Repatriate Property Sale Proceeds: USD 1M Cap, Form 15CB and CA Certificate Steps
You can repatriate up to USD 1 million per financial year from your NRO account, and property sale proceeds must first land in the NRO, pay their tax, then move out through Form 15CB plus Form 15CA Part C with the bank filing Form A2. Agricultural land, plantations and farmhouses can never be repatriated.
Harun Raaj
Chartered Accountant · Harun Raaj & Associates
You can repatriate up to USD 1 million per financial year from your NRO account, and property sale proceeds must first land in the NRO, clear their capital-gains tax, and then move out through a CA's Form 15CB certificate, Form 15CA Part C and the bank's Form A2. The cap and the paperwork are set by RBI's non-resident account framework — under FEMA 10(R), the NRO regulation — and any amount above USD 1 million in a year needs prior RBI approval. Proceeds from agricultural land, plantations and farmhouses can never be repatriated.
The Repatriation Route at a Glance
The USD 1 Million Cap
The USD 1 million per financial year limit applies to the total repatriation from your NRO account — not per property, per sale, or per transaction. All repatriations in the FY are added together:
- Sale proceeds, accumulated rent, NRO interest, dividends — everything repatriated from the NRO counts toward the same USD 1 million.
- The cap is per FY, so a large sale can be repatriated in instalments across years — each year up to USD 1 million — rather than requiring one lump-sum approval.
- Amounts above USD 1 million in a single year require prior RBI approval through the authorised dealer.
Worked Example: Sunita's Gurugram Apartment
Sunita, an NRI in Singapore, sells her Gurugram apartment in FY 2025-26 for ₹1,50,00,000.
Step 1 — TDS by the buyer:
- TDS @ 20%: ₹30,00,000
- Surcharge: consideration ₹1.5 Cr > ₹1 Cr → 15% × ₹30,00,000 = ₹4,50,000
- Cess: 4% × ₹34,50,000 = ₹1,38,000
- Total TDS = ₹35,88,000
Step 2 — Net proceeds to NRO:
- ₹1,50,00,000 − ₹35,88,000 = ₹1,14,12,000 ≈ USD 1,35,857 (at ₹84/USD)
Step 3 — Cap check: her NRO repatriations in FY 2025-26 total USD 1,35,857 — within the USD 1 million cap, so no RBI approval is needed.
Step 4 — Repatriation package: Sunita's CA issues Form 15CB (certifying the capital gain and TDS already paid), she files Form 15CA Part C, and her bank submits Form A2 and remits the full amount to her Singapore account.
If the sale were ₹12,00,00,000: TDS would be 20% + 37% surcharge + cess ≈ ₹3,41,95,200, leaving net proceeds of about ₹8,58,04,800 ≈ USD 1,02,15,000 — slightly over the USD 1 million cap. Sunita would need RBI approval for the excess, or repatriate USD 1 million this year and the balance next FY.
What Can Never Be Repatriated
Under the FEMA regime, the proceeds of sale of the following are not repatriable at all, even within the USD 1 million cap:
- Agricultural land
- Plantation property
- Farmhouse
If you sell such land, the proceeds can remain in the NRO and be used in India, but they cannot be transferred abroad.
Documents Required for Repatriation
Banks routinely require the CA certificate even where the funds are demonstrably after-tax — the 15CB is the cleanest paper trail for the bank's own compliance file. Do not pay for unnecessary certificates, but do expect the bank to insist on one for a property-sale remittance.
Changed FY 2025-26: For FY 2025-26, the USD 1 million per-FY NRO repatriation limit and the agricultural-land/plantation/farmhouse bar continue under RBI's non-resident account framework. Returns for FY 2025-26 are filed under the Income-tax Act 1961; the Income-tax Act 2025 (effective 1 April 2026) does not change the FEMA repatriation rules.
Common Mistakes
- Repatriating directly from the sale without routing through NRO — sale proceeds must be credited to the NRO first.
- Ignoring the annual cap aggregation — rent and interest repatriations consume the same USD 1 million as sale proceeds.
- Attempting to repatriate agricultural land proceeds — prohibited outright.
- Filing the wrong Form 15CA part — sale proceeds require the Part C + 15CB route; a Part D self-declaration will be rejected by the bank.
- Assuming the cap resets per bank — it does not; it is per person per FY across all banks.
FAQ
Q1: What is the limit to repatriate NRO property sale proceeds?
USD 1 million per financial year across all your NRO repatriations, subject to tax compliance. Amounts above that in a year need prior RBI approval through the authorised dealer.
Q2: Can sale proceeds be repatriated directly?
No. Property sale proceeds must first be credited to your NRO account, clear the capital-gains tax, and then be repatriated through the 15CB/15CA Part C route.
Q3: Which forms are needed to repatriate NRO funds?
A CA's Form 15CB certificate, Form 15CA Part C filed on the income-tax portal, and the bank's Form A2 to RBI. The bank will not process the remittance without the completed filing.
Q4: Are agricultural land sale proceeds repatriable?
No. Proceeds from the sale of agricultural land, plantation property and farmhouses can never be repatriated under the FEMA regime, even within the USD 1 million cap.
Q5: I sold a property worth ₹12 crore and my net proceeds exceed USD 1 million. What do I do?
Repatriate up to USD 1 million this FY and the balance in the next FY (each year capped at USD 1 million), or obtain prior RBI approval for the full amount in one year.
Q6: Does the USD 1 million cap include NRE funds?
No. The cap applies to NRO repatriations. NRE and FCNR balances are freely repatriable and do not consume the USD 1 million NRO limit.
Q7: How long does the repatriation process take?
With the 15CB, 15CA Part C and Form A2 in place, most banks process the remittance within a few business days. The CA certificate typically takes 2–7 days depending on the complexity of the capital-gain computation.
Use our NRI Property TDS Calculator to compute the TDS, net proceeds and the exact amount you can repatriate.
Sources
- Foreign Exchange Management (Non-resident Ordinary Rupee Account) Regulations — FEMA 10(R) — NRO account and repatriation.
- RBI Master Direction on Non-Resident Accounts — USD 1 million per-FY repatriation cap.
- Section 195, Income-tax Act 1961 — TDS on payments to non-residents.
- Rule 37BB, Income-tax Rules 1962 — Form 15CA Part C and Form 15CB.
- FEM (Deposit) Regulations and RBI guidelines — non-repatriable categories (agricultural land, plantations, farmhouses).
Route the sale proceeds through the NRO, complete the 15CB/15CA package, and stay inside the USD 1 million cap. Book a consultation at harunraaj.com.
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