TCS and TDS on Transfers to NRO Accounts: Rules, Tax Implications and Exemptions
This article deals with complex taxation rules around NRO and NRE accounts and how TDS and TCS applies to them.
This article deals with complex taxation rules around NRO and NRE accounts and how TDS and TCS applies to them.
To understand the applicability of TCS and TDS on NRO account transfers, we must understand a few concepts in detail first.
Under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), resident Indians can spend up to $250,000 (over ₹2 crores) per financial year on investing in foreign stocks, children’s education, foreign tours, and foreign medical expenses.
LRS is applicable to two types of transactions:
Feature | Description |
---|---|
Purpose | Allows resident individuals to remit funds abroad for permissible current or capital account transactions. |
Eligible Individuals | All resident individuals, including minors. (For minors, remittances are made by a parent or guardian). |
Remittance Limit | Up to USD 250,000 per financial year (April-March). |
Permitted Transactions |
* Private visits. * Gifts/donations. * Overseas employment. * Emigration. * Maintenance of close relatives abroad. * Business trips. * Medical treatment. * Overseas education. * Purchase of property abroad. * Investments in equity or debt. |
Prohibited Transactions |
* Remittances for prohibited items under Schedule I of FEMA (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000. * Remittances to countries identified by FATF as “non-cooperative countries and territories.” * Remittances for margin trading (e.g foreign FnO) or purchasing lottery tickets. |
Some of these transactions are subject to Tax Collection at Source (TCS) as per the rates below.
TCS rates from 1st April 2025 onwards:
Purpose of Remittance | TCS Rate | Threshold |
---|---|---|
LRS for education purpose from education loan |
NIL | Any Amount |
LRS for the purpose of education, other than above, or for medical treatment |
Up to ₹10 Lakh: NIL Above ₹10 Lakh: 5%, 10% if sender PAN is inoperative |
₹10 Lakh per FY |
Any other purpose under LRS (including overseas tour packages or investing in foreign stocks/ETFs) |
Up to ₹10 Lakh: NIL Above ₹10 Lakh: 20% |
₹10 Lakh per FY |
There are two important points you must remember regarding TCS:
Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) is the tax deducted before the income comes to you.
A classic example of TDS is a bank deducting the due tax on interest before sending the interest to your account. Under Section 195, anyone making a payment to NRIs that is income chargeable under tax must deduct TDS first.
👉 Join our NRI WhatsApp community for all the latest updates.To comply with the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) rules, an NRI cannot have regular savings accounts in India. Therefore, you must convert existing accounts to NRO accounts and excess accounts must be closed. This step is important once your status changes from resident Indian to NRI and can be done either online, for selected banks, or during your next visit to India.
Note: Resident Foreign Currency (RFC) are for NRIs who have returned to India and used to store foreign currency, say in USD, GBP and EUR. These amounts are repatriable and can receive funds from abroad or other NRE / FCNR accounts.
Feature | NRO Account | NRE Account | FCNR(B) Account |
---|---|---|---|
Income Source | Indian income (including capital gains) |
Primarily foreign income, some taxable Indian income |
Foreign currency deposits |
Repatriation | Allowed with Forms 15CA/15CB, up to $1 million/year |
Fully repatriable (for foreign income and taxable Indian income) |
Fully repatriable |
Limits | Unlimited when deposited; $1 million/year on repatriation |
No limits on deposits/withdrawals | No limits on deposits/withdrawals |
Capital Gains | Can receive proceeds from sale of assets | Cannot receive proceeds from sale of assets directly. Proceeds must go to NRO |
Cannot receive proceeds from sale of assets. |
Taxation | TDS applies to Indian income | Generally no tax on foreign income, tax applies to specific Indian income |
Interest earned is tax-free in India |
Currency | INR and Foreign currency | Foreign currency | Foreign currency |
An NRE account can be opened only once you are an NRI as a fresh account. Old accounts, which existed when you were a resident Indian, must be converted into NRO accounts, not NRE accounts. You can check your NRI status here: Who is an NRI and who is not? Understanding FEMA and NRE/NRO bank accounts.
This account is used to send money to India. The features and uses are:
This account is used for any income and investments in India. The features and uses are:
Note: FCNR(A) accounts were discontinued in 1993 and used to have exchange rate guarantee from the RBI. Now only FCNR(B) accounts, without exchange rate guarantees, exist.
Does TCS and TDS apply to NRO account transfers?
TCS applies only to remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), not internal transfers to an NRO account. However, TDS is deducted if the transferred amount is classified as taxable income under Section 195 of the Income Tax Act. If the transfer is a gift or post-tax income, no TDS is applicable. Repatriation of funds from NRO to NRE accounts requires Form 15CA/15CB certification by a CA.
Here are the rules we will use to answer this question:
The corollary to Rule 1 is that if the transfer is not an income i.e. not classified as other income, then it is not subject to TDS under Section 195. It is important to note that the source of funds that is transferred must be post-tax income to not come under TDS. Residents making such gifts should make a notarized gift deed if it is required for a tax audit in the future.
For the concept of TCS applicability under the LRS rules, the amount being transferred to the NRO account is not a remittance. If the NRI later plans to remit the money, CA involvement will be required for the required forms (Form15A/B) so that the source of funds and tax-paid status are correctly captured). Therefore, although transfers from resident to NRO account transfers can be under the LRs purview, under the current account transaction category, there will not be any TDS.
Published: 31 March 2025
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This post titled TCS and TDS on Transfers to NRO Accounts: Rules, Tax Implications and Exemptions first appeared on 31 Mar 2025 at https://arthgyaan.com