Filing income tax returns in India as a non-resident — step by step

If you have any India-source income — NRO interest, rental, capital gains on shares or property, dividends, or pension — TDS has almost certainly been deducted at source on it during FY 2025–26. Filing your Indian income-tax return is the only way to get the right tax to land: claim DTAA relief, recover excess TDS, set off losses, and build the multi-year record the tax department wants if you ever need to repatriate large sums. This page is the practical step-by-step.

For the underlying framework — residential status, which income is taxable, capital-gains rates, slab structure — read NRI taxation in India — the 2026 framework alongside this page.

When you actually have to file

Filing is mandatory if any of these is true for you in FY 2025–26 (Assessment Year 2026–27):

Total Indian income before deductions exceeds the basic exemption — ₹2,50,000 under the old regime / ₹3,00,000 under the new regime for individuals under 60.
You want to claim a refund of TDS deducted on NRO interest, rent, capital gains, dividends or any other India-source income.
You want to carry forward a capital loss (whether short-term or long-term) for set-off in future years.
You want to claim DTAA-reduced rates on NRO interest, capital gains, royalty or FTS that came in at the full Section 195 / 206AA rate at source.
You hold Indian listed shares through a PIS-linked demat where TDS was deducted on capital gains and you want the LTCG ₹1.25 lakh per FY exemption applied.
You sold Indian property during the year (TDS at 12.5% / 20% would have been deducted by the buyer; the return is how you reconcile the actual capital gain).

Filing is sensible even when not mandatory if any TDS at all has been withheld — it's the only mechanism for the ₹1.25 lakh equity LTCG exemption, slab-rate set-off against the 30%+ flat NRO TDS, treaty-rate adjustment, and protection against future scrutiny over unexplained credits.

The dates that matter for FY 2025–26

Event	Date
Financial year ends	31 March 2026
Form 26AS / AIS / TIS finalised on portal	typically late June 2026
Original due date for ITR (no audit)	31 July 2026
Due date if tax audit applies (Section 44AB)	31 October 2026
Belated / revised return final cut-off	31 December 2026
Updated return (ITR-U) cut-off	31 March 2030 (FY 2025–26)

The 31 July cut-off matters because filing late triggers Section 234F late fee (₹5,000 if income > ₹5 lakh, else ₹1,000), Section 234A interest (1% per month on tax due), and disqualifies you from carrying forward losses other than house-property loss.

Prerequisites — get these in place first

Skip this section at your peril. Almost every "the portal won't let me file" issue an NRI hits traces back to one of these missing.

Active PAN. Check status at incometax.gov.in → Quick Links → Verify PAN Status. NRIs are exempt from Aadhaar-PAN linking under the 1 July 2017 notification, so a PAN flagged "inoperative" for non-linking can be reactivated by submitting Form ITR-1 along with a request citing your NRI status. Without an active PAN every subsequent step fails. See PAN for NRIs.
Registered Indian or foreign mobile number on the e-filing portal. The portal accepts foreign numbers — make sure the country code is right.
Active email linked to your PAN profile. Most OTPs land here.
Pre-validated bank account for refund. The portal refunds only to a pre-validated, PAN-linked NRO or NRE savings account (FCNR and NRE FD accounts cannot be used directly). Pre-validation is a one-click flow under My Profile → My Bank Account; it can take 24–48 hours to be confirmed. Without pre-validation, your refund sits in limbo.
Form 26AS, AIS and TIS downloaded and reconciled.
- Form 26AS — all TDS / TCS deducted against your PAN.
- AIS (Annual Information Statement) — comprehensive view including interest, dividends, mutual fund transactions, securities trades, foreign remittances received in India.
- TIS (Taxpayer Information Summary) — the AIS condensed into a single number per category, which is what auto-populates your ITR.
- All three are at Services → AIS on the portal.
- Reconcile against your own records before filing — the AIS is right roughly 95% of the time but the missing 5% causes most notices.
TRC + Form 10F if claiming DTAA. The Tax Residency Certificate from your country's tax authority is annual. Form 10F is now mandatory online via the e-filing portal — paper filings are no longer accepted (rule effective 1 October 2023). File Form 10F before filing the ITR if you're invoking treaty rates.
E-verification path picked. See the e-verification section below — at least one path needs to work for you.
PAN-linked Indian email and phone for digital signature if you're using DSC for verification.
Net banking access to an Indian bank account if you need to pay self-assessment tax via Challan 280.

