Budget-friendly ODI forms — outbound investment in India

ODI forms — who files it, when it is due, what late filing costs, and what we charge to prepare it. India (Income Tax Department). Budget-friendly ODI forms with a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written quote today.

  • 15+Years of cross-border experience
  • 18,000+Clients served
  • 5.0Google rating
  • 4Global offices — India, USA, Canada & UAE

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Send what you have. We price the engagement from your own documents, in writing, before any work starts.

24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • 15+ years of cross-border experience
  • 18,000+ clients served
  • Fixed fee agreed before work starts
In 60 words

ODI forms is an information return: The reporting of outbound investment by an Indian entity or resident into a foreign entity. Indian companies and residents investing in overseas subsidiaries, joint ventures or funds.

Do you need this?

Indian companies and residents investing in overseas subsidiaries, joint ventures or funds.

The rule underneath it looks like this. Approval route, reporting and annual performance reporting continue for the life of the investment, and the tax treatment of the foreign entity's profits is decided separately — so the regulatory filing and the tax analysis have to be run together.

Two of the firm’s advisers and the team in the open-plan office

Transparent, fixed pricing for odi forms India

What an ODI engagement costs depends on how many overseas entities the investment touches and whether it goes through the automatic route or needs approval. Setting up the first reporting on a new subsidiary or joint venture is heavier than the annual performance reporting that follows it each year. Quoted in writing before we start.

T1135 foreign property filing — fixed-fee price

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

The Canadian foreign property statement built on cost amount, in Canadian dollars, across everything the test reaches — including holdings people assume are excluded.
See the full fee page

Individual tax filing

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

One engagement for a personal return that touches more than one country: the income, the assets held abroad and the relief claimed against them.
See the fee schedule

Foreign asset & information reporting

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Accounts, property and company interests held outside the country of residence, reported on the schedules that carry penalties whether or not tax is owed.
See the fee schedule

Catch-up & voluntary disclosure

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

For a filing history that stopped — the penalty position assessed first, then the years filed in the order that protects it.
See the fee schedule

Estate & trust filing

From $799

fixed, quoted before work starts

For an estate holding property in more than one country, or a trust with beneficiaries who are taxed somewhere else.
See the fee schedule

Non-resident & departure filings

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

The filings that follow a move: the departure year, the arrival year, and the income that keeps arriving from the country behind you.
See the fee schedule

Corporate cross-border filing

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

Corporate compliance for a group that trades or holds assets in more than one country, prepared on both sides together.
See the fee schedule

Payroll & mobility setup

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

Payroll set up for a workforce split across countries, including the relief that stops the same salary being withheld on twice.
See the fee schedule

All published fees on one page — the complete list of what each engagement costs, stated as figures rather than ranges.

What the reporting test actually looks at

What decides whether ODI forms applies
What the test looks atWhere the figure comes from
The obligationThe reporting of outbound investment by an Indian entity or resident into a foreign entity.
Who it bindsIndian companies and residents investing in overseas subsidiaries, joint ventures or funds.
Jurisdiction and authorityIndia — Income Tax Department
Category of filingInformation return

When it is due

Information returns are generally due with — or on the same timetable as — the return they accompany, so the deadline is the filing deadline of the underlying return unless the rules set a separate date. Where an extension covers the return, confirm whether it also covers this form; several information returns keep their own date. The deadline is set out in writing with the engagement, along with what has to be in our hands to meet it.

What late or missed filing costs

The penalty on an information return is charged per form and per year, and it does not depend on tax being owed. That is the whole risk profile: a filer with no tax to pay can still accumulate a substantial liability across unfiled years, and the exposure compounds with each additional entity or account that should have been reported. If that exposure has already accumulated, it is a disclosure question rather than a filing question, and the assessment comes first.

What this looks like with numbers

Put numbers against it and the shape of the answer is obvious.

Deduction on the price against tax on the gain

An NRI sells Indian property for ₹14,500,000 with an indexed cost of ₹3,915,000. Assume the buyer must deduct at 16% of the consideration, and assume tax on the gain at 15%.

Deduction on the price against tax on the gain
ItemAmount
Sale consideration₹14,500,000
Cost taken into account₹3,915,000
Gain actually arising₹10,585,000
Deduction on the consideration (assumed 16%)₹2,320,000
Tax on the gain (assumed 15%)₹1,587,750
Cash held back beyond the real tax₹732,250

₹732,250 more is deducted than the transaction actually owes. A lower-deduction certificate obtained before closing is what releases it at the table; without one it sits with the department until a return recovers it. The interesting question is where your own figures fall relative to that, which is a computation rather than an opinion.

