NRI selling Indian property — checklist
The pack for an NRI property sale in India, where the deduction is on the consideration and the tax is on the gain.
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The pack for an NRI property sale in India, where the deduction is on the consideration and the tax is on the gain.
The document pack
- The original purchase deed, with registration and stamp duty receipts
- Records of improvements, with invoices
- The current sale agreement and the buyer's details
- Your Indian tax identifier and the buyer's deduction account number
- A gain computation, with indexation where available
- Any earlier deduction certificates or filings for the property
- Bank account details for receipt and for the eventual remittance
- Succession documents if the property was inherited
Why each of these is asked for
A lower-deduction certificate application is the whole point of assembling this early: without it the buyer must deduct on the full consideration and the excess sits with the department until a return recovers it. Inherited property carries the original cost and holding period, which is why the succession documents affect the arithmetic.
What to do next
Send what you have and we will tell you what is missing. A complete pack is usually the difference between a filing that takes a fortnight and one that takes a season. Send us the facts and we will tell you what has to be filed and what it costs.
Reviewed for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. Written as general guidance, not as a recommendation for your situation. Talk it through with us before acting on it.
International tax accountant — what this page covers
The search that brings most people to this page is international tax accountant. It is answered here for NRI selling Indian property: what creates the obligation, which filings discharge it, and the fee agreed before the work starts.
Why choose Legal Quotient for NRI selling Indian property — checklist
The reporting penalties get named early
The heaviest exposure on a cross-border file is usually a disclosure form, not the tax. We identify which ones apply before a deadline turns into a penalty.
Both sides prepared together
Two returns built against each other by one team, so relief is claimed exactly once and nothing falls between the two systems.
Every figure on a page is traceable
Where a rate or a threshold appears in our writing it names the tax year it belongs to. Where it could not be confirmed, the page describes the mechanism and quotes no number.
The order of filing is planned, not improvised
Which return goes first decides whether relief can be claimed at all. That sequence is worked out before anything is submitted.
What these engagements turn on
A lower deduction certificate applied for before the agreement was signed
The client told us about the sale while terms were still being negotiated, which is what made the rest possible. We assembled the purchase deed, the registration and stamp duty receipts and the improvement invoices, prepared a gain computation with indexation where it was available, and obtained the buyer's deduction account details for the application. The engagement produced a certificate application supported by the full documentary trail, and a buyer able to deduct against it at completion rather than withholding on the whole consideration and leaving the client to chase the excess.
An inherited flat where the original cost had to be traced
The client had inherited a flat from a parent and believed the cost base was its value when he received it. The original acquisition was decades old and the family had no deed. We obtained certified copies from the registry, matched them with the stamp duty record, and brought the succession documents alongside to establish how the property had passed. The work produced an evidenced original cost and holding period carried through to the client, a gain computation built on them, and the papers a certificate application needed.
Recovering excess deduction through a return after completion
The sale had closed before anyone asked about the withholding, and the buyer had deducted on the full consideration. We checked first that the amount deducted had been deposited against the client's tax identifier correctly, which it had not been in full, and had that corrected with the buyer. Then we prepared the gain computation from the acquisition and improvement records. The engagement produced a filed return claiming the excess, a reconciled deduction record, and a documented cost base the client can rely on for the remaining property he holds there.
Improvement invoices assembled for a flat held for decades
The client had rebuilt a kitchen, added a room and re-roofed the property over many years, and had kept almost nothing. We worked through what could still be evidenced: contractor invoices recovered from a family accountant, bank records matching the payments, and society approvals for the structural work. Items that could not be supported were left out rather than estimated. The work produced a schedule of improvement expenditure tied to payments and dates, and a computation whose every line can be shown to the department if the return is examined.
Joint owners with different residence positions on one sale
A flat stood in the names of two siblings, one resident in India and one not, and the buyer's solicitor treated the sale as a single transaction with one deduction. The positions are not the same and the deduction on each share follows the seller who owns it. We established the ownership shares from the deed, set out the treatment for each seller, and gave the buyer a written basis for the deduction. The engagement produced separate computations for the two owners and a completion that did not have to be unwound afterwards.
Remittance documentation prepared alongside the sale itself
The client's priority was getting the proceeds to her own country, and she had assumed that was a banking matter to be handled after completion. We prepared the remittance file as the sale progressed: the account for receipt opened in good time, the sale deed, the buyer's deduction records, and the tax filings connected to the transaction. The work produced a complete pack handed to the bank when the funds arrived, and a transfer that proceeded on the documents rather than stalling while paperwork was requested after the event.
Tax Deducted When Buying From an NRI
Withholding on a sale by a non-resident is applied to the sale value rather than to the gain, so it routinely exceeds the tax due. A lower-deduction certificate obtained before completion avoids locking the difference up.
Read how this one runsA Family Trust Abroad With Reporting on Both Sides
A trust settled in one country and a beneficiary living in another produces reporting for the trust, the settlor and the beneficiary, on different forms and different dates. The engagement maps who files what before anything is prepared.
Read how this one runsAll case studies — every published engagement in one place.
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