ITR Filing: Double taxation the biggest challenge for NRIs while filing tax return in India

financialexpress.com:

In recent years, India has elevated to a stage where it has acquired the status of having the world’s largest overseas diaspora, with approximately 32 million NRIs and OCIs. Amongst the broad spectrum of India’s NRI network, Gulf countries continue to acquire the largest concentration, along with other countries like Singapore, the US, Canada, the UK, etc. With a plethora of NRIs moving abroad in search of better job opportunities and education, it is important to note that NRIs are taxed in India on the income generated within the country itself.

Following the steady influx of NRIs, a recent survey by SBNRI, a one-stop investment platform for NRIs and OCIs, unveiled the nuances of navigating taxes for NRIs and OCIs in 2024. In tandem, the government of India continues to work on making the process of taxation as seamless as possible for NRIs, but despite their strong efforts, the taxation landscape for NRIs continues to be permeated by a series of bottlenecks.

Within the tax landscape, 14.11% NRIs from Australia followed by 13.10% and 8.06% from the UK and the US, respectively, consider double taxation as the biggest challenge when it comes to filing taxes as an NRI and OCI. At the same time, 12.10%, 9.05%, and 6.02% of NRIs from the US, the UK, and Australia found accessing taxation documents from abroad to be the most challenging concern for filing taxes as NRIs.

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Amidst the rising challenges for filing taxes as NRIs, Mudit Vijayvergiya of SBNRI said, “While the process of filing taxes for NRIs has been subjected to multiple revisions, aimed at making it more streamlined and simpler, the proliferation of tax-related issues has only grown