For families spread across India, the GCC, and the US, the tax position is rarely set by one country's rules alone. Three areas come up in almost every family office we've built.
RNOR status, for a returning family member
A person qualifies as Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR) if they've been a non-resident in 9 of the preceding 10 years, or present in India for under 730 days across the preceding 7 years. RNOR status can be held for up to 3 financial years after return, during which foreign-sourced income stays outside Indian tax, only India-sourced income is taxed. This is a genuine, time-limited planning window, and it has to be sequenced before the return happens, since the years that determine eligibility are already fixed by the time someone is back.
LRS, for capital moving out
Resident individuals can remit up to USD 250,000 per financial year under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme; NRIs are not eligible for LRS at all, since it applies only to resident accounts. Tax Collected at Source (TCS) doesn't apply on the first ₹10 lakh of LRS remittances in a year; beyond that, most purposes attract 20% TCS, with narrower carve-outs (2%) for education, medical treatment, and overseas tour packages. This matters directly for a family office funding an overseas trust, education, or investment from India.
DTAA, for families resident in more than one place
Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements between India and the GCC states, and separately with the US, determine which country taxes what when a family member (or the family's income) has a genuine connection to more than one. Getting the residency and source characterisation right at the planning stage is materially cheaper than resolving a double-taxation dispute after the fact.
This is the same cross-border discipline behind our Private Clients & NRIs practice: India, GCC, and US filings run on one calendar, so nothing falls through the gap between two advisers who don't talk to each other.
Talk to us about your family office.
Bring the situation, however incomplete; leave with a written, fixed-fee plan for the structure, on the same calendar as everything else we file for you.