The right ITR form

Your situation	Form
Most NRIs — salary, NRO interest, dividends, capital gains, one or more house properties	ITR-2
You have business or professional income in India	ITR-3
You have only Indian salary and one house property, no foreign assets, no capital gains — and resident status	ITR-1 (not available to NRIs — not even if income < ₹50L)
Presumptive business taxation under Section 44AD / 44ADA	ITR-4 (not available to NRIs)
Charitable trust / political party	ITR-7

For 99% of NRIs the answer is ITR-2.

Step-by-step on incometax.gov.in

The walkthrough below assumes ITR-2 for AY 2026–27 in the online utility (the cleaner path for most NRIs; ITR-2 also has an offline JSON utility if you prefer, but the online version pre-fills more reliably).

Step 1 — Log in

Go to incometax.gov.in. Click Login. User ID = your PAN (in capitals). Password = your portal password (not the income-tax department password of any older system). If you've forgotten it, Forgot Password sends an OTP to your registered email + mobile.

If this is your first time: click Register on the home page, choose Taxpayer, enter PAN, validate via Aadhaar OTP (if you have one) or via PAN + name + date of birth + mobile + email. The portal does not require Aadhaar for an NRI to register.

Step 2 — Open the filing flow

Top menu: e-File → Income Tax Returns → File Income Tax Return. Choose:

Assessment Year: 2026–27
Mode of Filing: Online
Status: Individual
ITR Form: ITR-2
Reason for filing: select Taxable income > basic exemption (the most common reason) or Refund claim if income is below threshold but TDS was deducted.

Click Let's Get Started.

Step 3 — Personal information

This is where the NRI-specific questions land.

Residential Status: select Non-Resident. The portal will then ask:
- Days in India during FY 2025–26
- Days in India during the four preceding FYs (2024–25, 2023–24, 2022–23, 2021–22)
- Whether you're a citizen of India / Person of Indian Origin
- Total Indian income excluding foreign-source income (for the Section 6(1A) deemed-resident check — applies if Indian income exceeds ₹15 lakh and you're not tax-resident anywhere else)
Address: the address that the tax department will use for correspondence. Foreign addresses are accepted in full.
Aadhaar number: if you don't have one, leave blank (NRIs are exempt). Don't fabricate one.
Bank accounts: add your pre-validated NRO / NRE savings account. Tick the primary refund account box against the one you want refunds credited to.

The single most common filing error is selecting "Resident" or "Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident" by accident — every downstream computation assumes the wrong scope and your return will need to be revised. Confirm Non-Resident before proceeding.

Step 4 — Gross total income — schedule by schedule

ITR-2 has 20+ schedules. NRIs touch a small subset; the rest are skipped. Here's what to fill and what to leave alone.

Schedule S — Salary. Only if you had Indian-source salary in FY 2025–26 (e.g., from an Indian employer for services rendered in India before becoming NRI, or for any portion of work done in India during the year). If your entire salary is foreign-source for foreign work, it does not go here.

Schedule HP — Income from House Property. For each Indian property: type (let-out / self-occupied / deemed let-out), gross annual value, municipal tax paid, 30% standard deduction (auto-computed), interest on housing loan (Section 24(b), max ₹2 lakh for self-occupied). NRIs can claim Section 24(b) the same as residents.

Schedule CG — Capital Gains. The most error-prone schedule for NRIs. Split into:

Section 111A — STCG on listed equity / equity MF / business trust units — 20% post-23-July-2024.
Section 112A — LTCG on listed equity / equity MF / business trust units — 12.5% above ₹1.25 lakh exemption, post-23-July-2024.
Section 112 — LTCG on other assets (debt MF, gold, real estate, unlisted shares) — 12.5% post-23-July-2024, no indexation under the new regime.
Section 50C / 50CA — sale of immovable property where consideration is below the stamp-duty value.

