July 31 Is 47 Days Away. Here Is the NRI ITR Pre-Filing Checklist for AY 2026-27.

The ITR-2 utility for AY 2026-27 went live on May 27, 2026. The deadline is July 31. That gap — ten weeks — feels like plenty of time until it is not, and for NRIs filing from the US, UK, or UAE, the last-minute scramble typically ends with a rushed return, a missed Form 67, and a refund that takes nine months to land instead of six weeks.

The checklist below is organised by what to do in the next two weeks, not what to do on July 30. Start now, and the filing itself takes an afternoon.

The 30-second answer: Most NRIs file ITR-2 by July 31, 2026 for FY 2025-26. You must file if your India-source income exceeds Rs 3 lakh (new regime) or Rs 2.5 lakh (old regime), or if TDS was deducted on any India income and you want a refund. Key pre-filing tasks: download your AIS and Form 26AS and match them against your bank statements; gather Form 67 documents if you paid tax abroad and want DTAA credit — Form 67 must be filed by July 31 separately; check your advance tax position for FY 2025-26; and confirm your residential status for the year using the 182/120/60-day tests before you open the utility. Miss July 31 and you owe Rs 5,000 in late fees plus 1% per month interest on unpaid tax.

Step 1: Confirm your residential status for FY 2025-26 — before you open the form

The ITR form you use and the income you declare both depend on your residency status for the year. Getting this wrong means filing the wrong form, which requires a revised return and creates unnecessary attention.

For FY 2025-26 (April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026), count the days you spent in India:

Non-Resident (NR): stayed fewer than 182 days in India during FY 2025-26. This is the status for most full-time expats. NRs are taxed only on India-source income.

Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR): broadly applies if you have recently returned after a long absence (9 of the past 10 years as NR, or India stay of 729 days or fewer in the past 7 years). RNORs are taxed on India-source income and on foreign income received in India, but foreign income not received in India is exempt. This is the valuable two-to-three-year transition window after return.

Resident and Ordinarily Resident (ROR): stayed 182 days or more in India, or 60 days or more with 365 or more days in the past 4 years. RORs are taxed on worldwide income.

The important edge case for FY 2025-26: the Income Tax Act 2025, effective from April 1, 2026, tightened the residency rules for high-income individuals. These changes apply from AY 2027-28 (FY 2026-27), not from AY 2026-27. So for the return you are filing now, the old Section 6 rules apply.

If you are uncertain about your status — for example, you travelled extensively between India and abroad, or you returned to India mid-year — count your India days carefully before choosing your form. A wrong status on the return is a defect the department can query.

Step 2: Establish which ITR form you need

ITR-2: for NRIs with salary income, rental income from one or more properties, capital gains from shares or mutual funds or property, interest income, and no Indian business income. This is the correct form for the large majority of NRIs. It also contains Schedule FA (foreign assets — required for Residents, not for NRs) and Schedule FSI (foreign source income — required for ROR and RNOR taxpayers reporting foreign income).

ITR-3: for NRIs who have Indian business or professional income — a consultant who provides services to Indian clients, a partner in an Indian firm, or anyone with income under Section 44ADA.

NRIs cannot use ITR-1 (restricted to residents with income below Rs 50 lakh and only one house property) or ITR-4 (restricted to residents on the presumptive tax scheme).

Step 3: Download AIS and Form 26AS — and check them now, not on July 29

The Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Form 26AS are the two official statements that show what the income tax department already knows about your India income and tax deducted. The ITR you file is reconciled against these; where your return diverges from AIS or 26AS, the return gets flagged.

Download both from the income tax portal (incometax.gov.in) under My Account → Annual Information Statement and e-File → Income Tax Returns → View Form 26AS.

Check the following:

NRO FD interest: Your bank deducts TDS on NRO interest at 30% plus surcharge and cess (or at the lower DTAA rate if you submitted Form 10F and a tax residency certificate). Verify that the gross interest shown in AIS matches your bank statement. If the bank has reported a different amount — which happens when FDs span the financial year — the discrepancy needs to be understood before you file.

TDS section codes: For AY 2026-27 the ITR-2 Schedule TDS has a new column requiring you to state the section under which each TDS was deducted. For most NRI income, this is Section 195. For property sales where the buyer deducted TDS, it is Section 194-IA. Copy the section exactly as it appears in your Form 26AS for each entry — do not guess. A mismatch between the section you enter and the section the deductor reported in their TDS return will hold your refund. This is the single most common NRI refund delay in AY 2026-27 filings and is covered in detail in the ITR form changes guide.

