Section 5(2)(a)

Section 5(2)(a) — the law in short

What the courts have decided on section 5(2)(a), in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.

• Sumana Bandyopadhyay v DDIT High CourtHelps taxpayer
  The AO taxed my foreign salary because it landed in my Indian NRE account. Can he do that if I am a non-resident?
  No. Salary that became due and accrued to a non-resident for services rendered outside India does not become chargeable on a receipt basis merely because the foreign employer paid it into an Indian NRE account. Income accrues where the services are rendered, not where the money is banked, and the High Court allowed the appeal and answered the question in the assessee's favour.
• CBDT Circular 13/2017 on seafarer salary in an NRE account CBDT Circulars & InstructionsHelps taxpayer
  My client is a non-resident seafarer and his foreign employer credits his salary straight into his Indian NRE account. Is that receipt in India?
  No. The Board clarified that salary accrued to a non-resident seafarer for services rendered outside India on a foreign ship is not included in total income merely because it has been credited to an NRE account maintained with an Indian bank. Under s.5(2)(a) only income received or deemed to be received in India is taxable for a non-resident, and the Board treats the credit into the NRE account as not making the salary income received in India.

Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.