For each transaction enter date of purchase, date of sale, sale consideration, expenses on transfer, cost of acquisition, and cost of improvement. The portal computes the gain. Match the TDS deducted by the buyer (if property) or the broker (if shares) to Form 26AS — any mismatch flags a notice.

If you sold shares as an NRI through a PIS account, the bank withholds TDS at flat rates regardless of the ₹1.25 lakh exemption. The exemption gets applied in the return — that's how you recover the over-withholding.

Schedule OS — Income from Other Sources.

NRO savings interest
NRO FD interest
Resident savings / FD interest (if any)
Dividend income
Family pension
Lottery / gambling winnings (taxed at flat 30% under Section 115BB)

NRE and FCNR(B) interest is exempt under Section 10 — do not include here. (Some preparers list it under "Exempt income" for completeness; the return won't reject either way.)

Schedule SI — Special Income / Special Rate Income. Critical for NRIs. This is where capital gains taxed at flat rates (Section 111A 20%, 112A 12.5%, 112 12.5%) and NRO interest, royalty, FTS taxed under Chapter XII-A get mapped to their special rates instead of slab rates. If Schedule SI is not filled correctly, the portal applies slab rates and you over-pay.

Schedule FSI — Foreign Source Income / Schedule TR — Tax Relief / Schedule FA — Foreign Assets. Skip all three as a Non-Resident. These are for residents to disclose foreign income, claim foreign tax credit, and report foreign assets respectively. The portal correctly hides them once you've selected Non-Resident in the personal-info step. If they appear, your residential status is set wrong.

Schedule 80G / 80D / 80E / 80TTA / 80C deductions. Available to NRIs in limited form:

Section 80C (₹1.5 lakh) — not available on PPF contributions (NRIs can't contribute) but is available on ELSS, life insurance premium, principal repayment on housing loan, tuition fees of children studying in India.
Section 80D (health insurance premium) — available for policies on self / spouse / dependent children / parents.
Section 80E (education loan interest) — available.
Section 80G (donations) — available for donations to eligible Indian institutions.
Section 80TTA (savings interest, ₹10,000 deduction) — not available to NRIs on NRO savings interest.
Section 80TTB (senior citizen interest) — not available to NRIs.

The new tax regime (Section 115BAC) — which is the default from FY 2023–24 onwards — disallows most of these deductions in exchange for lower slab rates. Most NRIs are better off sticking with the old regime, which keeps the deductions intact, because the bulk of NRI income tends to be NRO interest taxed at flat 30% under Section 195 anyway. Pick the regime in the Personal Information step before filling Schedule VI-A.

Schedule AL — Assets and Liabilities. Required only if total income exceeds ₹50 lakh. List Indian assets (immovable property, jewellery, vehicles, bank balances, shares, financial assets, loans given) and liabilities. Foreign assets are not reported here for non-residents.

Schedule TDS / TCS. Auto-populated from Form 26AS. Verify each entry matches your records — TAN of deductor, amount, section. If any TDS appears in 26AS but not in the schedule, add it manually. If a TDS entry is wrong (e.g., TDS deducted by buyer of property reported in wrong year), get the deductor to correct via revised TDS return; don't try to fix it in your ITR.

Step 5 — Tax computation and verification

The portal auto-computes tax payable based on the schedules filled. Review:

Tax on slab income (under chosen regime).
Tax on special-rate income (Schedule SI).
Surcharge (10% if total income > ₹50 lakh, 15% if > ₹1 crore, 25% if > ₹2 crore, 37% if > ₹5 crore — the 37% rate is removed under the new regime, capped at 25%).
Health and education cess (4% on tax + surcharge).
Less: TDS already deducted (Schedule TDS).
Less: Self-assessment tax paid (Schedule IT).
Less: Foreign tax credit (only if resident; skip).
Net tax payable / refundable.

