Residential status of a citizen leaving India for employment, and the incidence of tax

Assumptions

1. Both the day of departure and the day of arrival count as days in India.
2. He had never left India before 21st September 2026, so he was in India throughout each earlier year.
3. The rent of ₹6,00,000 is the annual value of the Vadodara property; no municipal taxes are given, so its income is the rent less 30% (sections 21 and 22(1)(a)).

(i) Residential status for tax year 2026-27

He is in India for less than 182 days. He would satisfy the second basic condition (60 days in the year and 365 days in the four preceding years), but a citizen of India who leaves India in the year for employment outside India is resident only if he stays 182 days or more; the 60-day condition does not apply to him (section 6(3)(b)). With 176 days he is non-resident for tax year 2026-27. Nor is he deemed resident under section 6(7): that needs all three of its conditions, that he is a citizen of India, that he is not liable to tax in another country or territory because of his domicile, residence or similar criteria, and that his total income other than income from foreign sources exceeds ₹15 lakh; his is ₹5,70,000 (below), so the third fails whatever his tax position in Japan. (His visit from 30 March is a visit by a citizen living outside India, for which the 60-day condition is likewise replaced by 182 days: section 6(4). The 120-day test of section 6(5) applies only where total income other than income from foreign sources exceeds ₹15 lakh, so it does not apply here.)

Two figures appear in this answer; they measure different things:

The Japanese bond interest accrues outside India, so it is income from foreign sources (section 6(14)) even where it is received in India: it is left out of the s.6(5) figure, but the half received in India is taxable for a non-resident (section 5(2)).

(i) Incidence of tax

A non-resident is taxed only on income received or deemed to be received in India, or accruing or deemed to accrue in India (section 5(2)).

(ii) If he had left on 1 October 2026

With 186 days he meets the first basic condition (182 days or more, section 6(2)(a)) and is resident. He had always lived in India before, so he was resident in all the ten preceding years and in India for far more than 729 days in the seven preceding years, so neither test of section 6(13)(a) is met and he is resident and ordinarily resident. His global income is then taxable (section 5(1)):

Yes, the answer changes: he becomes resident and ordinarily resident, and the Japanese salary and the whole bond interest become taxable in India.

Conclusion

Leaving on 21st September 2026 he is non-resident and is taxed on total income of ₹5,95,000 (income accruing or received in India); leaving on 1st October 2026 he would be resident and ordinarily resident, taxed on his world income of ₹16,20,000 before deductions.