Example figures throughout, selected to make the rule visible, with rates and thresholds assumed for the demonstration. Your actual filing uses figures confirmed with the issuing authority for your tax year.

How we prepare and file it, and what it costs

You get the number for ODI forms up front, as part of one fee for the whole set rather than as a separate charge that appears at the end. See the DTAA relief — India and the United States for comparable engagements.

From first call to filed

  1. 1Establish whether the reporting test is met, on the correct measure
  2. 2Assemble the holdings, accounts or entities that fall inside it
  3. 3Prepare the return and reconcile it to the tax return it travels with
  4. 4File, and set the calendar entry so next year is not a catch-up
  • We will tell you when you do not need us, and that call is free.
  • Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars on Google, on a profile open for you to read.
  • Your existing accountant keeps the domestic file; we take the cross-border piece, with the boundary in writing.

One call is usually enough to know whether this is a filing or a project.

Reviewed against current guidance for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. This is general information rather than advice about your file — a short call is the way to get the second.

Top tax preparation & planning services in India, in practice

Readers arrive here searching for top tax preparation & planning services in India, and ODI forms is what the page is about. Below: who it catches, what has to be filed, and what it costs — quoted in writing, before anything is done.

Approval route, reporting and annual performance reporting continue for the life of the investment, and the tax treatment of the foreign entity's profits is decided separately — so the regulatory filing and the tax analysis have to be run together.

From first contact to filed return

  1. Tell us the dates and we will tell you the position

    Arrival, departure, the years in between — the residence question turns on those before anything else.

  2. Fixed fee, defined scope, in writing

    Both agreed before work starts, so the engagement cannot grow into a larger bill.

  3. Prepared together, not passed between firms

    You are not the go-between for two sets of advisers working from two sets of assumptions.

  4. Reviewed, approved, filed

    A named practitioner checks it, you approve it, and then it goes.

What you are actually buying with odi forms India

Factor Legal Quotient Hourly billing model
Pricing A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts Hourly, billed as incurred
Experience 15+ years of cross-border work, 18,000+ clients Varies by file
Both sides of the border Prepared together by one team, so relief is claimed exactly once One country at a time, reconciled later
Who reviews it A named practitioner, published on the page Whoever the queue reaches
Where the work happens Our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE Whichever single office you can travel to

Key terms behind this page, defined

Totalization agreement
A social security agreement assigning coverage to one country and allowing contribution periods to be aggregated for benefits.
Faceless assessment
India's electronic assessment process, conducted without a designated officer meeting the taxpayer and on deadlines running from the notice.
NR7-R
The Canadian application to refund non-resident withholding tax collected above the treaty or statutory rate.
Alter ego trust
A trust used to defer the death-year deemed disposition and avoid probate, which can be the wrong structure entirely where a US person is involved.
odi forms India: How we read this one

Approval route, reporting and annual performance reporting continue for the life of the investment, and the tax treatment of the foreign entity's profits is decided separately — so the regulatory filing and the tax analysis have to be run together.

Whatever the file turns out to involve, the terms do not move: the scope and the fee are agreed in writing before any work starts, a named practitioner reviews the result, and nothing is filed until you have approved it.

The published fees closest to odi forms India

The published fees here cover the continuing side of an outbound investment: the yearly performance report, a change in shareholding or a disinvestment, and the tax view of what the foreign entity's profits mean back in India. The regulatory filing and that tax question are priced together, in writing.

Foreign asset & information reporting

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: Accounts, property and company interests held outside the country of residence, reported on the schedules that carry penalties whether or not tax is owed.

See this fee page

Catch-up & voluntary disclosure

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: Bringing an unfiled history current: which years are still open, which programme applies, and what the exposure is before you commit.

See this fee page

Why choose Legal Quotient for odi forms India

Cross-border is the whole practice

International and cross-border tax is all we do — not a sideline next to domestic work. The edge cases on this page are our ordinary Tuesday.

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.

18,000+ clients served

Individuals, expats and corporations across India, the USA, Canada and the UAE have filed with us — 15+ years of cross-border work.

The fee is fixed before we start

Quoted from your documents and agreed in writing. The number you accept is the number you pay.

