Itr filing of an nri who has savings and demat account.

Tax queries 287 views 4 replies

Raicemon George

6 Points Joined July 2017

Good day all,

I need to file my income tax before 31st of July. But I am too confused regarding the same as it is little complicated. I was a sailor onboard merchant ships. I was an NRI from FY 2004-2005 to FY 2014-2015 and never bothered to file income tax as I was exempted to do so. By 2014 I had quit sailing and started to working offshore oil rigs keeping the status of an NRI. In financial year 2015-2016, I happened to work for an Indian company in India, where they did TDS. In that period I have closed my NRI account and opened an SB account on the same bank. I decided to file ITR return on the following assement year and received an ITR return of about 25000 rupees.

By the end of the financial year 2015-2016, I had quit the Indian company to work for a foriegn firm as I had to pay too much tax. As an ex-NRI, I hated it. Even though I had quit the Indian firm, I did not close my SB account to open an NRI account. As I work on 4 weeks on/off rotation basis, I happen to be in India every other month. I continued to receive my salary in US dolllar to the SB account (Converted to INR). In the same financial year (2016-17) I opened a demat account showing the status of a 'resident Indian' and did a lot of trading in stocks and futures ( Trading was not new for me as I have been trading forex for many years-tax exempted). I still hold stocks in the demat accout. But the problem is that I am an NRI now. I have completed more than 183 days outside India in last financial year (2016-17) and I don't want to show myself as a resident Indian to avoid paying significant amount in taxes. So, What do I do now? How can I file my income tax showing my resident demat account, SB account and status of an NRI?.

Thank you

Raicemon George

Replies (4)

Krithika Natarajan

7 Points Joined July 2017

first of all, it is your attitude to not pay taxes which has made you do all wrong things such as giving resident in demat account . change it. second, as of now, you can file return as non resident showing income earned from share trading as rest of your income is from source which is outside India

CA Prashak Kumar Goyal

Pratice

192 Points Joined August 2016

For income tax act, 1961 it's irreverent whether you have show your resident status in demat a/c as 'resident Indian or non'.

Since you are NRI for the A.Y 2017-18 you have to fill your ROI in respect of income which has been earned in income or received in India.

Further, as you said you have received your income earned outside India to your Indian saving a/c it shall be deemed to be income received in India and you have to pay tax in respect of that income.

Raicemon George

6 Points Joined July 2017

Thank you for your valuable reply Krithika. I appreciate it. But I wonder how you did come to the conclusion that I did some sot of wrong doing to evade tax. I used the word 'Hate' as an exaggeration in my post. I opened a demat account when I had a 'Resident status', even though I started working for the foreign firm. There is almost always a paradigm shift of your thoughts waiting for you on the other side of the wall, provided you take some effort to look into the other side. I would also like to tell you that there is a significantly important reason why the NRIs are tax exempted. If you honestly thought that your harsh criticism would make me pay the taxes in the future if I don't pay them now, I am sorry... You are wrong. This attitude is not at all beneficial for you, bring some changes if you can. I hope you would learn to speak diplomatically to the people around you and I also suggest you to read a bit on human psychology. Once again, thank you very much for your suggestion regarding my tax payment. Have a great day.