I sold property in India as an NRI. How can I claim excess TDS deducted by the buyer?

I would also suggest checking whether you could have obtained a lower or nil TDS deduction certificate before completing the property sale.

I sold my property while living in Dubai. Before the sale, my CA helped me explore the lower deduction certificate route so that the buyer would not deduct an unnecessarily high amount.

For transactions governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961, the relevant application was Form 13 under Section 197. The applicable lower-deduction provisions and forms changed under the Income-tax Act, 2025, which came into effect on 1 April 2026.

If the sale has already been completed and excess TDS has been deposited, you would generally claim the eligible credit and refund through your income tax return rather than simply asking the buyer to return the deducted tax.

Also, make sure your Indian bank account is validated on the income tax portal. A refund can get delayed if the nominated account is not validated.

You can check the official Income Tax Department website for the current rules. The process depends on when the property sale and TDS deduction took place.

I sold an inherited property in India after moving to Canada, and I also had excess TDS deducted.

One thing I would suggest is not to calculate your capital gains simply by subtracting the original purchase price from the selling price.

In my case, the property had been inherited from my father. The acquisition cost and holding period required consideration of his ownership history and the relevant inheritance rules.

There were also expenses connected with the transfer that I discussed with my CA.

I initially assumed that the entire TDS deducted by the buyer would be refunded because the property had not generated much actual profit. However, the final calculation was more complicated.

The applicable capital gains rules, acquisition cost, eligible improvement expenses, exemptions and surcharge or cess all need to be considered.

I also checked the TDS credit through Form 26AS and AIS before filing my return.

My suggestion is to keep the original purchase deed, inheritance documents if applicable, sale deed, payment records and TDS certificate together. These documents make it easier to explain the transaction if the Income Tax Department requests clarification.

I went through almost the same situation after selling an apartment in Bengaluru while living in the USA.

The buyer deducted TDS on the property transaction, and the amount deducted was much higher than the actual capital gains tax I eventually calculated.

What I learned is that the TDS deducted by the buyer is not necessarily your final tax liability. It is a tax credit that you can claim while filing your Indian income tax return.

I filed my ITR for the financial year in which the property was sold. I reported the sale consideration, purchase cost, eligible expenses and calculated capital gains. I also claimed the TDS credit reflected in my Form 26AS.

The important thing is to ensure that the buyer has correctly deposited the TDS against your PAN. I initially had a mismatch between the certificate provided by the buyer and the tax credit appearing in my account. The buyer had to check the reporting details.

After the return was processed, the eligible excess amount was refunded to my validated Indian bank account.

You don't necessarily need to travel to India for this. The income tax return can be filed online from overseas.