Capital gains from mutual funds: If you redeemed Indian mutual fund units in FY 2025-26, the fund house reports the transaction to AIS and deducts TDS at 20% for NRIs on equity gains (Section 195). Match the proceeds, cost of acquisition, and gain figures in AIS against your fund statement. Errors in fund-reported cost basis are not rare.

Dividend income: Dividends on Indian shares are taxable at 20% plus surcharge and cess (or at the lower DTAA rate if applicable) and are deducted under Section 195. They appear in AIS. Confirm the amount matches your broker statement.

Allow two weeks for this step. If you find a discrepancy in AIS, you can raise a feedback on the portal to flag that a figure is incorrect. The feedback does not automatically correct AIS, but it creates a record and may resolve the discrepancy before you file.

Step 4: Gather your Form 67 documents — this is the step most NRIs miss

If you paid income tax abroad on income that is also taxable in India — for example, US federal tax on a salary paid partly for India-based work, UK income tax on rental income from a UK property if you are RNOR, or any foreign tax on income that crosses over — you can claim a credit for that foreign tax in your Indian return under the DTAA.

The mechanism is Form 67, filed separately on the income tax portal. Without Form 67, the Indian return does not process the DTAA credit and you may end up paying tax twice on the same income.

Form 67 must be filed on or before July 31, 2026 — the same deadline as your ITR. Filing it after July 31, or only when you file your ITR, does not preserve the credit for that year.

What you need to file Form 67:

• A copy of the foreign tax return (US 1040, UK self-assessment SA100, etc.) or a tax paid certificate from the foreign tax authority
• The amount of foreign income
• The amount of foreign tax paid
• The applicable DTAA article under which you are claiming relief

The credit is limited to the lower of the foreign tax paid and the Indian tax on that income. If you paid 37% US federal tax on income that is taxed at 30% in India, the credit is capped at 30%.

UAE-based NRIs: the UAE has no personal income tax, so there is no foreign tax to credit. Form 67 is not relevant for UAE-sourced income unless you paid another country's tax on some portion.

Step 5: Check your advance tax position for FY 2025-26

If your total tax liability for FY 2025-26, after TDS, exceeds Rs 10,000, you were required to pay advance tax in four instalments during the year: 15% by June 15, 45% by September 15, 75% by December 15, and 100% by March 15. If you paid less than required at any instalment, interest under Section 234C applies at 1% per month on the shortfall. If you paid less than 90% of total tax by March 31, interest under Section 234B also applies at 1% per month from April 1 to the filing date.

Check your advance tax payments on the income tax portal under e-Pay Tax → Challan Status. If you have a shortfall, compute it now — the interest runs from April 1 and adds up daily. When you file, the ITR utility will compute the interest automatically, but knowing the number before you open the form prevents surprises.

Most NRIs whose only India income is NRO FD interest (fully covered by TDS at source) and capital gains on mutual funds (TDS deducted at 20%) have no advance tax obligation, because TDS has already covered or exceeded their liability. NRIs with rental income from India property that is not fully covered by TDS are the most likely to have an advance tax shortfall.

Step 6: Organise your income documents by category

Before opening the ITR utility, have the following in one folder:

Salary (if any India component): Form 16 from the Indian employer (Part A for TDS details, Part B for salary breakup).

NRO interest: Bank FD statements showing gross interest credited in FY 2025-26, not just the tax year's maturity amounts. NRO accounts credit interest quarterly or at maturity; the taxable amount is the interest accrued in the financial year, not just cash received.

Capital gains — equity shares and mutual funds: Contract notes from your broker for listed share sales; account statement from your mutual fund registrar (CAMS or KFintech) showing redemptions, cost of acquisition, and holding period. For pre-January 2018 equity holdings, you need the fair market value as of January 31, 2018, because that is the grandfathering cost basis for the Section 112A / 115AD computation.

Capital gains — property: Sale deed showing sale price, original purchase deed showing cost, registration charges and stamp duty at purchase (all part of indexed cost of improvement), any improvement costs with invoices, and the Section 54 / 54EC / 54F reinvestment documentation if you are claiming an exemption.

Rental income: Rent receipts or bank credits showing rent received, municipal tax paid receipts (deductible), and the loan interest certificate if you have a home loan on the Indian property.

