Before you start

PAN
A day count kept against April to March
Records of foreign income and foreign tax paid
A tax residency certificate from your home country for any treaty claim

Step-by-step

1
Get PAN before payroll starts
Employers must report tax deducted at source against a PAN. Without one, withholding jumps to a penal rate recoverable only by filing a return the following year.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1
2
Count days against April to March
India's financial year runs 1 April to 31 March. Arrivals from calendar-year countries consistently miscount and reach the wrong residency conclusion.
OnlineWho: You
3
Establish whether you are RNOR
RNOR applies if you were non-resident in nine of the preceding ten years, or present in India 729 days or fewer across the preceding seven. Nearly every fresh arrival qualifies, and while RNOR, foreign-source income is generally outside Indian tax.
OnlineWho: You, with an adviser in year one
4
Model both regimes on your own numbers
The new regime has lower rates and almost no deductions and applies by default. The old regime allows house rent allowance, section 80C and home-loan interest — but Goa sits outside the higher HRA band, so the exemption is computed at 40% of salary rather than the 50% available in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and, from the 2026-27 year, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.
Via employerWho: You
5
If you are married under Goan law, take advice on income splitting
The apportionment rule — section 5A of the Income-tax Act 1961, carried into section 10 of the Income-tax Act 2025 — applies specifically to spouses governed by the community-of-property system under the Portuguese Civil Code as in force in Goa, splitting their income equally. It applies nowhere else in India but the two former Portuguese union territories, and it is easy to get wrong in both directions.
OnlineWho: You, with a chartered accountant
6
File using Form 16 and the AIS
Your employer issues Form 16 summarising salary and tax deducted. Reconcile against the Annual Information Statement on the e-filing portal, file, and e-verify.
OnlineWho: YouBy 31 July following the financial year

Documents you’ll need

PAN
Form 16 from your employer
Passport with entry and exit stamps for the day count
Annual Information Statement and Form 26AS
Tax residency certificate and Form 10F for treaty claims

Things most newcomers don’t know

Goa has its own section of Indian income tax law because of the Portuguese Civil Code.

The provision — section 5A of the Income-tax Act 1961, now section 10 of the Income-tax Act 2025 — applies only to spouses governed by the community-of-property system in force in Goa and the two former Portuguese union territories. Because that regime treats assets acquired during a marriage as jointly held, the Act apportions income under every head equally between the spouses, with the express exception of salary, which stays taxed to whoever earned it. It is effectively the only place in Indian tax law where a separate civil code produces a distinct rule, and it can materially change a married couple's combined liability. Very few accountants outside Goa have ever applied it.

Source: Income-tax Act 2025, section 10 (formerly section 5A of the 1961 Act)

Goa sits outside the higher house rent allowance band despite one of the country's highest per-head incomes.

The old regime's HRA exemption is 50% of salary in a statutory list of cities and 40% everywhere else, and the list is fixed by rule rather than by cost of living. It was four cities for two decades; the Income-tax Rules 2026 widened it to eight from the 2026-27 year by adding Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad. Goa is in neither list. Its rents in the north coastal belt can rival Mumbai's during the season, but the exemption is still computed at the lower rate. That combination — metro-level rents with the lower relief — is genuinely unfavourable and worth modelling carefully.

Source: Income-tax Rules 2026 — CBDT notification of 20 March 2026

RNOR is a two-to-three year shelter that nothing announces the end of.

While Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident, income arising outside India — foreign salary, overseas rent, foreign interest and gains — is generally outside Indian tax; only Indian-source income is caught. Once you become Ordinarily Resident, worldwide income is taxable and foreign asset reporting begins. Timing a foreign disposal inside the window rather than just after can be worth a great deal.

Source: Income Tax Department — residential status

Rental income from a Goan property is taxable in India whoever pays it and wherever they pay it.

A great many Goa properties are let seasonally, often to foreign visitors paying abroad in foreign currency. Income from immovable property situated in India is Indian-source income and taxable in India regardless of where it is received or by whom it is paid, and it does not fall within the RNOR shelter. Arrangements that route seasonal rent through an overseas account are a recurring and thoroughly understood problem here.

Source: Income Tax Department — income from house property

Common mistakes to avoid

Counting days against a calendar year rather than April to March.
Assuming Goa gets the 50% house rent allowance rate — it does not, even after the 2026 expansion to eight cities.
Using an accountant unfamiliar with the community-property apportionment provision that applies in Goa.
Treating seasonal rental income received abroad as outside Indian tax.
Filing without a PAN, or taking penal withholding for months.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.