What is included in the fee for NRI property sale package?
The whole transaction handled end to end: the certificate application before closing, the Indian return afterwards, and the remittance certification that moves the proceeds out.
What would make NRI property sale package cost more than the standard tier?
Succession and title. Inherited property brings documents that have to be in order before a sale can complete, and that work precedes the tax work.
Is the fee really fixed?
Yes, for the scope quoted. If the scope changes — another year appears, an entity turns up, a certificate becomes necessary — we re-quote before doing the work, so there is never an invoice you have not already agreed to.
I am selling my flat in India — will the buyer deduct tax?
Yes. On a sale by a non-resident the buyer is required to withhold from the payment and remit it to the Indian tax department, and the deduction is taken on the sale consideration rather than on your gain. That is why the amount held back is usually far more than the tax you actually owe. There are two ways to deal with it. Apply to the department before closing for a certificate authorising a lower deduction, or let the full deduction happen and recover the excess by filing an Indian return for the year of the sale. The first is quicker in cash terms; the second is the fallback once the sale has completed.
Why is tax deducted on the whole sale price and not my profit?
Because the buyer has no way of knowing your cost, your holding period or what you spent improving the property, so the obligation is placed on the payment rather than on a figure only you can compute. The department's certificate procedure exists to correct that. You put the purchase documents, the improvement costs and the holding period in front of an officer before closing, and the certificate then tells the buyer what to deduct instead. Without one the buyer deducts on the gross figure, and the difference sits with the department until you file and claim it back.
How do I move the sale proceeds from India to my account abroad?
The bank will not release an outward remittance on a property sale without documentation confirming that the Indian tax position on the transaction has been dealt with. That certification is prepared by an accountant in India, filed with the department, and given to the bank along with the sale documents and the trail showing where the money came from. In practice this is the step that strands money: the sale completes, the tax is deducted, and the proceeds then sit in an Indian account for months because nobody prepared the remittance paperwork. Here it is part of the same engagement rather than a separate errand afterwards.
Do I still need to file an Indian return if tax was already deducted?
Usually yes, and normally it is in your interest. The deduction is made on the sale consideration, so where your actual gain is smaller, the amount withheld exceeds the tax due and the return is the mechanism that gets the difference back. Filing also closes the transaction off on the department's records rather than leaving an unmatched credit against your name. If you hold a certificate authorising a reduced deduction, the return still reports the sale and reconciles what was withheld against what was payable.
Should I apply for the certificate before or after the sale closes?
Before. The certificate instructs the buyer what to deduct, so it is only useful while the payment is still to be made. Once the money has moved and the deduction has been remitted, the application has nothing left to act on and recovery goes through the return instead. Applications take time at the department's end, so the sensible sequence is to start one when the sale is agreed rather than when the registration date is fixed. If you are already at the closing table without one, say so on the call and the recovery route is planned instead.
The sale already closed and too much was deducted — can I recover it?
Yes, through the return for the year of the sale. The work is reconstruction: the purchase deed, the cost of any improvements, the sale documents, and evidence of what the buyer actually deposited with the department. The credit has to match what is showing against your name in the department's records, and a mismatch there — a deduction remitted under the wrong identifier, or recorded in the wrong period — is the most common reason a refund stalls. Those are fixed with the buyer before the return goes in, not afterwards.
Can I avoid capital gains tax on a foreign property?
Not by virtue of it being foreign — there is no exemption for that, and the "keep it offshore" advice you may have read is how people acquire penalties rather than savings. What genuinely reduces the gain is ordinary and legitimate: principal residence relief where the property qualifies and the designation is made correctly, a properly built cost base including acquisition costs and capital improvements, the timing of the disposition, the treaty rules for real property, and credit for the foreign tax paid. See principal residence and foreign property.
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.
