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To check whether your seafarer income is taxable in India, first determine your Indian tax residence for the relevant tax year, then assess where your salary accrued and the facts of your employment and voyages. Your day count, citizenship, contract, employer, vessel and duties can all matter. A foreign-currency salary or a credit to an NRE account does not, by itself, settle whether salary is taxable.
Start with the tax year that applies
Identify the relevant tax year before using a residence test. The Income Tax Department says the Income-tax Act, 1961 governs residence for tax years beginning before 1 April 2026, even if the assessment takes place later. Tax years beginning on or after 1 April 2026 fall under the Income-tax Act, 2025 and current rules. The Department says the basic residence conditions did not change, but the governing Act and section references did. Check the provisions and forms applicable to your specific year.
Work out your Indian residence status
The Department’s non-resident guidance describes the basic individual residence tests below, subject to statutory modifications and exceptions. These are starting points, not a substitute for checking the applicable year’s law against your full travel and personal facts.
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|---|---|
| 182-day test | Whether you were in India for at least 182 days during the relevant tax year. |
| 60-day plus 365-day test | Whether you were in India for at least 60 days in the relevant year and at least 365 days in total during the preceding four years, subject to statutory modifications. |
| Specified Indian-citizen departure rule | The Department describes a special rule for a qualifying Indian citizen leaving India for overseas employment or as crew of an Indian ship: the person is regarded as resident only if present in India for at least 182 days in that year. Confirm that the citizenship, reason for departure and crew status meet the legal conditions; do not assume this rule applies to every seafarer. |
Do not assume that a seafarer’s job title, time spent at sea, vessel flag or transit automatically changes how days are counted. The official material cited here does not resolve every edge case in day counting, so verify the applicable statutory rule and your actual movements.
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Build a day-count record
- Choose the relevant tax year and record every date you arrived in and departed from India during it.
- Total the days in India for that year and gather the corresponding totals for each of the preceding four years.
- Check the relevant residence tests and any statutory exception that may apply to your circumstances.
- Keep the records used for the calculation so you can support the dates if asked.
Use passport stamps, immigration or travel records and tickets where available. Reconcile gaps rather than estimating from memory.
Assess your salary separately from residence
A residence result is not, by itself, a complete answer about a particular salary. Review the employment and payment facts under the law for the relevant year, including:
- your employer and employment agreement;
- the vessel, its route and the nature of the voyage;
- where you performed your duties;
- how and when the salary accrued, who paid it and where it was credited; and
- any applicable tax treaty or foreign tax facts.
The Income Tax Department’s non-resident material is an overview, not an exhaustive determination of every seafarer’s salary-source situation. The official material available for this guide does not establish a blanket rule that salary from a foreign ship is always tax-free for a non-resident, or that salary becomes taxable merely because it is remitted to India. If these facts point in different directions, get advice on your specific employment and voyage arrangements.
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An NRE account does not, on its own, decide whether salary is taxable. The Department’s FAQ discussion of exempt NRE-account interest concerns the conditions for that separate interest exemption; it is not a general exemption for salary paid into the account. Likewise, foreign currency or the label “foreign salary” does not replace the residence and income-source analysis.
Keep voyage and employment evidence
Retain records that help establish both your India days and the circumstances in which the income was earned:
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- Detailed information on gross income, deductions and allowances, tax liability, and procedure. Definitions of standard tax terminology is defined.
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- Information on gross income, deductions and allowances, tax liability, and procedure.
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- passport, immigration movement records and travel tickets;
- your Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC), vessel details and voyage records;
- employment agreement, payslips and salary-credit records; and
- foreign tax certificates or other records relevant to treaty relief.
The 2026 Rules include a specified rule referring to eligible international passenger or freight voyages between an Indian port and a foreign port, and to the sign-off date entered in the CDC. That definition belongs to the rule in which it appears; do not apply it as a general definition of every seafarer’s voyage or tax position.
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Return-form eligibility depends on your residential status, total income, income types and other conditions. The Income Tax Department’s ITR-2 manual says residents report foreign-source income in Schedule FSI and describes Schedule FA requirements by residential status; under that manual, non-residents and RNORs need not fill Schedule FA. Confirm the current year’s notified form, instructions and eligibility rules rather than assuming ITR-2—or any single form—fits every seafarer.
Use these factors to compare two seafarer situations
When comparing your position with another person’s, check all of these differences rather than relying on one fact such as account type or currency:
- tax year and governing Act;
- citizenship and whether a qualifying departure rule applies;
- India days in the relevant year and preceding four years;
- employer and contract;
- vessel, route and voyage classification;
- where duties were performed and how salary accrued; and
- other income, treaty position and foreign tax facts.
The Income Tax Department’s non-resident guidance expressly says it is an overview and is not exhaustive. Where residence, salary sourcing, treaty relief or filing obligations remain uncertain, consult a qualified Indian tax adviser with your records and employment documents.
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