Getting Your Money Back to the UAE After Selling Indian Property

Selling is the easy half. Getting the proceeds out of India is where NRIs discover that a decision made years earlier — which account the purchase money came from — quietly set the ceiling on what they can now move.

Two routes, and they behave very differently

Funds that arrived through an NRE account or as inward remittance are freely repatriable. If you bought with money wired from the UAE, the sale proceeds attributable to that purchase can generally go back out without a cap, subject to the tax being settled.

Funds sitting in an NRO account are capped. An NRI may remit up to USD 1 million per financial year from NRO balances, which covers sale proceeds, rent and other rupee income. For most single-property sales that limit is comfortable; for a large sale, or several in one year, it is the binding constraint and needs planning across financial years.

Both routes sit under FEMA and are administered by your bank rather than by any application to the regulator. The governing framework is published by the Reserve Bank of India.

Forms 15CA and 15CB

Almost every remittance abroad passes through two documents, and banks will not process the transfer without them.

• Form 15CB — a certificate from a chartered accountant confirming the nature of the remittance and that the correct tax has been deducted or paid
• Form 15CA — your own declaration, filed online with the Income Tax Department, referencing the 15CB

Both are filed through the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal. The practical advice is unglamorous: engage the CA before the sale closes, not after. A 15CB requires the sale documents, the capital gains computation and evidence of tax paid, and assembling that retrospectively is what turns a two-week transfer into a two-month one.

Tax is settled first, then the money moves

Repatriation is downstream of tax, not an alternative to it. The buyer withholds TDS on a sale by a non-resident against the full sale value, not your gain — which is usually far more than your actual liability. Recovering the difference means filing a return and waiting for the refund, unless you obtained a Lower Deduction Certificate before closing.

Why the UAE side is simple

The receiving end is the easy part. The UAE levies no personal income tax, so proceeds arriving from India face no further charge on income or capital gains. There is no UAE return to file for it. The India-UAE treaty prevents double taxation, but in practice the absence of a second layer is what does the work — the treaty is what you rely on for treaty benefits in other income categories, supported by a Tax Residency Certificate from the UAE Federal Tax Authority.

Sequence that works

• Before listing: confirm which account funded the original purchase, and locate the payment evidence
• Before closing: apply for a Lower Deduction Certificate if the default TDS materially exceeds your real liability
• At closing: ensure proceeds are credited to the correct account — NRO for most sales
• After closing: CA issues Form 15CB, you file Form 15CA, bank executes the remittance
• At year end: file the Indian return and claim any refund of over-withheld TDS

Limits, forms and rates referenced here are current as of 2026 and change with Finance Act updates and RBI circulars. Confirm your position with a chartered accountant before relying on it.