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 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. Arrive after early October and you generally cannot reach 182 days that year.
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 over 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, and take the metro HRA rate seriously
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. Kolkata's HRA exemption is computed at 50% of salary rather than 40% — so the old regime is stronger here than in Jaipur, Kochi, Goa or anywhere else outside the eight listed cities. Note that Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad joined that list from the 2026-27 year, so the comparison against those four no longer holds.
Via employerWho: You
5
Expect a monthly professional tax deduction
West Bengal levies professional tax on salaried employees, deducted monthly on a slab basis. The amounts are small, but they appear on the payslip and they are a state levy rather than a national one — Rajasthan and Goa, for example, do not levy it at all, while Gujarat deducts a flat ₹200 a month above a ₹12,000 monthly salary and Kerala collects half-yearly through the local body.
Via employerWho: Your employer
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. Withholding does not remove the filing obligation.
OnlineWho: YouBy 31 July following the financial year

Documents you’ll need

PAN
Form 16 from your employer
Rent receipts and the landlord's PAN if rent exceeds the threshold, for an HRA claim
Passport with entry and exit stamps for the day count
Tax residency certificate and Form 10F for treaty claims

Things most newcomers don’t know

Kolkata's 50% house rent allowance rate is worth real money under the old regime — but it stopped being a four-city club in 2026.

For over two decades the old regime's HRA exemption was capped at 50% of salary in only four cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai — and at 40% everywhere else, a statutory classification that never tracked how Indian cities actually grew. The Income-tax Rules 2026, notified by the CBDT on 20 March 2026 alongside the new Income-tax Act 2025, added Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad from the 2026-27 year. Kolkata keeps the higher rate, and for a salaried employee paying rent here the old regime is still genuinely more likely to beat the default new regime than in Jaipur, Kochi or Goa — but the old line about Bengaluru losing out is now wrong, and a return for an earlier year is still computed on the four-city list.

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

An HRA claim above the threshold needs the landlord's PAN, and some Kolkata landlords will not give it.

Where annual rent exceeds the prescribed threshold, the employee must report the landlord's PAN to claim the HRA exemption. In a city with a large stock of old, informally managed and sometimes disputed properties, landlords are occasionally unwilling to be identified to the tax authorities. That refusal costs you the exemption, which under the old regime is the whole point. Ask for the PAN before you sign, not in March.

Source: Income Tax Department — HRA

RNOR is a two-to-three year shelter on foreign income and nothing announces its end.

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 it can be worth a great deal.

Source: Income Tax Department — residential status

The April-to-March year makes the month you arrive a financial decision.

Residency is counted per financial year. Arrive in November and you cannot reach 182 days by 31 March, so you remain non-resident for that year and only Indian-source income is taxed. Arrive in July and you cross comfortably. Where a start date is negotiable this is one of the largest levers available, and it is completely invisible to anyone thinking in calendar years.

Source: Income Tax Department — residential status

Common mistakes to avoid

Counting days against a calendar year rather than April to March.
Accepting the default new regime without modelling the old one, which is unusually strong in Kolkata because of the 50% house rent allowance rate.
Signing a lease without securing the landlord's PAN for an HRA claim.
Filing without a PAN, or taking penal withholding for months.
Forgetting West Bengal's separate monthly professional tax when comparing offers across states.

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