Tax in India
See what India's tax rules do to your property portfolio.
What Freeholt models for property, income and retirement in India, and what it does not.
Free to start. No card. Rules reviewed 2 July 2026.
Modelled here
- Tax on rental income
- Capital gains on a sale
- Duty on purchase (approximate)
- Income tax beyond the rent
- Dividends, interest and share sales
INR · Rates as at 2 July 2026 · Estimates, not advice
Rental income gets a 30% standard deduction then slab rates to 30%; tenants of NRI landlords withhold ~31.2% on gross (reconciled by filing). LTCG after 24 months is 12.5% without indexation; NRI sellers face ~15% TDS on the full price. NRIs/OCIs buy freely (no farmland); other non resident foreigners cannot buy.
How rental income is taxed in India
For a resident owner: Progressive rates from 5% to 30%, stacked on other income in this country. The top rate of 30% applies above ₹2,400,000. Only 70% of a positive net is taxable. For an owner living abroad and renting this out: Tax is withheld at source at 31.2% of the gross rent, before any costs.
Interest and losses
Mortgage interest is deductible against the rent. A rental loss is ring fenced: it carries forward against future rental income rather than reducing other income now.
Capital gains on a sale
Gains are taxed at a flat 0%. 14.95% of the SALE PRICE is withheld at settlement from a non resident seller. It is a credit against the bill, not an extra tax, but it is cash the seller does not get on the day.
Annual property tax while holding
An annual property or land tax is not modelled here, which is not the same as there being none. Treat holding costs on this page as excluding it.
What it costs to buy
Freeholt estimates this at 6% of the price. That is an average rather than the published rule, which is not modelled here yet. Stamp duty 4 to 8% by state plus ~1% registration. Foreign non residents are barred; NRIs/OCIs exempt from that bar.
Can a foreign buyer purchase here?
Foreign buyers are generally BANNED from buying existing residential property here. Foreign nationals resident outside India cannot buy (inheritance aside). NRIs/OCIs buy residential/commercial freely. But not agricultural land; nationals of 11 listed countries need RBI approval.
Income tax in India, beyond the rent
Progressive, up to 30%, or 31.2% once the surcharge on the tax is added. The bands run Up to 400,000 at 0%; 400,000 to 800,000 at 5%; 800,000 to 1,200,000 at 10%; 1,200,000 to 1,600,000 at 15%; 1,600,000 to 2,000,000 at 20%; 2,000,000 to 2,400,000 at 25%; Above 2,400,000 at 30%. A further 4% is charged on the tax itself, not on the income, so every rate above is that much light. Rental profit joins this ladder. Figures in INR, as verified 29 August 2026.
Dividends, interest and share sales
How India taxes investment income. For dividends: Taxed at the marginal income rate. For share sale gains: Flat 12.5%. First 125,000 tax free each year.
Worth knowing about tax in India
India's 10% dividend TDS is not shown. It is a withholding credited against this same bill rather than an extra cost, so the tax is unchanged and only the timing of the cash differs.
How Freeholt models India
Every rate above is priced from Freeholt's own table for India and runs through the whole projection: rental income, a modelled sale and the annual holding costs all use the same figures. They cannot be edited yet, so a position that differs from the defaults has to be read with that in mind. The estimate assumes an individual owner rather than a company or trust, and where a rule is not modelled it is listed below rather than quietly priced at zero.
What running this property costs
In India this covers municipal property tax, society maintenance charges, insurance and management; a 30% standard deduction already approximates most running costs for tax.
How borrowing works here
NRIs can borrow from Indian banks (repayment via NRE/NRO accounts); rates ~8.5 to 9.5%.
What actually happened here
This country's own record, one year at a time. Nothing on this page is borrowed from another country. Move across a chart to read a year.
What Freeholt models here
- ModelledTax on rental income
- Resident and non resident rates, with interest and losses treated under the local rule.
- ModelledCapital gains on a sale
- Priced in the year of the sale under the rules of that year.
- ApproximateDuty on purchase
- Carried as one national average rather than the published scale, which differs by band and often by region.
- Not yetAnnual property or land tax
- Not priced here; the page says where the charge falls instead.
- ModelledIncome tax beyond the rent
- Salary and other income, stacked with the rent.
- ModelledDividends, interest and share sales
- Investment income and gains, with the local allowances.
- Not yetRetirement savings
- Not modelled for this country yet.
- Not yetInheritance and what happens on death
- Not modelled for this country yet.
What Freeholt does not model here
- Any annual property or land tax, which may still exist here
- Inheritance and estate tax
- Treaty relief between this country and the owner's country of residence
What the figures above leave out (8)
- The section 87A rebate is not applied. Up to ₹12 lakh of taxable income Indian law charges nothing, and this shows about ₹62,400 instead. Below that threshold the tax is overstated by as much as the whole of it.
- India's surcharge on high incomes is not included, so above the rebate threshold the real bill is higher, and the gap widens as income rises.
- Only India's new regime, the default unless the taxpayer elects otherwise, is modelled. Where the old regime would suit better, this is overstated, because nobody elects the worse answer.
- India's general income tax for a non resident is not modelled. The rental withholding is a different charge and is not borrowed for it.
- Indian securities gains have their own flat rates (12.5% long term, 20% short term) and do not stack on salary. Adding a gain to this ladder overstates it.
- Indian interest is not priced here at all. No rate for it could be sourced, so it is left out rather than guessed at.
- India's 4% cess and its high income surcharge are not added to these investment figures, so investment tax is understated.
- The twelve month line between Indian long and short term gains comes from a second hand reading of the tax department's guidance rather than from the page itself. Worth checking.
Coverage deepens country by country. Every figure is an estimate, not advice.
Compare with another country
Each page is built from the same table the app runs on, so the figures line up side by side.
Compare India with another country — rent, gains, annual tax and duty, side by side.
Questions people ask
- Does Freeholt model India property tax?
- Yes. Rental income tax, capital gains on a sale and duty on purchase are priced from Freeholt's own rate table for India. Duty on purchase carries a simplification that the page names beside the figure. Annual property or land tax is not priced here, and the page says so rather than showing a zero. The rates are not editable yet, so one that differs in a particular case cannot be overridden. Every figure is an estimate, not advice.
- How is rental income from India taxed if I live somewhere else?
- Tax is withheld at source at 31.2% of the gross rent, before any costs. Tax may also be due in the country of residence, with credit for what was paid here. Estimates only, not advice.
- What are the India figures as at?
- The rate table for India was last reviewed on 2 July 2026. Freeholt date stamps every country rather than implying all of them were checked on the same day. Estimates only, not advice.
Model a property in India alongside everything else you own: see the year your portfolio starts paying you back.