Filing season brings out the same handful of errors year after year among NRIs, and most of them are avoidable with a bit of forethought rather than last-minute scrambling.

Getting residential status right comes first. It’s determined by days spent in India during the financial year and the preceding years, not by visa type or self-perception of being “settled abroad.” Someone who spent extra months in India for family reasons can unknowingly slip into resident status, which changes what income is taxable in India altogether.

Choosing the correct ITR form matters more than it seems. NRIs with capital gains, foreign assets, or income from more than one house property usually need ITR-2 or ITR-3, not the simpler ITR-1, which isn’t even available to non-residents. Filing the wrong form can lead to a defective return notice, which just adds delay.

Claiming DTAA benefits requires more than mentioning the treaty exists. It needs Form 10F, a Tax Residency Certificate from the country of residence, and matching documentation of tax already paid abroad. Advisors at Ashutosh Financial Services routinely see the claim made without the paperwork to support it, which usually results in the credit being denied or queried.

TDS on property sales trips up a lot of NRIs specifically. Buyers are required to deduct tax at a rate meant for non-residents, which is often higher than the seller’s actual liability, so the difference is only recoverable by filing a return and claiming a refund. Skipping the filing means leaving that money with the tax department indefinitely.

Reporting foreign bank accounts and assets, where the taxpayer qualifies as a resident, is a disclosure obligation separate from tax liability. Ashutosh Financial Services has flagged this as one of the most misunderstood requirements, since people often assume small balances don’t need mentioning at all.

None of these five points are obscure technicalities. They’re the same issues that surface every filing season because the underlying rules rarely get explained clearly before the deadline creates pressure to just get something filed. Ashutosh Financial Services continues to hold pre-season sessions for NRI taxpayers specifically to work through this list before it becomes a scramble.