TCS on a UAE property bought from India
When you send money from India for a property in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, your bank collects an extra 20% on everything above ₹10 lakh a year as TCS. You get all of it back, but not straight away. Six questions show how much it is, year by year and buyer by buyer, when it comes back and how to tie up less cash.
Six quick questions, about a minute. At the end: how much TCS your bank collects on top of what you send, year by year and buyer by buyer, how and when it comes back, and how to tie up less cash.
Where do the buyers live?
TCS is collected on money a resident of India sends abroad under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme. Someone living abroad pays from their own accounts and it does not apply. Moved abroad for work? Under FEMA you count as living outside India from the day you left.
Plan my remittances for a UAE property
How it works
Three things decide how much is collected: how many co-owners send their own money, because each has their own ₹10 lakh a year; how many financial years the payments span, because the allowance resets every 1 April; and what else each person has already sent abroad this year. How fast it comes back depends on how you pay tax: a salaried buyer can have it taken off their monthly tax at work, a business owner off their advance tax, and anyone else gets it as a refund after filing. For the fees on the UAE side, the purchase costs tool sets Dubai’s 4% against India’s own stamp duty, and the payment plan calculator lays out an off-plan schedule.
Common questions
What is TCS on a foreign remittance?
Tax collected at source. When a resident of India sends money abroad under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme, the bank collects 20% of whatever that person sends in a financial year above ₹10 lakh, for any purpose other than education or medical treatment, and pays it to the Income Tax Department against their PAN. Buying a property abroad is an investment purpose, so it is 20%.
Is TCS refundable?
Yes, in full, as long as you file your return. It is credited to your PAN as income tax already paid for that financial year. It comes off the tax you owe for the year, and whatever is left over is refunded once the return is processed. Salaried buyers can give their employer the TCS certificate with a Form 122 declaration, and the employer deducts that much less tax from their pay, which brings it back sooner. Refunds usually arrive a few weeks after the return is e-verified, with interest of 0.5% a month from 1 April after the year when the return is filed on time.
Why does India collect it at all?
To track large sums leaving the country against the sender’s declared income, and to hold tax in advance. An honest taxpayer gets it back; someone sending money they never declared has 20% of it already with the department when they file. The rate went from 5% to 20% in 2023, which was widely read as a brake on large sums leaving India as well.
Does TCS apply to NRIs?
No. The Liberalised Remittance Scheme is for residents of India. An NRI paying from money earned abroad or from an NRE account pays no TCS, and money in an NRO account can go out up to USD 1 million a financial year once the tax on it is settled. Someone who moved abroad for work counts as living outside India under FEMA from the day they left. A parent or relative in India sending money towards the purchase is a resident remitter, and TCS applies to them.
Can a family combine their limits?
Yes, when each of them is a co-owner on the title and sends their own money from their own account. Each person has their own USD 250,000 LRS limit and their own ₹10 lakh a year free of TCS, which is how most Indian families structure a purchase above about AED 900,000.
Does an off-plan payment plan help?
Yes. The ₹10 lakh allowance and the USD 250,000 limit both reset every 1 April, so instalments spread across financial years each get a fresh allowance, and less cash is tied up at any one time. Keep the instalments before handover: payments that run on after you take the keys can look like borrowing from abroad under FEMA, and some Indian banks refuse them.
Is TCS charged on the DLD fee too?
Yes. Every rupee sent abroad under the LRS counts, whatever it pays for: the price, the Dubai Land Department’s 4%, the trustee and agency fees. The tool adds them to what leaves India.
Do I have to declare the property in India?
Yes, every year you are resident in India. A property abroad goes in the foreign assets schedule (Schedule FA) of your return, which means filing the longer return form, and any rent from it is taxable in India even though the UAE does not tax it. Leaving it out can cost ₹10 lakh under the Black Money Act, and the 2024 relief for small foreign assets up to ₹20 lakh does not cover property.
What if a child is one of the buyers?
A minor can remit under the LRS with a parent signing. Where the child’s income is added to a parent’s, the TCS credit can be given to that parent instead, if the parent declares it to the bank before the bank files that quarter’s TCS return.
Are these figures advice?
No. They are India’s published rules, checked October 2026, worked for the answers you give and the site’s weekly exchange rate. Your bank applies them on the day at its own rate. Confirm your own position with your bank and a chartered accountant before you send.