What's Changing for NRIs from April 2026

The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaces the Income Tax Act, 1961 as India's governing tax law from April 1, 2026. This is a large structural rewrite -- roughly 536 sections across 23 chapters, restructured and renumbered for clarity -- but it was explicitly designed as a simplification and consolidation exercise, not a policy overhaul. For most NRIs, the practical day-to-day rules you already know (residency tests, TDS rates, DTAA relief) carry over largely unchanged; what changes is mostly section numbers, form numbers, and terminology.

The most visible terminology change: "Previous Year" and "Assessment Year" are replaced by a single "Tax Year" concept -- the same April-to-March 12-month period you already know, just referred to by one name instead of two confusing ones. Income earned between April 2026 and March 2027 is simply "Tax Year 2026-27," with no separate assessment-year label needed.

This is the question every NRI asks first, and the reassuring answer is: the core day-count thresholds that determine Resident vs NRI status -- 182 days, the 60/365-day combination, and the 120-day relaxation for Indian citizens/PIOs with India income above ₹15 lakh -- are restated in Section 6 of the new Act using the same figures as the old Section 6. This is not a policy change; it is the same test, renumbered.

One area where this guide is deliberately more cautious: the exact RNOR sub-test figures (non-resident in 9 of the preceding 10 years, or present ≤729 days across the preceding 7 years) were not found explicitly restated under the new Act's section numbering in the sources checked for this article. They are very likely unchanged, given the basic test carried over verbatim -- but if your situation hinges specifically on RNOR status, confirm the exact current section reference with a CA rather than relying on this guide alone.

The most immediately practical change for most NRIs is a wave of form renumbering. The one that affects the most people: Form 15CA (the remitter's declaration) and Form 15CB (the Chartered Accountant's certificate) -- both filed before sending money out of India, covering things like NRO repatriation and property-sale proceeds -- are replaced by Form 145 and Form 146 respectively, for any remittance made on or after April 1, 2026. Remittances completed before that date continue to reference the old form numbers.

Several other commonly-seen forms are also renumbered, with their content and purpose staying the same: Form 16 (salary TDS certificate) becomes Form 130, Form 16A (non-salary TDS certificate) becomes Form 131, Form 26AS (your consolidated tax credit statement) becomes Form 168, and Form 12BB (investment declaration) becomes Form 124. If your bank, employer, or CA hands you a document with an unfamiliar three-digit form number after April 2026, this renumbering is very likely why.

A handful of Budget 2026 provisions specifically affect NRIs, distinct from the Income-tax Act 2025 rewrite itself: the PROI (Person Resident Outside India) shareholding limit in a single listed Indian company was raised from 5% to 10%, and the combined PROI limit from 10% to 24%, effective FY 2026-27. Property-sale TDS gets a procedural simplification from October 1, 2026 -- buyers can use the seller's PAN instead of needing their own TAN for the deduction, which should reduce closing delays (the underlying tax RATES on property sale gains are unchanged; see the Property Sale TDS Estimator on this site for those). TCS on overseas education and medical remittances was also cut, to 2% (from 5%).

This item is flagged as single-source and worth a second check before relying on it for a specific transaction: these Budget 2026 figures were confirmed against one detailed source at the time of writing, not independently cross-checked against a second the way the residency thresholds above were. If any of these specifically affects a transaction you are planning, confirm the current figure with your bank or CA before proceeding.

Worth stating plainly, since "new tax act" headlines can make it sound like everything changed: Section 195 TDS on NRO interest/property/mutual fund gains, the NRE/FCNR interest tax exemption, capital gains rates on property (12.5% long-term, no indexation for NRIs) and on equity/debt mutual funds, DTAA relief mechanics, and Schedule FA foreign-asset reporting obligations all carry over without any rate or rule change. Tax slabs, capital gains rates, and the basic exemption structure are also unchanged.