Sell Property in India from Australia: 2026 NRI Guide

General information, not tax or legal advice. Rules as of October 2026. Your numbers depend on your residency in both countries, your dates and your costs, so get advice from an Indian chartered accountant and an Australian registered tax agent on your own facts before you sign.

This guide is for Indian citizens, OCI cardholders and Australian citizens of Indian origin who live in Australia and own a flat, house, plot or inherited property in India. For the full India-side process from any country, start with our main guide to selling property in India as an NRI.

Can an NRI or OCI in Australia sell property in India?

Yes. FEMA lets an NRI or OCI sell residential or commercial property in India to a resident, another NRI or an OCI. Agricultural land, plantation property and farmhouses can be sold only to a resident Indian citizen. Nothing in the process requires you to be in India. Registration at the sub-registrar is the only step that needs someone present, and your PoA holder can do that for you.

Before you list the property, check three things:

• Title. Keep the sale deed, mutation records, an encumbrance certificate and the latest property tax receipts ready. Buyers' lawyers and banks ask for them first.
• Ownership. If the property is joint or inherited, every co-owner or legal heir must sign, directly or through their own PoA.
• How you paid. If you bought it with money sent from Australia or from your NRE account, keep the bank records. They decide how much of the sale money you can later send back to Australia as repatriable, and they help prove your cost to the ATO.

Our documents list for NRI sellers sets out each paper and who issues it.

Step by step: selling Indian property while living in Australia

›1. Sign a specific Power of Attorney and get it apostilled

Australia and India are both parties to the Hague Apostille Convention, so a PoA signed in Australia can be apostilled and used in India without attestation by the Indian mission. A PoA is a private document, so the usual route is to sign it in front of an Australian notary public and then get an apostille from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Attestation through the High Commission of India in Canberra or a Consulate General of India, via its outsourced service centre, is the alternative some sellers use. Check current DFAT and mission requirements and fees before you book, because they change.

Make the PoA specific: name the property, and give powers to sign the agreement and sale deed, appear for registration, deal with the society and municipal records, and receive payment only into your NRO account. Avoid a general PoA, which many sub-registrars refuse for sales. Our Power of Attorney guide for NRIs covers the wording.

1. 1Draft the PoA in India with the lawyer handling the sale, so it matches local sub-registrar practice.
2. 2Sign it before an Australian notary public.
3. 3Get the apostille from DFAT (in person or by post, depending on your city).
4. 4Courier the original to your PoA holder in India.
5. 5Your PoA holder gets it adjudicated and stamped at the local stamp office within 3 months of it reaching India, then registers or files it with the sub-registrar if the state requires it.

›2. Agree the price and the TDS position with the buyer

Because you are a non-resident of India, the buyer must deduct TDS under Section 393(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (earlier Section 195) on the full sale price, not on your gain. For a long-term sale the rate is 12.5% plus surcharge and 4% cess, which reaches 14.95% when the price is above Rs 1 crore. For a short-term sale it is about 30% plus surcharge and cess. Put the TDS, the account the money goes to and the certificate timeline in the sale agreement. Our TDS guide for NRI sellers has the rate table.

›3. Apply for a lower TDS certificate on Form 128

TDS is charged on the price, so it is usually far more than the tax you actually owe on the gain. Form 128 (earlier Form 13) asks the Assessing Officer to certify a lower rate that matches your real liability. Apply on TRACES as soon as the deal is agreed, because processing usually takes weeks. For an Australian resident this matters twice over: the ATO gives an offset only for Indian tax you finally pay, never for excess TDS that India later refunds, so excess TDS is pure cash-flow cost. See our Form 128 lower TDS certificate guide and estimate the effect with the Form 128 calculator.

›4. The buyer deposits TDS and files the return

A buyer who is not an individual, or an NRI buyer, needs a TAN and files a quarterly TDS return on Form 144 (earlier 27Q). From 1 October 2026, a resident individual or HUF buyer can deduct with their PAN on Form 141 instead, without a TAN. Either way, check that the credit appears against your PAN in your Annual Information Statement, and get the TDS certificate from the buyer. You will need it for your Indian return and as evidence for the ATO.

›5. Register the sale deed and receive the money in your NRO account

Your PoA holder signs and registers the deed. The buyer usually pays stamp duty and registration charges. The sale price, net of TDS, must be paid into your NRO account. It can go to your NRE account only up to the amount you originally paid in foreign currency. See stamp duty and registration charges for 2026.

›6. File your Indian return

File an Indian return for the tax year of the sale (April to March) even if TDS covered everything. It is the only way to recover excess TDS, to claim reinvestment exemptions and to fix the final Indian tax figure that your Australian offset is based on.

›7. Send the money to your Australian account

From the NRO account you can remit up to USD 1 million per financial year, covering sale proceeds and other NRO balances. The bank asks for Form 145 and, above the threshold, a CA certificate on Form 146 (earlier 15CA and 15CB). Money originally brought in through NRE funds or inward remittances can be repatriated against those records, usually for up to two residential properties. Our guide to repatriating property sale proceeds walks through the bank's checklist, and the repatriation calculator shows what is repatriable.

How much tax do you pay in India?

India taxes the gain because the property is in India, and the India–Australia tax treaty leaves that right with India. The rules are the same for every NRI:

• Long-term (held more than 24 months): 12.5% without indexation, plus surcharge and 4% cess. Surcharge is 10% when total income is above Rs 50 lakh and 15% above Rs 1 crore, and it is capped at 15% on these gains, so the top effective rate is 14.95%.
• Short-term (held 24 months or less): added to your other Indian income and taxed at slab rates, up to 30% plus surcharge and cess.
• The option of 20% with indexation for property bought before 23 July 2024 is written for resident individuals and HUFs. A non-resident seller cannot use it.
• Your cost includes the purchase price, stamp duty and registration you paid, and documented improvement costs. Brokerage and legal fees on the sale reduce the gain.

If you are not sure whether your sale is long-term, read our explainer on the 24-month rule.

›Ways to reduce the Indian tax

• Reinvest in a residential house in India: Section 82 (earlier Section 54) exempts the gain if you buy one house within 1 year before or 2 years after the sale, or build one within 3 years. The exemption is capped at Rs 10 crore.
• Capital gains bonds: Section 85 (earlier Section 54EC) exempts up to Rs 50 lakh of gain invested within 6 months in specified bonds, with a 5-year lock-in.
• Selling a plot or other non-house asset: Section 86 (earlier Section 54F) applies when you reinvest the net sale price in a house.
• If you cannot buy before your return is due, park the money in the Capital Gains Account Scheme to keep the exemption open.

Be careful before using an Indian exemption if you are an Australian resident. Australia has no equivalent relief for reinvesting in India, so a lower Indian tax means a smaller Australian offset and more Australian tax. The saving can largely move from one country to the other. Compare the routes in our Section 54 vs 54F guide and the 54EC bonds guide, or model them with the reinvestment calculator.

Do you pay tax in Australia on the sale?

It depends on your Australian residency status, not your citizenship. The ATO sorts sellers into three groups.

›Australian residents: the gain is taxable, usually at half

An Australian tax resident pays capital gains tax on worldwide assets, including a flat in India. The gain is added to your taxable income for the Australian income year (1 July to 30 June) in which the contract was signed, and taxed at your marginal rate plus the Medicare levy. An individual who has held the property for at least 12 months generally gets the 50% CGT discount, so only half the gain is taxed.

Work out the Australian gain in Australian dollars. The ATO converts each amount at the exchange rate on the date of that transaction: your cost at the rate when you bought, and the sale price at the rate when you sold. Because the rupee has generally weakened against the Australian dollar over long periods, the gain in Australian dollars is often smaller than the gain in rupees, and it can even be a loss. Keep the purchase and sale bank records showing the rates used.

›If you bought before you moved to Australia

When you become an Australian resident, the ATO treats you as having acquired your foreign assets on that day at their market value. So for a flat bought in India before you migrated, your Australian cost base is its market value on the date you became a resident, not what you originally paid. Only growth after that date is taxed in Australia. Get a registered valuer's report for that date if you can, because you will need to support the figure.

›Temporary residents: generally no Australian tax on the gain

If you are in Australia on a temporary visa (for example a skilled work visa) and you and your spouse are not Australian residents for social security purposes, the ATO treats you like a foreign resident for capital gains. Indian property is not taxable Australian property, so the gain is generally disregarded in Australia and the Indian tax is the only tax. If you sell after getting permanent residency, the gain becomes taxable, measured from the market value on the date your status changed. The timing of the contract can therefore matter a lot.

›Claiming the foreign income tax offset

The India–Australia tax treaty gives India the right to tax gains on property in India, and Australia relieves the double tax with a foreign income tax offset (FITO) for the Indian tax you paid. Two limits catch people out:

• Only the Indian tax you finally pay counts. Excess TDS that India refunds is not foreign tax paid, which is another reason to get a Form 128 certificate and file your Indian return promptly.
• When the 50% CGT discount applies, only half the gain is in your Australian income, and the courts have upheld the ATO's view (Burton, 2019) that only the matching share of the Indian tax counts towards the offset. So on a discounted gain, roughly half the Indian tax can be offset.
• Above a total offset of AUD 1,000, the claim is capped at the Australian tax on that foreign income. Any excess cannot be carried forward or refunded.

Report the gain at the capital gains item of your return and the Indian tax at the foreign income tax offset item. If your foreign assets were worth AUD 50,000 or more at any time in the year, the return also asks you to say so. If the Indian tax is settled after you lodge, you can generally amend your Australian return to claim the offset. Our DTAA guide for NRIs explains how treaty relief works across countries.

Indian residency checks for Australian sellers

Australia taxes its residents, so the Indian deemed-residency rule that worries UAE sellers rarely applies to you: it reaches Indian citizens who are not liable to tax in any other country. The rule that can matter is time spent in India. If you visit India for long periods in the year of sale, the 120-day and 182-day tests can make you resident in India, which changes how the sale is taxed there and whether Australia or India has the first claim under the treaty. Check your status with the residency calculator and our residential status guide.

Worked example: an NRI in Melbourne sells a Pune flat (illustrative)

The figures below are illustrative and rounded. The exchange rates are assumptions, not forecasts. They ignore brokerage, improvement costs and other Indian income, and they assume a 47% Australian marginal rate including the Medicare levy.

Priya, an Australian permanent resident living in Melbourne since 2015, bought a flat in Pune in 2018 for Rs 60 lakh including stamp duty, when 1 AUD was about Rs 50. She signs a contract to sell it in February 2027 for Rs 1.05 crore to a resident buyer, when 1 AUD is about Rs 56. She has held it for more than 24 months, so the gain is long-term in India, and more than 12 months, so the CGT discount applies in Australia.

With a Form 128 certificate at a rate close to her real liability (about 5.6% of the price here), Priya would receive roughly Rs 9.8 lakh more at the sale instead of waiting for a refund.

Two things stand out. The gain in Australian dollars (AUD 67,500) is smaller than the rupee gain converted at today's rate (about AUD 80,357), because the rupee weakened while she owned the flat. And the offset covers only half the Indian tax, so the combined bill is higher than either country's tax alone. Without any offset it would be about AUD 26,309. Try your own Indian numbers in the TDS calculator.

Timeline and costs

A clean, single-owner sale with a ready buyer typically takes two to four months from PoA to money in your Australian account. The longest waits are usually the PoA courier and adjudication, the Form 128 decision and the bank's repatriation checks. Budget for the lawyer and PoA drafting, notary and DFAT fees, the CA certificate for Form 146, brokerage, and an Australian tax agent if the sale is taxable there. See the NRI property sale timeline and costs for a stage-by-stage breakdown.

Common mistakes Australia-based sellers make

1. 1Assuming the 50% CGT discount means half the Indian tax disappears. It is an Australian rule; India taxes the full gain.
2. 2Claiming the whole Indian tax, or the whole TDS, as a foreign income tax offset. Only the final Indian tax counts, and on a discounted gain only the matching share.
3. 3Using the original purchase price as the Australian cost base for a flat bought before migrating, instead of its market value on the day you became a resident.
4. 4Converting the whole rupee gain at one exchange rate instead of converting cost and proceeds at their own dates.
5. 5Ignoring residency timing: signing after getting PR when a sale on a temporary visa would have been outside Australian tax.
6. 6Using a PoA that is notarised but not apostilled, or missing the 3-month adjudication window in India.
7. 7Having the proceeds paid into an NRE account or straight to an Australian account. They must go to the NRO account first.

What NRiSimplify handles for Australia-based sellers

We run the India side remotely, with one team and one person in charge: PoA drafting for apostille in Australia, adjudication in India, title checks, the Form 128 application, your Indian return and refund, and the Form 145/146 repatriation to your Australian bank. We give your Australian tax agent the Indian figures and tax documents they need for the offset. See our property sale service, or read the guides for sellers in the UK, Canada and the UAE.