Foreign income (for RNOR filers): Foreign salary or income details converted to INR at the RBI reference rate for the date of each receipt. Do not use a single year-end rate — the income tax department's AIS will show rupee equivalents where they are reported, and using a different rate than what is in AIS creates reconciliation issues.

Step 7: File Form 10F if you want DTAA benefit on TDS going forward

Form 10F, along with a Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) from your country of residence, is what you submit to your Indian bank or income payer to secure the lower DTAA withholding rate on NRO interest and dividends rather than the default 30%.

For FY 2025-26, if your bank deducted TDS at 30% because you had not submitted Form 10F, you can still claim the lower DTAA rate in your ITR. The refund will eventually come through, but it takes longer than proactive Form 10F submission.

For FY 2026-27 going forward, submit Form 10F and your TRC to your bank now. The online Form 10F portal (part of the income tax e-filing site) allows NRIs to file it without a PAN in some cases, following a 2023 relaxation. Confirm the current rules with your bank, as different banks have implemented this differently.

The penalty and interest picture if you miss July 31

Late filing fee (Section 234F): Rs 5,000 for returns filed after the due date. Reduced to Rs 1,000 if total income is below Rs 5 lakh. This is charged regardless of whether you owe any tax.

Interest on unpaid tax (Section 234A): 1% per month (or part month) on the tax remaining unpaid after the due date. This applies only if you have a net tax liability after TDS and advance tax.

Loss of DTAA credit: If you do not file Form 67 by July 31, you cannot claim the DTAA foreign tax credit for FY 2025-26. This loss cannot be recovered by filing a revised return — it is tied to the Form 67 deadline.

Loss of carry-forward of capital losses: Capital losses incurred in FY 2025-26 (short-term or long-term losses on shares, property, or mutual funds) can be carried forward to set off against future gains — but only if the return is filed by the original due date of July 31. A belated return filed after July 31 forfeits the right to carry forward capital losses. For NRIs who had a loss on Indian shares or property in FY 2025-26, this is the most expensive consequence of missing the deadline.

Belated return window: Returns filed after July 31 but by December 31, 2026 are valid but are "belated returns." A belated return cannot be revised after filing. If you discover an error in a belated return, you cannot correct it.

The deadline in brief

Taxpayer	Form	Deadline
NRI with salary/rent/capital gains, no business income	ITR-2	July 31, 2026
NRI with Indian business/professional income (non-audit)	ITR-3	August 31, 2026
NRI with Indian business income (audit required)	ITR-3	October 31, 2026
Belated return (missed original deadline)	ITR-2 or ITR-3	December 31, 2026
Form 67 (DTAA credit claim)	Separate filing	July 31, 2026

The closing read

Filing an NRI ITR is not complicated — for most expats, the income types are limited, the TDS credit is straightforward, and the utility does the maths. What creates problems is leaving it too late to catch errors in AIS, missing Form 67 because it seems optional, or discovering the advance tax shortfall on July 30.

Start with steps 1 through 3 this week. Download AIS and Form 26AS, count your India days to confirm status, and check which TDS section codes appear against each income entry. The rest follows from those three steps. You have 47 days — that is enough time to file cleanly if you start now, and not enough if you do not.

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Related reading

• New ITR Forms for AY 2026-27: What NRIs Must Do Differently
• DTAA Between India and the US: The Complete NRI Guide
• TDS for NRIs: Rates, Refunds, and Lower Deduction Certificates
• RNOR Status: The Tax-Planning Window After You Return to India
• Capital Gains Tax for NRIs on Shares and Mutual Funds
• NRO Account Repatriation and TDS
• Form 26AS and AIS: What India's Tax Department Knows About You
• US Annual Filing Calendar for NRIs: FBAR, 8938, 1040

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Sources: Income Tax Department, ITR-2 utility release dated May 27, 2026; CBDT notification on ITR forms for AY 2026-27; Section 234F, 234A, 234B, 234C of the Income Tax Act; Section 90 and Form 67 rules under DTAA; Angel One, "ITR Deadlines Changed in Budget 2026," 2026; ClearTax, "Last Date to File ITR for FY 2025-26."

Disclaimer: Tax rules, form specifications, and deadlines are updated by CBDT and may change. Verify current deadlines on incometax.gov.in before filing. This article is for general information only and does not constitute tax advice. Consult a qualified Indian CA for your specific situation.