The firm’s founder at his desk in the Delhi office

From first call to filed return

Step 1

First conversation

A first call to map the obligations across every country involved

Step 2

Written quote

A single fixed fee covering the whole set, agreed before we begin

Step 3

Preparation and sign-off

Preparation in the order that makes the relief usable, with a reviewer's sign-off

Step 4

Submission

You approve the finished work, and we file it

The team at work in the open-plan office

The engagement, start to finish

  • Step 1: Upload the file as it stands – A secure link arrives after the first call. Incomplete is fine; that is what the review is for.
  • Step 2: The number is settled up front – Priced from your own documents and confirmed in writing before any preparation begins.
  • Step 3: Both returns on one desk – One engagement covers every country the file touches, reconciled line against line.
  • Step 4: Your approval, then the filing – The return is yours to check first. We file once you say so.

Quoted up front, in writing.

Contact Us 24-hour helpline +1 (416) 619-0068

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Countries and corridors this work reaches

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The people on your file

Five named practitioners, each with the part of a cross-border file they carry. Every page on this site says who reviewed it, and the reviewer is one of these people rather than an unnamed team.

Udit Gupta

Udit Gupta

Cross-Border Tax Expert

CA (ICAI), In-Depth Tax Trained

Reviews and signs off the practice's cross-border positions, and carries final responsibility for the treaty analysis on every file that leaves the office.

Abhinav Gupta

Abhinav Gupta

Canada Tax / International Tax

Canada Tax, International Tax, Cross-Border Tax, Transfer Pricing

Canadian returns with foreign income, non-resident filings, and the transfer-pricing documentation that runs alongside intercompany work.

Raghav Gupta

Raghav Gupta

International Tax

International Tax, Transfer Pricing Specialist

Benchmarking, method selection and the local-file and master-file sets that support a group's pricing policy under examination.

Anmol Mittal

Anmol Mittal

Canada and US tax

CPA Canada, CPA USA, CA (ICAI)

Files that have to be right on both sides of the border at once — dual filings, streamlined catch-ups, and the foreign tax credit reconciliation between them.

Vinayak Indolia

Vinayak Indolia

CFO advisory

CPA, CA. Fractional CFO and Senior Advisory Specialist

Groups that need the tax position and the finance function to agree: structure reviews, intercompany policy, and the reporting a board can act on.

Meet the whole team

What these engagements turn on

Case study 1

Gains on Indian Shares Held From Abroad

Holding period and instrument decide the character of the gain, and the deduction at source applies before any of that is considered. The return is where the position is corrected.

Read how this one runs
Case study 2

The Year of Leaving India

The departure year carries a transition status with its own treatment of foreign income, and the position for the following years follows from how it is set. Getting the first year right saves arguing about the rest.

Read how this one runs
Case study 3

Coming Back to Canada After Years Abroad

Returning restarts Canadian residence and re-values what you own on the day you arrive. Foreign pensions, employer plans and accounts opened abroad each land differently, and the reporting thresholds are tested against the whole portfolio rather than each account.

Read how this one runs
Case study 4

A US Filer Married to Someone Outside the System

Electing to treat a non-resident spouse as a US filer buys joint rates and brings that spouse's worldwide income and foreign accounts into the return. The election is easy to make and hard to revoke, so both positions are modelled first.

Read how this one runs
Case study 5

Information Returns Missed Behind a Correct Return

The heaviest exposure on a cross-border file is often a disclosure form rather than the tax. Where the return itself was right, the procedures for late information returns turn on a reasonable-cause narrative with dates and documents behind it.

Read how this one runs
Case study 6

Whether the Year Made Someone an NRI

Indian residence is decided by presence tests applied to the financial year, and a single trip can change the answer for the whole of it. The status is established before any return or exemption is considered.

Read how this one runs
Case study 7

An NRI Selling Indian Property With Tax Withheld on the Price

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 until a return is assessed.

Read how this one runs
Case study 8

Unreported Foreign Income Disclosed Before the CRA Asked

A voluntary disclosure has to be genuinely voluntary — once a letter arrives, the route usually closes. The engagement establishes whether the programme is still available, prepares the years, and puts the relief request in with the filing rather than after it.

Read how this one runs

All case studies — every published engagement in one place.

Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services

International Tax Planning & Advisory

Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.

One coordinating team: filings on every side of the border are sequenced so treaty relief and foreign tax credits are claimed once — and in the right country.

U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns

Dual filers: U.S. citizens in Canada and Canadians with U.S. income run two parallel systems — we prepare both, in the right order, every year.

