This is one of the most common questions from my NRI friends who are earning rental income or business income in India. Yes, you can repatriate money from an NRO account unless it doesn't exceed USD 1 million per calendar year. Normally, funds lying in NRO saving account or NRO fixed deposit is not subject to repatriation abroad and that's why I suggest you open an NRE account, which allows you to freely repatriate the money.
But, if you have significant income in the Indian rupee lying in an NRO account, for example from renting your property or earning a business income in India, or acquired one-time income by selling immovable property, legacy, or inherited from your parents or grandparents and wants to repatriate it to a foreign country you are staying, you are allowed to do so up to USD 1 Million per financial year on production of an undertaking by the remitter and certificate by a character account in formats prescribed by the central board of direct taxes.
Remember, interest earned on the NRO account is charged at the rate of 30% + surcharge + cess which can be up to 40% of taxable income is more than 10 lakhs and it's deducted at source (TDS).
But, if you have significant income in the Indian rupee lying in an NRO account, for example from renting your property or earning a business income in India, or acquired one-time income by selling immovable property, legacy, or inherited from your parents or grandparents and wants to repatriate it to a foreign country you are staying, you are allowed to do so up to USD 1 Million per financial year on production of an undertaking by the remitter and certificate by a character account in formats prescribed by the central board of direct taxes.
Remember, interest earned on the NRO account is charged at the rate of 30% + surcharge + cess which can be up to 40% of taxable income is more than 10 lakhs and it's deducted at source (TDS).
This is one of the major reasons to always deposit your foreign income on an NRE saving account rather than transferring it to an existing saving account or an NRO account. I have seen many people do this mistake by transferring their hard earned money on Resident saving account or NRO saving account, don't repeat that.
Always transfer your overseas income to NRE account, you will not only save money on taxes but also you will have less hassle and you can bring your fund to overseas whenever you want, for example for buying properties in overseas.
Which funds are eligible for repatriation from the NRO account?
Funds acquired in Indian rupees by the following sources are eligible for repatriation:- Rental income
- Sale proceeds of immovable property e.g. income earned by selling flats.
- Assets acquired by way of inheritance
- Fixed deposit maturity amount held with a public or private sector bank, or on company FD e.g. Mahindra finance or Shriram transport finance fixed deposit.
- Provident fund balance of super-annuation benefits
- Amount of claim or maturity proceeds of an insurance policy e.g. LIC policies
- Sale proceeds of shares, securities, and mutual funds
- You can also remit current income e.g. rent, dividend, pension, FD interest etc in India
Repatriation of sale proceeds of Immovable property
In the case of repatriation (transferring fund to abroad) of sale proceeds of immovable property by NRIs/PIOs, ADs can allow repatriation thereof even if the immovable property was held by the NRIs/PIOs for less than 10 years provided the cumulative period of holding of the immovable property in India and retention of the sale proceeds of the property in the NRO account is not less than 10 years.
Remember, even though transferring money from NRO to NRE or FCNR account is allowed, you cannot move funds from your NRO saving account to an NRE account directly, you can only repatriate funds after completing the paperwork required to transfer money from NRO account overseas.
Other NRI Banking Articles you may like
- NRE, NRO, or FCNR? Which is the right account for NRIs?
- Difference between NRE and NRI Account?
- Is NRO Account Taxable in India?
- How to appoint a mandate holder in NRE Account?
- What happens to the NRE account when you return to India?
- Is it mandatory to open NRI accounts?
- Can you break FCNR Fixed deposit before maturity?
- Can you repatriate money from the NRO account overseas?
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My name is Gupta
ReplyDeleteI am availed Personal Loan from Qatar National Bank, My source of income is my salary,the loan amount transferred to NREA account AXIS bank, and purchased home in India.
Now i would like to close my Personal loan at Qatar bank, Please tell me how to transfer money from NREA Axis account to QNB bank @ Qatar. I would like to know the procedure, and consequence.
I have ICICI NRE account for the last 12 years, all is well until a month ago. I have also opened NRO account. I have inherited some amount, and I wanted to transfer to my NRE account. The transfer should be from NRO to NRE and then to my choice of bank in Singapore. The RBI rule says, I need to get Form 15CA/CB from Income Tax, and apply for Transfer. i did it, and also provided all supporting documents, such as registration deeds, etc. IT has issued the 15CA/CB in a week's time. ICICI Bank is asking additional documents almost every day for the last 3 weeks. I am not sure what ICICI bank's NRI Services team in Mumbai thinks by delaying too long. If Income Tax has cleared the funds for transfer, what is the problem with ICICI bank. I am not sure. As of today, the transfer is still pending.
ReplyDeleteSo, if anyone wants to do outward transfer to overseas from ICICI, please be careful about their worst services. ICICI is running parallel Tax regime. If my doubts are correct, NRI Services team is full of ex-Income Tax guys, and they think still they are working for government, instead of a private bank.
Please provide your experiences with other banks for outward transfer from NRO. Thanks,
I have the same experience with ICICI Bank just recently. Sold my property in India. Arranged Form 15CA and CB. Provided all the property sale documents to ICICI Bank for repatriation. It was an under construction property so the registered sale deed was not possible as the property could not have been registered and it is common sense. ICICI bank gave me a ride for a month. kept on asking money documents on top of additional documents without providing any legal reference or anything. when ask for the legal reasons they stopped picking up the phones. AVOID ICICI BANK. They are not just like a shop which are happy to sell but now worst than SBI Bank. I used to love ICICI bank for their services but it seems they no longer can afford to hire good people and this illiterate and untrained staff is on the path of becoming like SBI branch where an educated person will prefer not to step in
ReplyDeletewhich bank is better? I read online ICICI is allowing online transfer of funds to one's own account abroad by uploading the necessary docs like sale deed of property, 15 CA CB FORMS address proof etc. hope it works.
DeleteAre NRO FDs maturity proceeds allowed to be repatriated to NRE account? hat is the process and expected charges??
ReplyDeleteYes, allowed you can do upto 1M transfer per year but after paying taxes.
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