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All NRIs

NRI property sale TDS calculator

TDS comes off the whole sale price, not your profit, so the amount withheld is usually far above the tax you owe.

How this works: When an NRI sells property in India, the buyer must deduct TDS on the entire sale price — not on your profit. This works out what gets withheld at completion, what you actually owe on the gain, and the difference: money locked up with the tax department until you file a return and claim it back. A Form 13 certificate obtained before completion closes that gap.

The sale

For inherited property, use the original owner's cost.

Renovation, brokerage, legal fees — all deductible from the gain.

Holding period & relief

30% for most NRI sellers with other Indian income.

Another Indian residential property (s.54) or up to ₹50 lakh of capital gains bonds (s.54EC). Reduces the gain, not the sale price.

What the buyer withholds vs what you actually owe

TDS withheld at completion

Tax you actually owe

on a gain of

Locked up as a refund claim

What this means

  • The 12.5% long-term rate applies because the property was held for more than 24 months. Sold sooner, the gain is taxed at your slab rate instead.
  • Held for 24 months or less, the gain is short-term and taxed at your slab rate. Past 24 months the long-term rate of 12.5% would apply.
  • As a tax resident of the , you will usually owe tax on the gain there too, with credit for the Indian tax under the treaty. The DTAA estimator shows what is left to pay.
  • The doesn't tax this kind of gain for individuals, so the Indian tax is usually the whole bill.
The link holds the numbers above, so whoever opens it sees the same result. Nothing is stored by us.

Without Form 13

Sale price
Less TDS deducted
In your NRO account

≈

With a Form 13 certificate

Sale price
Less TDS at your real rate
In your NRO account

≈

How the TDS is built up

Deducted on
Base rate
Basic tax
Surcharge ()
Health & education cess (4%)
Total withheld

Your actual capital gain

Sale price
Less purchase cost
Less improvements & costs
Less s.54 / 54EC relief
Taxable gain
Tax on it

No taxable gain on these figures — but TDS is still deducted on the full sale price unless you hold a Form 13 certificate.

What to do with this. Apply for a Form 13 lower-TDS certificate as soon as a buyer is identified — it takes 3–6 weeks and names that specific buyer, so it cannot be left to the last week. Check the buyer has a TAN and knows they must deduct under section 195, not the 1% that applies to resident sellers; the liability falls on them if they get it wrong. Then plan the money out: proceeds land in your NRO account and move abroad under the USD 1 million annual limit with Forms 15CA/15CB.

Estimates for FY 2026-27 / AY 2027-28 on rules current at the last review. Assumes the gain is your only Indian income for surcharge purposes and applies the long-term rate without indexation. Your assessing officer determines the actual certificate rate. Excludes any tax due in your country of residence. Not tax advice — see the full property sale guide.

NRIWallah team

Updated October 2026 · 3 min read

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The amount withheld is not the tax you owe

A resident Indian selling a flat has 1% deducted at source. An NRI selling the same flat has tax deducted on the entire sale consideration at capital gains rates. For a long-term holding that is about 13% to 15% of the whole price, and over 30% for a short-term one. On a ₹2 crore sale that is roughly ₹30 lakh withheld at completion, whether your gain was ₹80 lakh or nothing.

The money is not lost, but the amount withheld bears no relation to what you owe. The difference stays with the Income Tax Department until you file a return and claim it. The calculator shows both figures side by side, what the buyer must deduct and what you owe on the gain, so the gap is clear before you sign.

Why the gap can be wide

TDS is computed on the sale price while your liability is computed on the gain. The more of the price that represents your original cost, the more the withholding overshoots. A seller of an inherited property with a low recorded cost sees a modest overshoot, and one who bought recently at close to the sale price sees a very large one.

Surcharge widens it. It steps up with the sum assessed, at 10% above ₹50 lakh and 15% above ₹1 crore. For TDS the step is set by the sale price, and for your actual liability by the much smaller gain. A ₹2 crore sale can therefore carry surcharge on the withholding while the tax on the gain sits in a lower band. The calculator applies each correctly.

A Form 13 certificate fixes the cash flow

A lower-deduction certificate under Form 13 is filed with the assessing officer before the sale completes. The officer reviews your expected gain, including any reinvestment relief you plan to claim, and directs the buyer to deduct at a rate that matches your real liability. On a typical sale this takes the withholding from 13-15% of the price to low single digits. The “With a Form 13 certificate” panel above shows what that means for the cash reaching your account.

The constraint is timing. The certificate names a specific buyer, so the application cannot start until you have one, and it cannot wait until the week of registration. Sellers who lose money here are rarely refused. They apply too late or not at all.

Once the proceeds arrive, the repatriation calculator covers moving them abroad within the USD 1 million annual limit, and the full property sale guide explains the capital gains exemptions.

NRIWallah does not provide tax advice. Figures are estimates for FY 2026-27 (AY 2027-28), assume the gain is your only Indian income for surcharge purposes, and exclude any liability in your country of residence. Your assessing officer determines the actual certificate rate. Speak to a chartered accountant before completing a sale. NRIWallah may receive a referral fee from the professional, never from you (how we make money).

Common questions

Longer than most sellers expect. You cannot claim it until you file your Indian return for the financial year of the sale, which means waiting until after 31 March, then filing and waiting for processing and the refund to reach your NRO account. Twelve to eighteen months from completion is common, and a scrutiny notice or a mismatch in Form 26AS can add to it.
On a sale of any size, usually. The professional’s fee is small beside a withholding reduction that can run into lakhs. The constraint is timing. Certificates take several weeks, are issued for a named buyer and must reach the buyer before they pay. Apply as soon as a buyer is identified. The Form 13 guide covers the documents and the usual reasons for rejection.
Say so in the Form 13 application. If you are buying another Indian residential property under section 54, or putting up to ₹50 lakh into capital gains bonds under section 54EC, your liability may be close to zero, and the certificate can reflect that. Without it the buyer still deducts on the full price. Both reliefs require investment in India, so a property bought abroad does not qualify.
No, only the Indian side. If you are tax-resident in the UK, US, Canada or Australia, the same gain is usually reportable at home with a foreign tax credit for the Indian tax. Your home country may compute the gain in its own currency from the original purchase date, which can give a very different figure from the rupee gain here. The DTAA estimator explains the credit.
No. The 1% rate under section 194-IA applies only when the seller is resident in India. A sale by an NRI falls under section 195, and a buyer who deducts 1% has under-deducted. The shortfall, with interest and penalty, is recoverable from the buyer, not from you. Many resident buyers have never dealt with this and do not hold a TAN, so raise it during negotiation rather than at the registration office.

Talk to an NRI property-sale CA

Get matched with a chartered accountant who handles NRI TDS, Form 13 applications and repatriation paperwork, free and with no obligation.

Something went wrong. Please email admin@nriwallah.com directly.

Free to use. NRIWallah may receive a referral fee from the professional, never from you — how we make money.

Every rate and threshold here is sourced, dated and shown on the page — but tax rules change, and we would rather be told than be wrong. Reports go to the team that maintains the tool. If you can point at the official source, that gets it fixed fastest.

No account needed. We don't publish your email or add you to anything.

Prefer email? admin@nriwallah.com. How we source and review these numbers is set out in our methodology.

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