TDS on property sale calculator for NRI sellers

Enter your sale price and what you paid. You'll see what the buyer must deduct, the tax you actually owe, and how much is held back until your refund arrives.

Fact-checked against official sources · 27 Sep 2026Next review Mar 2027Tax year 2026-27

Held back until your refund

₹9,36,000

The buyer deducts ₹17,94,000 but you owe ₹8,58,000. You get the difference back only after you file your ITR and the refund is processed.

Tax you oweHeld back until refund

Tax you owe on the gain₹8,58,000

Buyer deducts without a certificate₹17,94,00014.95%

Buyer deducts with a certificate≈ ₹8,58,000

How the rates add up
Rate	Buyer's deduction	Your tax
Long-term gains rate	12.5%	12.5%
Surcharge	15%	10%
Health and education cess	4%	4%
Effective rate	14.95%	14.3%
Applied to	₹1.2 crore price	₹60 lakh gain

Figures for tax year 2026-27, checked 27 September 2026.

How this is worked out

When you sell property in India as a non-resident, two different numbers matter. The first is the tax you actually owe on your gain. The second is the TDS the buyer must deduct before paying you. They’re rarely the same, and the difference is money you wait for.

Why the buyer deducts on the full price

A buyer paying a non-resident must deduct tax at source and deposit it with the government. 2025 Act s. 393(2) Table Sl. 17was s. 195 The simple 1% rule 2025 Act s. 393(1) Table Sl. 3(i)was s. 194-IA that applies when the seller is resident doesn’t apply to you: the buyer has to deduct at the capital-gains rate, plus its own surcharge and cess.

Until 1 October 2026, every buyer needed a TAN to do this. From that date, a resident individual or HUF buyer no longer needs one: they report and pay the TDS straight against your PAN on Form 141, and hand you a PAN-based certificate under the same rules. A company or firm buyer still registers for a TAN, reports the deduction each quarter on Form 144, and gives you Form 131. Either way, the buyer can’t check what you actually paid for the property, so unless you give them a certificate, they apply their rate to the whole sale price. It’s as if the entire price were profit.

How a lower-deduction certificate closes the gap

You can ask the Income Tax Department for a certificate that tells the buyer to deduct at a lower rate, or on your gain instead of the price. 2025 Act s. 395(1)was s. 197 You apply online on TRACES using Form 128. Expect to be asked for the draft sale agreement, your purchase deed and your cost working.

Apply before the sale agreement is signed. Processing usually takes several weeks, and a certificate issued after the buyer has paid you doesn’t help. With the certificate, the buyer deducts roughly what you owe, and nothing extra is held back.

What the calculator leaves out

Assumptions

You’re a non-resident for the whole of tax year 2026-27.
Long-term gains (held more than 24 months) are taxed at 12.5%. Indexation isn’t available to non-residents, so your cost isn’t adjusted for inflation — the option to pay 20% with indexation, for property bought before 23 July 2024, is for resident individuals only.
Short-term gains are shown at 30% as an approximation. They’re actually added to your other Indian income and taxed at slab rates. The surcharge on them isn’t capped the way it is for long-term gains, so the calculator uses the higher bands for other income, on both your own tax and the buyer’s deduction.
The gain is worked out on the sale price you enter. If the property’s stamp duty value is higher than the price by more than the margin the law allows, that value is used as the sale price instead 2025 Act s. 78was s. 50C.
The buyer’s TDS surcharge is banded on the sale price; your own surcharge is banded on your total Indian income. These are two different figures in the facts register even where the bands happen to match today, and surcharge relief at the band edges is ignored.
Reinvesting in a new home 2025 Act s. 82was s. 54 reduces a long-term gain only, and counts up to ₹10 crore of the new house’s cost. It has its own conditions and deadlines. Capital-gain bonds 2025 Act s. 85was s. 54EC, capped at ₹50 lakh across the year of the sale and the next year together, are in the capital gains on property calculator.
A tax treaty doesn’t reduce Indian tax on Indian property. Your country of residence may give you credit for it.

What to do with your result

If the amount held back is large, apply for the certificate first. It usually saves more than anything else on this page. If the sale is already agreed, the money isn’t lost: you claim it back by filing your ITR for tax year 2026-27 by 31 July 2027. Our full guide to selling property as an NRI walks through every step, from the purchase papers to moving the money abroad. Our other calculators cover the rest of an NRI’s Indian tax.

When to get a chartered accountant

To prepare the cost working for Form 128. It decides the rate on your certificate.
If the property was inherited, jointly owned with a resident, or bought in instalments.
If you plan to claim a reinvestment exemption and need the certificate to reflect it.
For Form 146, before your bank will send the sale proceeds abroad.

Next steps

Read the guide behind the numbers

Questions

Questions about this calculator

Is the amount held back lost?

No. The buyer's deduction is credited against your PAN once it's reported: a resident individual or HUF buyer reports it directly through Form 141; a company or firm buyer still registers for a TAN and reports it quarterly on Form 144, giving you Form 131. When you file your ITR you report the gain, claim the full TDS, and the department refunds anything above your actual tax. Check Form 168 before you file, so the credit is actually there to claim. The catch is time: the refund arrives only after you file and e-verify, which can be many months after the sale.

Why does the buyer's TDS use a different surcharge from my own tax?

They're tested against two different bands in the tax rules. The buyer's surcharge is banded on the sum they pay you — the full sale price. Your own surcharge is banded on your total Indian income for the year, which here is your gain plus any other Indian income. On a smaller gain that can land in a lower band than the full price does, which is exactly why the TDS on the price can be so much higher than the tax you actually owe on the gain.

Can I use indexation to reduce the gain?

No. Since the long-term rate on property became 12.5% without indexation, the option to pay 20% with indexation on property bought before 23 July 2024 was kept only for resident individuals. As a non-resident, your gain is simply the sale price minus your actual cost and improvement costs. That's what this calculator uses.

What if I'm selling within 24 months of buying?

Then the gain is short-term and is added to your other Indian income, taxed at slab rates. The calculator shows 30% as a rough guide, which is the top slab rate. Your real rate may be lower if your total Indian income is small. The buyer usually deducts at the top rate regardless, so a certificate matters even more for short-term sales.

Does the tax treaty with my country change these numbers?

Not in India. Treaties generally let India tax gains on property located in India in full. The treaty matters on the other side: your country of residence may tax the same gain and give you credit for the Indian tax you pay. Use the tax you owe from this calculator, not the amount the buyer deducted, when you claim that credit.

Sources

Update log

22 October 2026First published, for tax year 2026-27.