If the result shows tax payable, you need to pay before filing — see Step 6. If refundable, proceed to Step 7.

Step 6 — Pay self-assessment tax (only if tax due)

Open a new tab to incometax.gov.in → e-Pay Tax.

Choose Income Tax → AY 2026–27 → Self-Assessment Tax (300)
Enter PAN, the tax payable, surcharge and cess separately
Choose payment via net banking of an Indian bank, debit card, or UPI (NEFT / RTGS also work for any amount)
Pay; download the CIN-stamped challan (Challan 280)
Back in the ITR, under Schedule IT, enter BSR code, challan serial number, date and amount

The portal does not let you file with tax due un-paid. Pay first, then file.

Step 7 — Submit the return

Click Preview Return. Read every page. The most common "surprise" is a deduction you forgot to claim, or a TDS entry that didn't pull through — easier to fix here than after submission.

Click Validate. Fix any errors flagged. Click Submit.

The portal generates an Acknowledgement Number (ITR-V). Download the PDF.

You're not done yet. The return is filed but unverified. You have 30 days from submission to e-verify.

Step 8 — E-verify the return (within 30 days)

Five paths, in order of convenience for an NRI:

Aadhaar OTP — only if you have a PAN-linked Aadhaar. Simplest if available. Most NRIs don't.
EVC via Net Banking — log in to your Indian bank's net banking, look for Income Tax Filing → Generate EVC. Most major banks (SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis, Kotak, IDFC First) support this. Works with NRO net banking. The EVC is a 10-digit code that's valid for 72 hours.
EVC via Pre-Validated Bank Account — Services → Generate EVC on the e-filing portal, using the same pre-validated NRO / NRE account. EVC sent to registered email and mobile.
EVC via Demat Account — pre-validated demat account with NSDL or CDSL.
Send signed ITR-V to CPC Bengaluru — physical post. Print the ITR-V (page 1 only, two-sided not allowed), sign in blue ink in the box, and mail by ordinary post or speed post (not courier) to:

Centralized Processing Center, Income Tax Department, Bengaluru — 560500, Karnataka, India.

Must reach within 30 days of e-filing. Track via the acknowledgement number under e-File → Income Tax Returns → View Filed Returns. This is the path most NRIs end up using if no Indian net-banking access.

Step 9 — Track refund (if applicable)

Refunds are processed by CPC Bengaluru. Track at Services → Refund Status or on the TIN-NSDL refund portal. Typical timelines:

Return processed: 15–60 days after e-verification
Refund credited: 7–14 days after processing

Refund interest under Section 244A at 0.5% per month applies if refund is delayed beyond the financial year.

DTAA mechanics inside the return

If you're claiming a treaty rate on NRO interest, capital gains, royalty or FTS — the rate that applies instead of the domestic Section 195 rate — three things must line up:

TRC for the year issued by your country's tax authority.
Form 10F filed online on the e-filing portal before the ITR (rule effective 1 October 2023; paper Form 10F is no longer accepted).
Inside the ITR, the income is reported in the relevant schedule (OS for interest, CG for capital gains), and the special rate is selected in Schedule SI — picking the DTAA rate (e.g., 15% for US NRO interest under the India-US treaty Article 11) instead of the 30%+ domestic rate.

The TRC and Form 10F are not uploaded with the return — they are kept for production on assessment / scrutiny. Most CPC processing accepts the DTAA rate based on the schedule entry alone; only ~5% of returns get scrutinised on this point.

For the treaty rates by country and the underlying mechanics, see DTAA — how it works.

