Do I need Form 15CB if I am sending my own money?
The certificate is not about whose money it is. It is about whether the payment leaving India is chargeable to Indian tax, and at what rate. A transfer of your own funds out of your Indian account can still need the pair, because the bank has to satisfy itself that nothing taxable is being remitted untaxed. Some categories of payment are excluded from the certificate requirement altogether, and small payments are treated differently, so the first question is always what the remittance is for and where the money in the account came from. Establish the source of the funds first. The declaration then follows from it, and not the other way round.
Does Form 15CA apply to money I send into India?
No. These two documents sit on payments going out of India to a non-resident. Money you send into India from a Canadian or a US account is an inward remittance, and your Indian bank handles it under a different set of paperwork entirely. The confusion is common, because the same account is used for both directions. It matters later, when you want to take money back out, because the record of what came in as your own funds from abroad is what supports the outward remittance. Keep the inward credit advices your bank issues. They are the evidence you will want when the outward declaration asks where the money came from.
Can I file Form 15CA myself without using an accountant?
The declaration is the remitter's own, and you can file it. The certificate that often accompanies it is not yours to give. It is a professional certification of the taxability of that remittance and of the rate applied, and the reference number it generates has to be quoted in your declaration. So the practical sequence is certificate first, declaration second, bank third. Filing the declaration on its own and hoping the branch does not ask is the usual reason a transfer sits unprocessed for weeks. Where the payment falls into an excluded category, no certificate is needed and the declaration itself is short.
My bank wants 15CB before releasing funds, is that right?
Usually, yes. The bank is the point at which the system is enforced. It will not put the remittance through without the acknowledgement, because it carries an obligation of its own to check. Arguing with the branch rarely helps, and the branch is not where the rule was made. What does help is giving them a certificate that matches the payment on its face, with the purpose of the remittance, the source of the funds and the rate applied all stated consistently. Where the payment is in an excluded class, say so in writing and point to the class, rather than asking for an exception.
What happens if money left India without Form 15CA?
The remittance has already gone, so the question becomes one of exposure rather than of permission. There is a penalty regime for failing to furnish the declaration, and separately there is the underlying tax, if any, on the payment itself. The two are distinct and are dealt with differently. In practice the work is to establish whether the payment was chargeable to Indian tax at all, to document that conclusion, and then to deal with the filing default on that basis. A remittance that was never taxable in the first place is a very different conversation from one where tax should have been deducted and was not.
Does a 15CB certificate mean the Indian tax is final?
No. The certificate records a considered view on the taxability of one payment, at the time it is given, on the facts and documents put in front of the certifying accountant. It lets the money move. It does not bind the tax department, and it does not conclude the assessment of the person receiving the payment or of the person making it. If the department later takes a different view of the treaty article relied on, or of the nature of the payment, the certificate is evidence of the basis that was used rather than an answer to the challenge. Keep the working papers behind it, not just the certificate.
Is dividend income from Indian shares taxable for an NRI?
Yes. Dividends are taxed in the shareholder's hands, and the paying company withholds on payment to a non-resident. The treaty can reduce that withholding, but only if the documents are with the company before it pays: a tax residency certificate from your country, Form 10F, and a PAN on the register. Without them the domestic rate applies and your route back to the difference is a refund claim on an Indian return. See residency certificates and Form 10F.
How does an NRI prove residence to get the treaty rate?
With a tax residency certificate issued by the country you are resident in, plus Form 10F giving the details the certificate does not carry, plus a PAN in the payer's records. The certificate has to cover the period of the payment, and the payer needs it before paying, not afterwards. Missing any of the three and the deductor is obliged to withhold at the domestic rate, which turns a rate reduction into a refund claim. See TRC against Form 10F.
