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Income type guide

Rental Income TDS

Your tenant deducts 31.2% TDS on gross rent under Section 195, before the 30% standard deduction (Section 24) and municipal tax. On ₹6 lakh/year rent, that's ₹1.87 lakh deducted when your actual tax is closer to ₹75k. The ₹1.1 lakh gap is refundable only via ITR. DTAA doesn't reduce property income TDS under most treaties (Article 6 gives source country primary taxing rights).

For Gulf NRI on Rental Income

Default at-source TDS in India: 31.2%. The treaty rate matches India's 31.2% domestic — no DTAA reduction at source. UAE doesn't tax personal income, so there's no home-country tax to credit either. The Indian 31.2% IS your only tax.

Article 6

How it works

What happens to your rental income as an

Section 195 forces tenants (or property managers) to deduct 30% + 4% cess = 31.2% on gross rent paid to NRIs. Section 24(a) then lets you deduct 30% of Net Annual Value (gross rent minus municipal tax actually paid) as standard deduction. Municipal tax is subtracted before the 30% standard deduction, not after. The excess TDS is claimed back via ITR. DTAA Article 6 assigns taxing rights to the country where the property sits, so no rate reduction via treaty for property in India.

31.2%

Default rate

Varies

rate by country

Gulf NRI — what changes for you

Country-specific overlay on Rental Income

Article 13 / Article 6 — source-state taxation

Most India treaties give India the source-state taxing right on Indian immovable property (Article 13 for capital gains, Article 6 for rental income). The DTAA does NOT reduce India's tax on these. Your home country may also tax the same income, with FTC for the Indian tax paid. For NRI sellers, the Section 197 / Form 13 LDC mechanism is the cash-flow lever — covered in the Form 13 LDC guide.

Overpaying on rental income?

Upload your 26AS and we'll show you exactly how much you can recover.

Typical savings: ₹50,000 – ₹2,00,000 refundable via ITR
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