How this is worked out
The calculator follows the order the Income-tax Act uses. It’s part of our guide to property in India for NRIs, and it assumes you sell as an individual.
Long-term or short-term
Land or a building held for more than 24 months is a long-term asset. 2025 Act s. 2(101)was s. 2(42A) Sell in the anniversary month and the exact day decides, so the calculator flags it and treats the gain as short-term.
The gain
Your sale value is the price you agreed. If the property’s stamp duty value is more than 110% of that price, the stamp duty value is used instead. 2025 Act s. 78was s. 50C From it the calculator takes off what you paid (including stamp duty and registration), improvements such as a new floor or kitchen, and the costs of selling, such as brokerage. 2025 Act s. 72was s. 48
If you’ve owned the property since before 1 April 2001, you can use its fair market value on that date as your cost, capped at its stamp duty value then. The calculator asks for both and uses the higher of that and what you paid.
The rate
A long-term gain is taxed at 12.5%. 2025 Act s. 197was s. 112 For a resident individual who acquired the property before 23 July 2024, the Act also allows 20% on a gain worked out with inflation-adjusted (indexed) cost, and the resident pays the lower of the two. The calculator works out both and shows them side by side. If it can’t compare them for your purchase year, it says so and shows the plain result, which is the most you’d pay. As a non-resident you only get the plain route, and the unused basic exemption can’t absorb your gain either.
Not sure which you are this year? Use the residency status checker.
A short-term gain has no special rate. It’s added to your other income and taxed at slab rates, so the calculator shows the extra slab tax the gain causes under the new regime.
Reinvestment, surcharge and cess
A long-term gain can be reduced by buying a new house in India 2025 Act s. 82was s. 54, counted up to ₹10 crore, and by buying capital-gain bonds 2025 Act s. 85was s. 54EC up to ₹50 lakh. Surcharge on the tax on a long-term gain depends on your total income for the year, and never goes above 15%. Cess of 4% goes on the tax plus surcharge.
What the calculator leaves out
Assumptions
- You’re an individual. HUFs, companies and trusts are taxed differently.
- Short-term gains and a resident’s slab income use the new regime. The rebate some residents get on a small total income isn’t applied.
- Surcharge relief just above a band edge is applied to the tax on the gain, treating the gain as the top slice of your income. Any extra surcharge the gain adds to the tax on your other income isn’t included.
- One improvement, in one year. For a property owned since before 1 April 2001, only improvements after that date count.
- The new-house figure is one amount. Deadlines, the Capital Gains Account Scheme and lock-ins aren’t checked. Selling a plot or a shop and buying a house uses a different exemption 2025 Act s. 86was s. 54F, based on the whole sale proceeds, which isn’t modelled.
- Inherited and gifted property, joint ownership, and setting off losses aren’t covered.
What to do with your result
If you’re a non-resident, the buyer will deduct TDS on the whole price before paying you. See how much with our TDS on property sale calculator. You report the gain in your return for tax year 2026-27, due by 31 July 2027. Our full guide to selling property as an NRI covers the rest, from the purchase papers to moving the money abroad.
When to get a chartered accountant
- The property was inherited, gifted or jointly owned.
- You owned it before 1 April 2001 and need a valuer’s report for its value then.
- You’re claiming the new-house or bond exemption and need to meet the deadlines, or park money in the Capital Gains Account Scheme first.
- You have capital losses to set off, or the flat was bought under construction and the holding period is close to the line.