NRI Property Sale: Repatriation, 15CA/15CB, Capital Gains

Last checked 15 October 2026. This is general information, not tax or legal advice — confirm your position with a chartered accountant and your bank before you sell.

Selling a flat in India is the easy half for most NRIs. Getting the money out — legally, quickly and with the tax settled — is where sales stall. The rules are clear once you see them in order. Here is that order, with the documents your bank will ask for at each step.

The rule: what can be repatriated and from which account

Indian rules treat money from a property sale as Indian-origin money. So it lands in the account built for that kind of money: your NRO (Non-Resident Ordinary) account. Not your NRE account, and not straight to a foreign bank.

From the NRO account there are two routes out:

• The general route — USD 1 million a year. Any NRO balance, including sale proceeds, can be remitted up to USD 1 million per financial year, after tax. This is the route most sellers use.
• The property route — the foreign exchange you brought in. If you originally paid for the property with money remitted from abroad or from your NRE/FCNR account, the amount you paid in foreign exchange can be repatriated on sale, for up to two residential properties. Keep the original bank certificates showing that inward remittance — without them, this route is hard to prove.

Agricultural land, plantation property and farm houses sit outside the ordinary facility and need separate advice.

USD 1 million per financial year, explained

The limit runs April to March and is per person, not per property. Three points catch sellers out:

• It does not roll over. Send USD 400,000 this year and the unused USD 600,000 is gone; next year starts fresh at USD 1 million.
• It is shared. Rent, interest and any other NRO remittance in the same year count against the same limit.
• Joint owners each have their own limit. Two NRI co-owners selling a jointly held flat can each remit their share within their own USD 1 million.

For a large sale, plan the timing. A sale closing in February can be split across two financial years — part in March, the rest after 1 April.

TDS on NRI sales and lower-deduction certificates

When the seller is a non-resident, the buyer must deduct tax under section 195 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (and, for payments from 1 April 2026, the corresponding provision of the Income-tax Act, 2025). The ordinary 1% buyer rule for resident sellers does not apply. Our post on TDS when an NRI sells property sets out the buyer's side in full.

The practical problem: without paperwork, the deduction is applied on the whole sale price, not on your gain. On a ₹2 crore sale with a ₹50 lakh gain, that can lock up far more cash than you actually owe, until you file your return and claim a refund.

The fix is a lower or nil deduction certificate from your Assessing Officer, applied for online with your purchase deed, the sale agreement and a computation of the gain. Start it as soon as you agree a price — it is processed on the department's timetable, not yours — and write into the sale agreement that the buyer deducts at the certified rate.

Capital gains: holding period and indexation changes

Whether your gain is short-term or long-term depends on how long you held the property: more than 24 months makes it long-term. Long-term gains are taxed at a lower rate than short-term gains, which are added to your income.

The Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 changed the long-term rules for transfers from 23 July 2024: a lower flat rate, generally without indexation. The choice to compute the old way (with indexation) for property bought before that date was given to resident individuals and HUFs — not to NRIs. If you are non-resident, assume no indexation and plan accordingly. We do not print the rates; they come from the Finance Act for the year of sale.

Reinvestment exemptions (section 54 for a new house, and bonds under section 54EC) remain available to NRIs subject to their conditions. They reduce the tax, and so the deduction your certificate can cover.

Form 15CA/15CB and the bank's checklist

What changed in 2026: for remittances from 1 April 2026, Form 15CA is now Form 145 and Form 15CB is now Form 146, under the Income-tax Act, 2025 and the Income-tax Rules, 2026. The substance is largely the same; many banks still use the old names.

1. Form 146 (was 15CB) — your chartered accountant certifies the nature of the money, that tax has been paid and any treaty position. Prepared first.
2. Form 145 (was 15CA) — you, or someone on your behalf, file this declaration on the income-tax portal using the CA certificate details.
3. Bank form — your authorised dealer bank's remittance application (often called Form A2), with the purpose code for property sale proceeds.

The bank's usual checklist:

• Registered sale deed, and the original purchase deed
• Proof of TDS deducted (Form 16A from the buyer) and your capital gains computation
• The lower-deduction certificate, if you had one
• PAN, passport and visa or OCI card
• Bank certificates of the original inward remittance, if you use the property route
• For inherited property: will, probate or legal-heir certificate

Worked example (₹ figures)

Illustrative only. Tax amounts depend on the rates in force and your CA's computation.

Repatriation: the ₹1.20 crore originally paid from the NRE account can go out under the property route with the original bank certificates. The balance counts against the USD 1 million limit for the year. At an illustrative ₹88 to the dollar, USD 1 million is about ₹8.8 crore, so the whole amount fits in one year here. A larger sale may need two financial years.

Four mistakes that hold money in India

• Selling before applying for the certificate. The buyer then deducts on the full price, and your cash waits for a refund.
• Losing the original remittance proof. Without bank certificates for the money you brought in, the property route is hard to use and everything falls under the annual limit.
• Using a resident savings account. If you still hold one after becoming an NRI, it should have been converted to NRO. Sale money landing in the wrong account creates a compliance problem before it creates a remittance.
• Ignoring the home country. Your country of residence may tax the same gain. A double taxation avoidance agreement usually lets you claim credit for Indian tax, but only with the right paperwork — keep Form 16A and your Indian return.

The order that avoids delays

1. Agree the price, then apply for the lower-deduction certificate.
2. Sign the sale agreement with the certificate clause.
3. Register the sale; the buyer deducts and pays TDS and gives you Form 16A.
4. Receive the money in your NRO account.
5. Get Form 146 from your CA; file Form 145 online.
6. Submit the bank's remittance form with the checklist above.
7. File your Indian return for the year and claim any refund.

If you plan to reinvest in India rather than take the money out, our NRI desk can walk you through buying on Sarjapur Road from abroad, and the property TDS explainer covers the buyer-side forms. For your next purchase, see our post on FEMA rules for NRI property purchase.

Sources (checked 15 October 2026): RBI FAQs on NRI property and remittance; Income Tax Department; BDO India on Forms 145 and 146.