What are the Income Tax Slabs and Rates for NRIs in India?

One mistake I made initially was treating the NRI tax slab as a single tax rate.

It's progressive. For example, if you have ₹15 lakh of normal-rate taxable income under the AY 2026–27 new regime, you don't pay 30% on the whole ₹15 lakh.

The calculation goes through each applicable slab.

Also remember that the final tax isn't necessarily the same as the basic slab calculation. 4% Health & Education Cess and, where applicable, surcharge have to be considered. The Income Tax Department currently lists surcharge thresholds separately for non-resident individuals.

I'd also be careful with investment income. If part of your income is capital gains or another category with a special rate, don't use the ordinary NRI slab to calculate that portion.

I recently compared both regimes for my own return.

The new regime is the default, but that doesn't mean an NRI is automatically prohibited from using the old regime. The Income Tax Department's NRI guidance provides both old and new regime rates.

For AY 2026–27, the new regime broadly works like this:

Up to ₹4 lakh: Nil

₹4–8 lakh: 5%

₹8–12 lakh: 10%

₹12–16 lakh: 15%

₹16–20 lakh: 20%

₹20–24 lakh: 25%

Above ₹24 lakh: 30%

But there's another important point: not every type of NRI income should simply be put through these slabs. Some income, particularly certain capital gains and other specified income, can be subject to special tax rates.

So I would first separate your income by type and then compare the regimes.

The age part is what caught my attention because I had the same confusion.

For a non-resident individual, the Income Tax Department specifically says that the normal old-regime tax rates apply regardless of the taxpayer's date of birth. So being 60 or 80 doesn't automatically give an NRI the resident senior-citizen slab structure.

For AY 2026–27, the old-regime rates for an NRI are:

• Up to ₹2.5 lakh — Nil
• ₹2.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh — 5%
• ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh — 20%
• Above ₹10 lakh — 30%

The new regime has a higher Nil threshold of ₹4 lakh and additional slabs before reaching 30%.

So I would definitely use an NRI-specific tax calculation rather than simply copying the senior-citizen table from a resident taxpayer's return.