NRI Property Sale in Goa — Lower TDS, Clean Repatriation, No Surprises
A US-based NRI selling an inherited beach-side property in Goa was staring at 20%+ TDS being withheld at sale and no clear path to move the proceeds abroad. NDSA secured a lower deduction certificate, computed the capital gains correctly, and got the funds repatriated under FEMA — before the sale deed was even signed.
An inherited property, a buyer ready to close, and a TDS problem
A US-based NRI had inherited a villa near Candolim from his parents and found a buyer ready to close at ₹2.4 crore. The problem surfaced the moment the buyer's lawyer mentioned TDS: under Indian tax law, anyone purchasing property from an NRI must deduct TDS at a flat rate that can run as high as 20% (plus surcharge and cess) on the entire sale value — not just the gain — unless the seller obtains a lower deduction certificate from the Income Tax Department before the deal closes.
Without that certificate, nearly ₹50 lakh would have been locked up in TDS, refundable only after filing a return the following year and waiting months for processing. On top of that, the property had been inherited, so the cost of acquisition and indexation needed to be reconstructed from the original purchase records of the seller's late parents.
Once the sale went through, the seller also needed a clean, compliant way to move the net proceeds back to his US bank account under FEMA — with the buyer's closing date only eight weeks away.
Lower TDS approved before closing, gains computed correctly, funds moved without delay
NDSA started by reconstructing the property's cost base — tracing the original purchase deed from the 1990s, applying indexation correctly under the cost inflation index, and netting it against the agreed sale price to arrive at the actual long-term capital gain, which came out well below what flat-rate TDS would have assumed.
With that capital gain computation in hand, we managed the full process end to end:
- Filed Form 13 with the Income Tax Department for a lower (or nil) TDS deduction certificate, backed by the indexed cost computation, well ahead of the closing date.
- Followed up with the jurisdictional assessing officer to get the certificate issued before the sale deed was signed, so the buyer could deduct TDS on the actual gain instead of the full sale value.
- Coordinated with the buyer's side and the registering authority so the lower-TDS certificate was correctly reflected in the sale deed and Form 26QB filing.
- Obtained the Form 15CB certification from a chartered accountant and filed Form 15CA, the documents required to remit sale proceeds out of India.
- Guided the repatriation through the seller's NRO account under FEMA's USD 1 million per financial year limit, ensuring the bank's compliance team had everything needed to release funds without back-and-forth.
"For NRIs selling property in India, the real risk isn't tax — it's cash flow. Without a lower deduction certificate, the seller's own money sits with the government for a year. We make sure that certificate is in hand before the buyer ever signs."
Sale closed on time, TDS reduced to the real gain, funds in the US within weeks
The lower deduction certificate came through before the closing date, cutting TDS withheld at source from roughly ₹50 lakh down to a fraction of that — matched to the actual capital gain rather than the full sale value. The sale deed was registered on schedule, with no last-minute renegotiation over tax withholding.
Once the sale proceeds landed in the seller's NRO account, the 15CA/15CB filings were already in place, and the funds were remitted to his US bank account within weeks — with no refund claim to chase the following tax season. NDSA also filed the seller's Indian income tax return reporting the capital gain, closing the loop on full compliance.
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