The NRI Advantage: Job Search Days Count Towards Non-Resident Status

In a landmark judgment, the Mumbai Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has held that days spent abroad in search of employment are to be treated as part of the stay of a non-resident. The judgment brings relief to those who travel overseas in pursuit of employment. The case was of M Gulati, who had claimed himself to be non-resident for the financial year 2015-16 and had spent less than 182 days in India. The IT department contended that 28 days of job hunting cannot be used to count in his non-resident status, but the ITAT overruled this stating that time spent abroad for purposes of employment and even job seeking qualifies for assessing non-resident status.

This judgment is of importance to expatriates since it establishes that solely income earned in India can be taxed for non-residents, and foreign income would not be subject to tax. The ruling reaffirms that the tax status of a person depends entirely on the duration of residence in India.

Source: The Economic Times, Times of India