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Bahrain NRIs · Property Sale Tax

Property sale tax for NRIs in Bahrain

There's no India-Bahrain treaty to fall back on, and on a property sale it would have changed nothing anyway. The lever here is the lower-deduction certificate, and it's a big one.

When you sell Indian property as an NRI living in Bahrain, India taxes the gain because the property is here (Section 9(1)(i)), and the long-term rate is 12.5%. India and Bahrain have no tax treaty. The 2012 agreement between them is a Tax Information Exchange Agreement, which lets the two tax offices share information but caps no withholding rate. On this particular income that costs you nothing, because India's treaties leave gains on Indian immovable property taxable in India anyway. The money was never in the treaty. It's in the withholding: the buyer has to deduct TDS on the entire sale consideration rather than on your profit, which routinely traps ₹20-30 lakh at closing until a return refunds it a year later. A lower-deduction certificate, applied for before you sign, is what stops that happening.
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India-Bahrain key facts: property sale tax

India's default non-resident rate of 12.5% applies here with nothing to claim it down to.

A Form 128 certificate before you sign is the lever. No certificate is needed on either side: there is no treaty rate to claim in India, and nothing is charged on this income in Bahrain.

This is India's domestic withholding under Section 393(2) (Section 195 until 31 March 2026). There is no India-Bahrain treaty to modify it. Surcharge and cess apply on top where relevant.

How it works on the India side

On an NRI property sale the buyer deducts TDS under Section 393(2) (Section 195 until 31 March 2026) on the full sale value at the long-term capital-gains rate plus surcharge and cess, a much larger sum than the tax you actually owe, because your taxable gain is only the profit. Indexation is gone for NRIs on transfers from 23 July 2024, and the grandfathered 20%-with-indexation option that survived Budget 2024 was written for resident individuals and HUFs only, so your cost is the actual cost, lifted to the 1 April 2001 fair market value (Section 55(2)(b)) if you held the property before that date. The over-deduction then sits with the government until you file, which can be a year or more of blocked cash.

The certificate is how you avoid the block instead of chasing a refund afterwards. Filed before the sale on the TRACES portal, it asks the Assessing Officer to certify a lower or nil deduction based on your computed gain. With the certificate in hand the buyer deducts only the certified amount, so most of your proceeds reach you at closing. You apply on Form 128 under Section 395, which replaced Form 13 under Section 197 on 1 April 2026, so an adviser still saying "Form 13" means the same application.

What changes because you live in Bahrain

Bahrain takes nothing off this Indian income. There's no personal income tax, no capital gains tax and no net wealth or inheritance tax on individuals, and no foreign tax relief legislation either, so the Indian tax withheld earns you no credit on the Bahrain side. The trap here is paperwork, not tax. Bahrain tells the OECD it issues no tax identification numbers for CRS purposes, so you have no Bahrain TIN to quote. Don't leave the box blank. Indian banks, AMCs and depositories read that field as TIN or functional equivalent, and for Bahrain they accept your Bahrain ID or CPR number, so give it with the issuing country. Skip it and the institution can't treat your self-certification as valid under Rule 240 of the Income-tax Rules 2026, the old Rule 114H, and transactions like an FD renewal or a redemption can sit restricted until you redo the form.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions from Bahrain NRIs

Under Section 393(2), on the full sale value at 12.5% plus surcharge and cess, not on your gain. No treaty rate is available to Bahrain NRIs, and none would have helped, because property gains stay taxable where the property is. The number worth attacking is the base the buyer deducts on, not the rate.

Because the default deduction is calculated on the gross sale value rather than the gain, so a large slice of your money goes to the tax department and only comes back at your next ITR. A lower-deduction certificate on Form 128, filed before the sale, gets the Assessing Officer to certify a deduction based on your real gain, so the buyer withholds far less and most of the proceeds reach you on the day. For an NRI in Bahrain this is usually the single biggest lever on a property sale.

There isn't one to try, and it wouldn't be the lever even if there were. Every Indian treaty leaves gains on Indian immovable property taxable in India, so on the rate you're in exactly the same position as an NRI whose country does have one. The gain normally isn't charged in Bahrain either, so the Indian tax is where this ends.

Go further

Read the full guide, or see your country's complete picture

Lower-TDS certificate for an NRI property saleBahrain NRI tax guide: every income type and the rates that apply

Property Sale Tax sorted, by an Indian CA who works with Bahrain NRIs

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