NRE, NRO and FCNR interest taxability
Check whether interest on an Indian non-resident account is exempt or taxable.
Open itEvery remittance out of India runs through the same three questions: is it chargeable to tax, how much has already gone this year, and is there an officer order in place. Answer them and this names the part and tells you whether a certificate comes first.
The remittance
₹
The rupee equivalent of what is going out now.
₹
The total of earlier remittances in the same financial year. The threshold is tested on the aggregate, not on one payment.
₹
Five lakh rupees under the current rule. Change it only if the rule has moved.
Untick where the sum is not income chargeable in India at all — a repatriation of your own capital, for instance.
A lower or nil deduction certificate, or an order fixing the sum chargeable.
The rule lists a set of payment purposes that need neither form. Check the list before ticking this.
What to file
—
Part of Form 15CA —
Accountant certificate in Form 15CB —
This remittance—
Aggregate for the year after this one—
Threshold—
Headroom left before the threshold—
Four parts, and the questions that pick between them
Form 15CA has four parts and only one of them applies to any given remittance. Part D is for a sum that is not chargeable to tax in India at all. Part A is for a chargeable sum where the aggregate for the financial year stays within the threshold. Part B is for a chargeable sum over the threshold where an assessing officer has already fixed the position. Part C is for a chargeable sum over the threshold with no officer order — and that is the one that needs an accountant's certificate in Form 15CB first.
Two things trip people up. The threshold is an aggregate for the financial year, not a per-payment figure, so the fifth small remittance can be the one that changes the answer. And the specified list of exempt purposes sits outside the whole scheme: a payment on that list needs neither form, whatever the amount.
Why the bank will not move without it
The authorised dealer bank is the party that has to see the acknowledgement before it will release the funds. That makes this a sequencing problem more than a compliance one: the certificate has to exist before Part C can be filed, Part C has to be filed before the bank will act, and the bank will not act on a promise.
Where the certificate is needed, the accountant is certifying the nature of the payment, the rate at which tax should be deducted, and the treaty position relied on. That is a substantive opinion, not a formality, and it is the document a later enquiry starts from.
Worked example
A non-resident has already remitted 3 lakh from an ordinary rupee account this financial year and now wants to send another 8 lakh of rental income.
- Rental income is chargeable in India, so Part D is out.
- The aggregate after this payment is 11 lakh, over the threshold, so Part A is out.
- There is no officer order, so Part B is out. Part C applies, and Form 15CB comes first.
Untick the chargeable box and the answer changes to Part D with no certificate — which is why the first question on the form is the one that matters most.
What this calculator assumes
- The threshold is the aggregate of remittances in the financial year, prefilled at five lakh rupees under the current rule and editable if it moves.
- The specified list of exempt purposes is not reproduced here. Check the current list before ticking that box; it is long and it changes.
- Chargeability is a judgement, not a checkbox. Where it is genuinely arguable, the certificate route is the safer one even if the amount is small.
- The bank may ask for more than the form: the purpose code, the exchange-control declaration, and evidence of the source of funds.
An estimate, not advice. This is an estimate built from what you typed, not advice on your file. Nothing here reads your documents, checks your treaty article or looks at the year you are actually in. Where the number matters, we agree a fixed fee in writing before any work starts.
Where these figures come from
- current guidance India — Form 15CA frequently asked questions, Income Tax Department
- current portal India — Form 15CB, filing portal
- current rules India — Income-tax Rules, Rule 37BB
Any figure prefilled in the panel above is stated with the year it belongs to and can be changed. Rates and thresholds move; a calculator that asks you for the current one stays right, and one that hides a guess does not.
What these engagements turn on
Case study 1
Requirement checker clarified which part of Form 15CA applied to a services payment
A company remitting a fee to a foreign consultant was unsure which part of Form 15CA applied and whether an accountant's certificate was also required. We reviewed the payment's tax characterisation, confirmed the correct part and the certificate requirement, and the remittance proceeded without the bank rejecting the filing.
Case study 2
Exemption from the certificate requirement confirmed for a routine goods payment
A business assumed every foreign remittance needed an accountant's certificate and had been obtaining one unnecessarily for routine goods payments. We reviewed the specific exemption that applied to that category of payment, and the business stopped incurring the unnecessary certification cost for future routine remittances.
Case study 3
Requirement checked before a one-off large personal remittance
An individual repatriating property sale proceeds needed to confirm whether their specific transaction required the fuller declaration and certificate before approaching their bank. We reviewed the transaction against the requirement conditions, confirmed what was needed, and the remittance was processed on the first submission.
Case study 4
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 5
A Trust Abroad With a Canadian Connection
Contributions or beneficiaries in Canada can bring a foreign trust inside the Canadian net entirely. The analysis is who contributed what and when, because the answer decides whether the trust files here at all.
Read how this one runs
Case study 6
One Employee Working From Another Country
A single remote employee can create payroll registration, withholding and social security obligations in their country, and sometimes a corporate presence too. The review sets out each obligation and the order they have to be registered in.
Read how this one runs
Case study 7
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 8
Getting Sale Proceeds Out of India
Repatriation runs on certification from an accountant and on the account the funds sit in, and the banking rules and the tax rules are separate gates. Both are cleared in sequence rather than together.
Read how this one runsAll 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.
Tax Treaties & Withholding
Relief is only as good as the paperwork claiming it — we build treaty positions that survive review on both sides.
Cross-Border Estates & Trusts
Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.
Global Investments & Reporting
Information returns carry the sharpest penalties — $25 a day whether or not any tax is owing. We keep them clean and on time.
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
Who We Serve:
Technology & SaaS
- Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
- IP structuring with real substance
- Equity for cross-border teams
- U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Who We Serve:
Professional Services Firms
- Reg 105 / 102 waivers
- Permanent establishment risk
- Partner mobility planning
- Cross-border withholding recovery
Who We Serve:
Cross-Border Real Estate
Foreign property income and sales are taxed in both countries by default; Section 216, FIRPTA and treaty credits are the standing toolkit.
Property is taxed where it sits, which is the one rule no treaty overrides. What the treaty does decide is the credit, the rate on the rent and what happens on the sale — and the clearance certificate on a disposition is applied for before closing, not after the buyer has already held the money back.
- Section 216 rental returns
- FIRPTA withholding recovery
- Section 116 clearance
- Treaty credit optimization
Who We Serve:
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
- Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
- Customs value vs transfer price
- Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
- Country-by-country reporting
Who We Serve:
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
- Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
- Multi-state & country calendars
- Touring income allocation
- Royalty & image-rights withholding
Who We Serve:
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
- Residency analysis before moving
- Employer payroll exposure
- Totalization & social security
- Foreign tax credits
Who We Serve:
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
- Treaty access & PPT reviews
- FAPI & surplus computations
- Withholding-efficient routing
- Governance & substance
Who We Serve:
