TCS on Foreign Remittance: How to Get It Back After Paying for Property Abroad

TCS comes back as a credit against your income tax for the year the bank collected it, and any excess is refunded once your return is processed. Salaried buyers can go faster: declare the TCS to your employer on Form 122 and it cuts the tax taken from your salary in the same year. Advance-tax payers can deduct it from their instalments.

Key takeaways

• TCS on foreign remittances now sits in section 394(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (section 206C(1G) in the 1961 Act). For property abroad it is 20% on the amount above Rs 10 lakh in a tax year.
• The bank reports it quarterly on Form 143 (formerly 27EQ) and gives you a certificate on Form 133 (formerly 27D) within 15 days of each quarterly due date.
• The credit is on the remitter's PAN. Each family member who remits pays, and recovers, their own TCS.
• Salaried remitters can offset it against salary TDS through Form 122; others can reduce advance tax.
• Whatever is left over is refunded after the return, with interest of 0.5% a month under section 437 (244A) where the conditions are met.

Three worked examples

The Rs 10 lakh threshold is per person per tax year, across all your banks; the rate itself is covered in our guide on how to buy property in Dubai from India. The rules are the same for a flat in Dubai, London or New Jersey.

Rates used: AED 1 = about Rs 26.1, USD 1 = about Rs 95.8 and GBP 1 = about Rs 127, where the currencies traded in late September 2026. Each example assumes no other LRS remittance earlier in the tax year.

The sums are large: a third of a crore can be tied up for a year or more. Splitting the US purchase between two genuine co-owners gives each a Rs 10 lakh threshold, so Rs 2 lakh less is collected in total. That works only if each spouse remits their own money.

What happens to the Dubai buyer's Rs 34.54 lakh

Say the Dubai buyer is salaried, remits in June 2026, and expects Rs 12 lakh of income tax for tax year 2026-27. The bank reports the TCS in its April-June statement, due by 31 July 2026, and issues Form 133 by about 15 August. The buyer files Form 122 with the employer, which stops deducting tax from salary for the rest of the year, since Rs 34.54 lakh already covers the Rs 12 lakh liability. The remaining Rs 22.54 lakh is claimed as a refund in the return for tax year 2026-27, due by 31 July 2027 for a non-audit case.

Step 1: the certificate and your tax statement

Your bank files a quarterly TCS statement. For collections from 1 April 2026 this is Form 143, due by 31 July, 31 October, 31 January and 31 May for the four quarters. Within 15 days of each due date the bank must issue you a TCS certificate on Form 133.

The collection then appears against your PAN in your annual tax statement and in the Annual Information Statement. For tax year 2026-27 onwards, the old Form 26AS is Form 168. Remittances made up to 31 March 2026 still run on the old forms: Form 27D and Form 26AS, claimed in the return for 2025-26.

Before claiming, check that the debit advice, Form 133 and Form 168 or the AIS show the same TCS against the same PAN.

Step 2: get it back during the year

If you are salaried: Form 122

Since October 2024 an employer must take an employee's TCS into account when working out tax on salary. Under the 2025 Act this is done through Form 122, filed under section 392(4)(a); it replaced the old Forms 12B and 12BAA. You declare the TCS collected, attach or quote the certificate details, and the employer reduces the tax it deducts each month. It is the fastest route back.

The limit is your own tax bill. An employer can only reduce the tax it would otherwise deduct; if your TCS is larger than your year's liability, the surplus still waits for the return.

If you pay advance tax

Advance tax is due only when your tax for the year, after reducing TDS and TCS, is Rs 10,000 or more. A business owner or professional who has paid TCS can therefore reduce, or skip, the remaining instalments. Keep the working, because interest for short payment under sections 424 and 425 (234B and 234C) is calculated on the net figure.

Step 3: claim the balance in your return

The return has a TCS schedule, which the portal pre-fills from your tax statement. Check each line against Form 133, claim the credit in the tax year it was collected, and file. If your total credits exceed your tax, the return shows a refund.