Expat & Emigration Tax

The move year is its own project: the elections and valuations filed that year decide the next decade of both countries’ returns.

Non-Resident Canadian Tax

Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.

Transfer Pricing & BEPS

Documentation prepared with the return is the cheapest insurance in international tax; reconstructing it during an audit is the most expensive.

Cross-Border Estates & Trusts

Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.

Cross-Border Corporate Tax

Expansion raises the same four questions every time — entity, PE, repatriation, payroll. We answer them before the tax authorities do.

India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents

The deduction is taken on the sale price, not the gain — which is why an NRI property sale strands cash unless the certificate is applied for before closing.

Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element

Residency is decided on facts, not on a form — and the year you arrive or leave is the one where the largest amounts turn on the smallest details.

UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country

A zero-tax country is only half the answer — the question that decides the bill is whether the country you came from still treats you as resident.

Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
Professional Services Firms
Cross-Border Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Investment Funds & Holding Companies

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces

  • Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
  • Marketplace withholding reviews
  • Inventory nexus & PE analysis
  • Multi-currency books reconciled
Explore E-commerce & Marketplaces

Technology & SaaS

  • Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
  • IP structuring with real substance
  • Equity for cross-border teams
  • U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Explore Technology & SaaS

Professional Services Firms

Firms and partners working across borders meet Regulation 105 withholding, PE risk on long engagements and per-country payroll for travelling staff.

A partnership is taxed in the hands of its partners, so one engagement abroad can reach every partner's personal return. The order matters: the waiver is applied for before the invoice, the presence is tracked before it becomes an establishment, and the payroll is registered before the first day worked in the other country.

  • Reg 105 / 102 waivers
  • Permanent establishment risk
  • Partner mobility planning
  • Cross-border withholding recovery
Explore Professional Services

Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers

  • Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
  • Customs value vs transfer price
  • Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
  • Country-by-country reporting
Explore Trade & Manufacturing

Athletes, Artists & Entertainers

  • Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
  • Multi-state & country calendars
  • Touring income allocation
  • Royalty & image-rights withholding
Explore Athletes & Entertainers

Remote Workers & Digital Nomads

  • Residency analysis before moving
  • Employer payroll exposure
  • Totalization & social security
  • Foreign tax credits
Explore Remote Workers

Investment Funds & Holding Companies

  • Treaty access & PPT reviews
  • FAPI & surplus computations
  • Withholding-efficient routing
  • Governance & substance
Explore Funds & Holdcos

ODI forms — questions we are asked

Do I file ODI forms even if no tax is owed?

Information return obligations of this kind are generally required on the facts rather than on the tax result, so a nil position does not remove one. Indian companies and residents investing in overseas subsidiaries, joint ventures or funds.

What happens if I have missed ODI forms for several years?

Missed years are dealt with as a package rather than one at a time, because the route chosen for the first year affects the relief available for the rest. We map the years and the obligations before anything is filed.

Is ODI forms the same as the other reports I already file?

No. The reporting of outbound investment by an Indian entity or resident into a foreign entity. Satisfying a different obligation, even one covering the same accounts or entity, does nothing for this one.

Is money received in India from abroad taxable?

Receiving your own money is not income, and a gift from a specified relative is exempt however large. Two things do bite. A gift from someone outside that relative list is taxable to the recipient once the year's receipts pass the threshold in the gift provisions. And money that is really payment for something — fees, rent, interest, a share of profit — is taxed as that income whatever the bank narration says. The paperwork should match the substance. See gifting money to family in India.

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.

What is the Liberalised Remittance Scheme?

The Reserve Bank of India framework under which a resident individual may remit up to an annual ceiling for permitted purposes — education, medical treatment, travel, maintenance of relatives, investment in shares or property abroad — with gifts and loans to non-residents inside the same ceiling. You declare the purpose to the bank on Form A2. The ceiling and the excluded purposes are set by the RBI and have changed more than once, so the figure to work from is the one current at the date of the transfer. See Form A2 and LRS remittances.

Fixed fee agreed before we start

ODI forms, quoted before we start

Send us the facts. You will get a scope and a fixed fee in writing, and nothing starts until you agree to both.

  • Your existing accountant keeps the domestic file
  • 24-hour helpline, +1 (416) 619-0068
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE

Our practitioners are alumni of leading accounting and tax institutions

Where our partners studied — CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), AICPA, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Request a Quote +1 (416) 619-0068