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A very common dilemma that NRIs face while buying property in India – whether to buy on own name or on parents’ name. Today, I will write on this issue – reasons why NRIs prefer registering properties on parents’ name, possible legal and succession related implications and finally my view. Common reasons NRI buy property…

Till a person is a resident of India, he can have the regular resident savings accounts and fixed deposits. However, as per the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), a person who becomes resident out of India (or in simple terms, an NRI) cannot have these basic resident accounts. He has to “re-designate” these accounts as…

If you are an OCI and are living and working in India, you can face confusion at each step of the way in your financial dealings in India. In this post, I am trying to address some of the questions of such OCIs in a form of a FAQ. Please note that for the purpose…

Last month, I was working on a case of an Ireland based Person of Indian Origin (PIO) who had returned back to India. He had worked in Ireland for good many years and accumulated a good amount of pension. This pension is termed as occupational pension in Ireland. It took him some time to settle…

When we speak of business income of a foreign enterprise in India, there is this concept of “business connection” under Section 9 of the Income Tax Act. In simple words, concept of “business connection” means that any income through a business connection is taxable in India. This is a very inclusive and wide definition whereby…

Lot of NRIs based out of USA return back to India after some years. As a result of this, in the year of return, they might have worked in USA for some months & at the same time, lived in India for more than 182 days in the year. Since the person has lived >182…

Today, India is pretty much everywhere across the globe. If you follow cricket, then a live testimony of this fact could be seen in the recently concluded India vs Australia series where looking at the crowds, it was difficult to fathom whether the match was being played in Australia or India!   Speaking of hard…

For an NRI who returns back to India, generally speaking (and it can differ from case to case), his residential status remains as a “Resident and Not Ordinarily Resident” (RNOR) for a couple of years post his return. In most of the cases, such NRIs may have investments outside India and they’re not sure what…

Lot of returning NRIs prefer to create a private trust in a low tax jurisdiction and transfer their assets out of their overseas earnings into that trust, for beneficiaries who are generally children and family members. In my earlier post, I’ve discussed the taxation of private trust in India. However, some specific tax issues exist…

Today, I will share one important tax provision that is often neglected and ignored because of not being aware about it and that is “taxability of gifts”. Effective October 1, 2009, as per Section 56(2)(vii)/(viia))/(viib) of Income Tax Act, 1961, if an individual/ HUF receives a sum of money or property without consideration or with…