• Timing. Guides report refunds arriving anywhere from about four to five weeks after e-verification to 7 to 20 weeks after filing. Refunds involving large TCS credits can take longer if the return is picked for review.
• Interest. Section 437 of the 2025 Act (244A in the 1961 Act) pays 0.5% a month or part of a month. On a refund out of TDS or TCS it generally runs from 1 April after the tax year, where the return was filed on time, to the date of the refund. No interest is paid if the refund is under 10% of the tax determined.
• Tax on the interest. Refund interest is taxable in the year you receive it.

Your return is also where the foreign flat itself must be disclosed. Our guide to reporting foreign property in Schedule FA covers that part.

Family remittances: whose PAN carries the credit

TCS is collected from, and credited to, the person whose account the money leaves. That has three consequences.

• Each remitter recovers their own TCS. A spouse with little income will usually see nearly all of it refunded, since there is little tax to set it against.
• The money must be theirs. If a husband gifts funds to his wife to remit, the rent and gain from her share can be clubbed with his income, and the TCS credit may then need to be redirected to him through the declaration below.
• Redirecting the credit. An October 2024 rule change (Rule 37-I under the old rules) let the collectee file a declaration with the bank so that TCS is credited to the person in whose hands the income is taxed, for example a parent remitting for a minor. Ask your bank whether it accepts the declaration under the 2026 Rules before you remit, not afterwards.

When the numbers do not match

Mismatches usually start at the bank: a late statement, a wrong PAN digit, or the wrong quarter.

1. Check Form 168 or the AIS. If the TCS is missing or short, write to the bank with the debit advice.
2. Ask the bank to file a correction statement against your PAN. Do not accept a new certificate alone; the tax statement has to change.
3. Wait for the next processing cycle, then check the statement again.
4. If the ITR deadline arrives first, take advice. A credit the system cannot match is likely to be cut when the return is processed, and you may need to file a revised return once the correction shows.

Where the plan goes wrong

• Treating TCS as a cost. It is not. But it is cash tied up for months, and on a large purchase it can be a third of a crore. Budget for it alongside the bank's exchange-rate margin and fees, which are real costs.
• Remitting on the wrong PAN. TCS lands on the PAN of the account holder who remits. If the flat is jointly owned, each owner should remit from an account in their own name.
• Forgetting the threshold is shared. Education and travel remittances in the same year use up the Rs 10 lakh first.
• Not filing a return. Without a return there is no refund, even for a spouse with little income.

For the wider picture on tax when you own a flat abroad, see our guide to tax on Dubai property for Indian buyers.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to get TCS back after a foreign remittance?

It depends on the route. A salaried remitter who files Form 122 recovers it month by month through lower salary TDS in the same year. Anything left over comes back only after the return for that tax year is processed, reported at between about four weeks after e-verification and 20 weeks after filing, with 0.5% monthly interest where it applies.

Can my employer adjust TCS on property remittance against my salary TDS?

Yes. From October 2024 employers must consider an employee's TCS when computing salary TDS. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025 you declare it on Form 122, which replaced Forms 12B and 12BAA. The employer can only reduce the tax it would otherwise deduct, so TCS above your yearly liability still has to be claimed as a refund in your return.

My wife remitted part of the price. Who claims the TCS?

The TCS sits on the PAN of the person whose account the money left, so she claims it in her own return. If she has little taxable income, most of it will come back as a refund. If the money was a gift from you, the income from her share may be clubbed with yours, and the credit may need redirecting to you; take advice before remitting.

What if the TCS does not show in Form 168 or the AIS?

Ask the bank that collected it to file a correction statement with your correct PAN and quarter. A fresh certificate alone is not enough, because the portal matches your claim against the bank's filing. Check the statement again after the next processing cycle, and take advice before claiming a credit the system cannot yet see.

If you are planning a purchase abroad and want the cash flow, TCS included, laid out before you commit, Realty Hunting is happy to talk it through.