The family CA is a good person. Their NRI filings are costing you ₹60k a year.

Your family CA charges ₹5,000 to file your Indian ITR. You've been using them for 10 years. They've never missed a deadline. Your parents trust them.

They also filed your return at the 30% default TDS rate every year. Not the 10-15% treaty rate. Not claimed DTAA. Not filed Form 10F. Not mentioned Section 119(2)(b) for past-year recovery.

Not because they're bad people. Because the economics don't work. At ₹5,000 flat, every extra hour they spend on your file eats their profit. Claiming DTAA correctly takes 4–6 hours of additional work, treaty article lookup, TRC coordination with your foreign tax authority, Form 10F filing, CBDT condonation application for past years. On a ₹5,000 fee, that's impossible to justify.

So they file at defaults and move on. Same as 2 crore other NRI returns filed in India last year.

You don't need to fire your CA. You need to know what you've been losing. Five minutes.

Step 1. Log in to incometax.gov.in. Download Form 26AS for the last 3 financial years. It's a PDF.

Step 2. Open each 26AS. Look at Part A. TDS on income other than salary. Find the bank name and the total TDS deducted.

Step 3. Look at the rate. Most NRIs see 30% on NRO interest (Section 195). Some see 20% on dividends. Most see nothing special, just the gross deduction.

Step 4. Cross-check against your country's treaty rate. US: 15%. UK: 15%. Singapore: 15%. UAE: 12.5%. Kuwait: 10%. Oman: 10%. Canada: 15%. Australia: 15%.

Step 5. Multiply the gap by your interest income. A ₹15 lakh NRO FD earning 7% generates ₹1.05 lakh in interest a year. At 30% TDS, ₹31,500 deducted. At 15% treaty, ₹15,750 should have been deducted. Gap: ₹15,750 per year.

Multiply by however many years you've been filing at default. That's the number.

The gap is never just current year. Section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act lets you go back 5 Assessment Years (CBDT Circular 11/2024). Plus Section 244A adds 6% simple interest on every delayed refund.

A Dubai NRI with ₹25 lakh in NRO FDs earning 7% has paid ₹52,500 a year in excess TDS (30% instead of 12.5%). Over 5 Assessment Years, that's ₹3.15 lakh recoverable principal plus roughly ₹55,000 in Section 244A interest. Total: ₹3.7 lakh.

A UK NHS consultant with ₹40 lakh across NRO FD and bonds, earning 7%, has paid ₹42,000 a year in excess TDS (30% instead of 15%). Over 5 years: ₹2.1 lakh principal plus ₹25,000 Section 244A interest. Total: ₹2.35 lakh.

A Singaporean tech lead with ₹30 lakh in NRO deposits, 5 years at default rates: ₹3.15 lakh recoverable. Total with 244A: ₹3.7 lakh.

These aren't hypothetical. These are the typical NRI numbers we see every week.

You don't have to fire them. You just need to ask one question.

'Have you filed Form 10F and the TRC for my DTAA claim this year?'

If they say yes, good. Ask for the acknowledgment number and cross-check it against your 26AS. If the TDS rate dropped this year, they're on top of it.

If they say no, ask why. The honest answer is usually 'it's extra work at this fee.' Which is fair. A good follow-up: 'Can you charge me more to handle it properly?' Some CAs will quote a higher fee and take it on. Many won't, they don't have the specific DTAA expertise for your country.

If they deflect — 'DTAA is complicated', 'only wealthy NRIs claim it', 'you don't need it for small amounts', that's the answer. Time to find a specialist.

Four things. In order.

1. Do they know YOUR country's treaty Article 11 rate cold? If they can't quote it in 10 seconds, they don't do this often.

2. Do they have Form 10F filing experience on the ITD portal? It's a 5-minute filing but rejection rates are high if the TRC dates don't match exactly.

3. Have they filed Section 119(2)(b) condonation applications before? This is the past-year recovery mechanism. Not every CA has done one.

4. Is their fee structure aligned? A flat fee for ITR plus a success fee on recovery aligns incentives. A flat fee alone often doesn't, they'll skip the hard parts.

We fit all four. But so do a handful of other ICAI CAs across India. Find one. Interview them before committing.

You upload your 26AS. Free. No signup. We read every TDS line, match against your country's treaty rate, and show you the total recoverable amount, current year plus up to 5 past Assessment Years (CBDT Circular 11/2024), before you pay a rupee.

If you engage us, a country-specialist CA files the current-year ITR plus a Section 119(2)(b) condonation application for past years. We handle AO correspondence under Section 288 Authorized Representative so you don't fly to India.

Fee: success-fee aligned on recovery, paid only after the refund credits your NRO. ₹0 upfront, no recovery means no fee. Current-year ITR alone (no recovery) is a small flat fee, same as your resident friends pay for equivalent work. No NRI markup. Exact numbers quoted on the call.

Book free CA appointment if you'd rather talk through your situation first. 15 minutes. No card, no commitment. Or Upload your 26AS for an instant stake number.

Q: My family CA is a close friend. I don't want to fire them.

A: You don't have to. Keep them for your parents' resident ITR filings. Use a specialist for your NRI-specific work. Most close-family CAs are grateful for the handover, it's work they'd rather not touch anyway.

Q: What if my family CA says they did file DTAA but I never heard about it?

A: Ask for the Form 10F acknowledgment number and your TRC for each year they claim to have filed. If they can't produce them, they didn't file. The ITD portal keeps a permanent record.

Q: Will the ITD flag me for reopening past years?

A: No. Section 119(2)(b) is the official mechanism for past-year recovery. The CBDT expects these applications. It's not aggressive tax planning, it's the standard path for claims older than 2 years.

Q: How fast can I expect the first refund?

A: Current-year refund typically 3–6 months after ITR filing. Past-year condonation refunds take 4–8 months each. Section 244A interest accrues the whole time, so a delayed refund is a bigger refund.