citizens not taxed anywhere else. Count your days carefully, because crossing a threshold flips your entire tax treatment.
Which deductions can an NRI still claim?
Under the old regime an NRI can claim some 80C items like life insurance premiums, ELSS, and children’s tuition, and 80D health insurance and 80G donations, but cannot claim PPF or NSC investments or the disability-related sections. Under the new regime, as for residents, those deductions fall away. NRIs also cannot set off certain losses or carry the basic exemption against special-rate capital gains in the way residents sometimes can.