Common mistakes — and how each one fails

Picking "Resident" instead of "Non-Resident" in personal info. Schedules FA / FSI / TR appear; foreign income gets pulled into scope; entire return invalid. Fix: revised return.
Filing without pre-validating the bank account. Refund is processed but never credited; sits in CPC's "refund failure" queue. Fix: pre-validate, then request reissue via Services → Refund Reissue.
Forgetting Schedule SI for capital gains at special rates. Portal applies slab rate; you over-pay. Fix: revised return.
Claiming Section 80TTA on NRO interest. Disallowed for NRIs; will be removed on processing with adjustment intimation under Section 143(1).
Reporting NRE / FCNR interest as taxable under Schedule OS. It's exempt — list under Exempt Income if you want it shown, not OS.
Filing the ITR before Form 10F is on record for DTAA claims. CPC may apply the domestic 30% rate by default. Fix: file Form 10F first, then file ITR.
Missing 31 July without realising losses can't be carried forward. Section 234F late fee is small; the larger cost is forfeiting the carry-forward.
Verifying after 30 days. The return becomes invalid as if never filed; you have to file fresh as a belated return, with all the Section 234F / 234A / no-loss-carry-forward consequences.
Filing in INR but holding records in foreign currency. Conversion uses the SBI TT buying rate as on the last day of each month for income / expense recognition, not your actual realised rate. The SBI rate is published on the portal under Resources → Foreign Exchange Rates.
Not filing at all because "no tax was due", then later needing to repatriate from NRO above the USD 1 million / FY limit. The CA certificate (Form 15CB) for repatriation references the prior years' returns. No returns = no clean certificate = stuck balance.

Penalties and post-filing options

Section 234F late fee — ₹5,000 if total income > ₹5 lakh; ₹1,000 otherwise. Levied automatically on any return filed after 31 July.
Section 234A interest — 1% per month on tax due, from 1 August until date of filing.
Section 234B interest — 1% per month if advance tax paid in the year was less than 90% of assessed tax.
Section 234C interest — 1% per month for shortfall in quarterly advance-tax instalments.
Revised return — under Section 139(5), you can revise a filed return any number of times until 31 December 2026 for AY 2026–27. Use e-File → Income Tax Returns → File Revised Return. The acknowledgement of the original return is the reference.
Updated return (ITR-U) — under Section 139(8A), allows filing or correcting any return for up to 4 years from end of relevant AY (so until 31 March 2030 for AY 2026–27), with an additional tax of 25–70% of the tax + interest depending on how late. Useful only if you missed the belated-return cut-off.
Notice under Section 143(1) — auto-generated intimation after CPC processes your return, showing differences. If the differences favour you, refund is credited; if they go against you, you have 30 days to reply or pay.
Notice under Section 139(9) — defective return — usually for missing schedules, mis-mapped TDS, or schedule-SI errors. 15 days to respond.

A clean filing checklist

Print this; tick it off each year.

Summary

Filing is mandatory above the basic-exemption income and almost always worth it even below — refund of TDS, DTAA rate adjustment, loss carry-forward, clean multi-year record for repatriation.
Due date 31 July 2026 for FY 2025–26. Belated by 31 December 2026. Updated return (ITR-U) by 31 March 2030.
ITR-2 is the form for almost every NRI. ITR-1 and ITR-4 are not available to NRIs at all.
Pre-validate the bank account before filing — refunds go nowhere otherwise.
Form 10F online is now mandatory for any DTAA claim; paper filings rejected since October 2023.
Schedule SI is the schedule NRIs most often fill wrong; it's how special-rate income (capital gains, NRO interest under DTAA) gets the right rate instead of the slab rate.
Schedules FA / FSI / TR are for residents only — if the portal shows them, your residential status is set wrong.
E-verify within 30 days or the return is treated as never filed.
Old regime usually beats new regime for NRIs because most NRI income is special-rate or NRO interest at flat 30% — the slab structure matters less and the deductions matter more.

For the framework behind which income is taxable and at what rate, see NRI taxation in India — the 2026 framework. For residential status mechanics, see residential status under Section 6. For DTAA rate tables and treaty mechanics, see DTAA — how it works. For TDS deduction by payer (banks, brokers, tenants, property buyers), see TDS on NRI income and banking TDS reference. For PAN issues that block filing, see PAN for NRIs. For US-resident NRIs needing to coordinate with US filing, see US tax filing for NRIs.