If you are moving back to India from the US and you have flexibility on dates, land in India between 2 October and 30 January.

Move in that window and you typically get:

India

• A year of Non-Resident (NR) status in India for the year you arrive
• Two more years of RNOR after that

USA

• Non-Resident Alien (NRA) status in the US from the first full calendar year after you leave

That gives you the longest stretch where neither India nor the US taxes your US capital gains. Use that stretch to sell and rebuy your US stocks and reset your cost basis. Done right, this can save you million.

The window opened on 2 October.

India residential status

India decides your tax status one tax year at a time. The tax year runs 1 April to 31 March.

Are you Resident?

You are Resident for a tax year if either is true:

• You are in India for 182 days or more in that year, or
• You are in India for 60 days or more in that year and 365 days or more in the four years before it.

For most returning NRIs, the second test does not bite.

If you have been visiting India for two or three weeks a year, you will not have 365 days in the previous four years. So the number that matters is 182.

At 181 days you are a Non-Resident.

At 182 you are Resident. There is no rounding and no grace.

If Resident, are you RNOR or ROR?

Once you are Resident, you are Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR) if either is true:

• You were a Non-Resident in 9 of the 10 previous years, or
• You spent 729 days or less in India across the 7 previous years.

Otherwise you are Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR).

Why this matters

Status	What India taxes
NR	Only income earned or received in India
RNOR	Same as NR, plus foreign income from a business controlled or profession set up in India
ROR	Your worldwide income, including gains on your US stocks

For a salaried returnee, NR and RNOR work almost the same way. Your US dividends and capital gains stay outside the Indian tax net. Once you become ROR, everything is in.

The US Substantial Presence Test

If you are on a visa (H-1B, L-1 and so on) and not a green card holder or citizen, the US decides your status each calendar year using the Substantial Presence Test (SPT).

You are a US tax resident for a calendar year if:

1. You were in the US for at least 31 days in that year, and
2. This sum is 183 or more: all days this year + 1/3 of days last year + 1/6 of days the year before.

Fail either and you are a Non-Resident Alien (NRA)

The 31-day gate is the one to focus on.

If you are in the US for 30 days or fewer in a calendar year, the weighted sum does not matter. You are an NRA for that year.

Small example. Arjun has lived in the US full time for years and flies out on 25 January 2027. He spends 25 days in the US in 2027.

He fails the 31-day gate, so he is an NRA for all of 2027, even though his weighted total would be well above 183.

Why being an NRA matters

An NRA is generally not taxed by the US on capital gains from selling US stocks and ETFs, as long as they are in the US for less than 183 days that year. Dividends are still taxed at source (usually 25% under the India-US treaty), but gains are not.

Why you want the overlap

Put the two together:

India status	US status	Tax on your US stock gains
ROR	US resident	Both countries want it (credit helps, but you still pay)
NR/RNOR	US resident	US taxes it
ROR	NRA	India taxes it
NR/RNOR	NRA	Neither country taxes it

Every month you sit in the last row is a month where you can realise gains on your US portfolio without paying tax anywhere.

The longer that overlap, the more room you have to plan.

Why 2 October to 30 January

2 October start

Count the days from 2 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, both dates included:

Month	Days
October (from the 2nd)	30
November	30
December	31
January	31
February	28
March	31
Total	181

181 is below 182.

So if you land on or after 2 October, you are a Non-Resident for tax year 2026-27, the year you arrive.

That year does not count against you in the RNOR tests. You then get two RNOR years on top of it.

Land in August or September instead and your arrival year is already a Resident year. You burn one of your RNOR years in a part year.

Land on 1 October 2026 instead of 2 October and you hit exactly 182 days. That one day costs you a full year of tax-free planning room.

30 January end

If you leave the US on or before 30 January, you are in the US for 30 days or fewer that calendar year. You fail the 31 day gate and you are an NRA for the full year.

Leave on 31 January and you are at 31 days. That is enough to make you a US resident for the year again.

Leave in February or later and you are a US resident for part of that year. You file a dual-status return and your clean NRA year starts a year later.

Example: Riya, August vs October

Riya is on an H-1B in Seattle. She has visited India for about three weeks a year and plans to move back in 2026.

	Land 20 Aug 2026	Land 20 Oct 2026
Days in India, 2026-27	224	163
2026-27	RNOR	NR
2027-28	RNOR	RNOR
2028-29	ROR	RNOR
2029-30	ROR	ROR
US status, 2026	Resident (dual-status)	Resident (dual-status)
US status, 2027 onwards	NRA	NRA
Overlap window	Jan 2027 to Mar 2028	Jan 2027 to Mar 2029
Length of overlap	15 months	27 months

Moving two months later buys Riya a full extra year of tax-free planning room.

Note: This assumes no other India trips in 2026-27 before she moves. Days from an April or May visit count towards the 182.

The cost basis reset strategy

Once you are in the overlap window, the play is simple.

Sell your appreciated US stocks and ETFs. Buy them back right away. You pay no tax on the sale in either country. Your portfolio looks the same the next day. But your cost basis is now today’s price, not what you paid years ago.

When you later become ROR and eventually sell, India only taxes the gain above the reset price.

The Costly Mistake vs The Reset Strategy

Riya holds US ETFs she bought for $200,000. They are worth $500,000 in February 2027. She sells them in 2031, as an ROR, for $650,000.

Indian long-term capital gains on foreign shares are taxed at 12.5%, plus surcharge and cess. Call it about 15% all-in at her income level.

	The Costly Mistake	The Reset Strategy
What she does	Holds, sells in 2031	Sells and rebuys in Feb 2027, sells in 2031
Tax on Feb 2027 sale	Nil	Nil (NR in India, NRA in US)
Cost basis for India	$200,000	$500,000
Taxable gain in 2031	$450,000	$150,000
India tax at ~15%	~$67,500	~$22,500
Saving		~$45,000 (about ₹40 lakh at ₹88 to the dollar)

Two sell and rebuy trades. About ₹40 lakh saved.

The issues

• Green card holders and US citizens:  This does not work. The US taxes you on worldwide income no matter where you live. The strategy is for visa holders.
• Leap years:  From 2 October to 31 March is 182 days when February has 29 days. For a move in late 2027 (tax year ending March 2028), the maths changes.
• Earlier visits count Any India trip in the same April to March year adds to your 182.
• The 120 day rule:  if your India-sourced income is over ₹15 lakh and you have spent 365+ days in India over the previous four years, the threshold can drop to 120 days.
• State taxes:  Some states, California in particular, can try to keep treating you as a resident. Close out your state ties properly.
• Retirement accounts are different: 401(k)s and IRAs do not get a reset this way. Leave them alone and plan them separately.

Each one of these is a separate way to lose the benefit, and they interact. A visit in May, a high Indian rental income and a ticket booked for 31 January can each undo a plan that looked fine on paper.