Vaduz taxes a deemed return on your Indian savings.
India and Liechtenstein have no tax treaty. The India-Switzerland treaty does not cover you. Banks deduct 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest. Liechtenstein exempts actual Indian interest and gains, taxing a deemed 4% return on Indian deposits and funds without crediting TDS. An Indian return refunds excess TDS. Use Form 128 (formerly Form 13) before selling property and Form 145/146 (formerly 15CA/15CB) to repatriate.
No DTAA. But a lot of other work you still need help with.
ITR filing, Form 13 lower-TDS, tax notices, repatriation, Section 91 relief. That's where we help.
About 88 overseas Indians (36 NRIs and 52 PIOs), per the MEA's January 2026 table
Indians in Liechtenstein
Senior CAs handle your whole India tax side, filing, recovery, notices, property, repatriation. No India trip needed.
Not just DTAA
Chartered Accountants for Liechtenstein NRIs. Your whole India tax life
DTAA refund recovery is our flagship, but it's one of many things our ICAI-registered CAs handle for Liechtenstein NRIs, filing, property, tax notices, repatriation and more, all from Liechtenstein with no India trip.
NRI ITR filing
Our CAs file your ITR-2 / ITR-3 from abroad
DTAA TDS recovery
Cut 30% NRO TDS to your treaty rate, recover past years
Property sale (Form 13)
Cut the 12.5% TDS before you sell
Tax notices
Section 148 / 143 / 245 replies, handled
Repatriation (15CA / 15CB)
Move funds out without bank friction
Inherited property
Cost step-up, sale and repatriation
Form 10F / TRC
Treaty-rate paperwork, end-to-end
No DTAA, here's what we still do
India and Liechtenstein have no treaty. Your Indian tax life still needs a CA.
India and Liechtenstein have no Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), only a 2013 tax information exchange agreement capping no rate. The India-Switzerland DTAA defines Switzerland as the Swiss Confederation. Default tax deducted at source (TDS) is 30% on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest and 20% on dividends. Liechtenstein exempts actual Indian deposit, share and mutual fund interest, dividends and gains, taxing a deemed 4% return on 1 January wealth. Without treaty or reciprocity credit in Vaduz, an Indian income tax return (ITR) refunds TDS above slab tax. Indian property escapes wealth, rent and sale gain tax; its value sets your rate.
Form 13 lower-TDS
Apply for a lower (or nil) TDS certificate before your bank/buyer deducts. The cleanest way to avoid the 30% hit at source.
Section 91 unilateral relief
If you've already paid Nigerian tax on the same income, claim foreign tax credit in your Indian ITR under Section 91, the only relief route when there's no treaty.
15CA / 15CB repatriation
Move funds out of your NRO account to your overseas account, properly documented and CA-certified. Required by every Indian bank.
ITR filing for NRIs
Annual return, past-year condonation, Form 67 for foreign tax credits, capital gains, property sale TDS reconciliation, the bread-and-butter NRI work.
Tax notice response
Section 148 reassessments, Section 143(1) intimations, AIS mismatches, demand notices. We respond with the right legal grounds before deadlines slip.
No treaty rate to chase. But there's real money in doing the rest right.
Liechtenstein NRIs we work with usually save more from a clean Form 13 + ITR than a treaty rate would have given them anyway. A CA who knows Liechtenstein makes the difference.
Talk to a Liechtenstein-specialist CAWhat we still do
No treaty, no treaty rate. But plenty of real work.
Hypothetical example: Arjun, 38, is an Indian citizen working as a mechanical engineer at an industrial firm in Schaan and has lived in Liechtenstein for four years. He holds ₹15L in Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) fixed deposits (FDs), ₹3L in NRO savings, and a ₹10L Indian mutual fund (MF) portfolio, redeeming ₹2L of units each year. Because there is no treaty, his bank deducts 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) on his interest. Liechtenstein taxes a deemed 4% return on these balances instead of the actual interest and grants no credit for the Indian TDS, so Arjun files an Indian income tax return (ITR) to recover TDS above his Indian slab tax.
Clean ITR filing
Full schedules (FA, AL, NRI disclosures). Section 91 foreign tax credit claim for any Liechtensteintax you've paid on the same income. Done right, the first time.
Form 13 / Section 197
Selling property in India? A lower-TDS certificate drops your TDS from 12.5% of the full sale price down to the actual gain. On a ₹1 crore sale, that's often ₹15-20 lakh of cash-flow.
Tax notices, end-to-end
148, 143(1), 143(2), 245, 139(9). We draft the reply, file on the portal, attend the hearing, follow up to closure. Under Section 288 authorized representation.
Repatriation (15CA/15CB)
Moving money from India back to Liechtenstein. CA-signed 15CB, Part C filings, bank coordination. Nothing stuck, nothing rejected.
This is what a typical Liechtenstein NRI with Typically ₹10-30L in NRO and NRE fixed deposits, ₹5-15L in Indian mutual funds, and often a family flat or plot in India. High Swiss-franc salaries often mean larger NRE balances, all of which count as wealth in Liechtenstein. actually needs, treaty or no treaty.
Your side of the process
How to get your Tax Residency Certificate
You're an Indian in Liechtenstein. India needs proof. Here's the workflow from Liechtenstein, documents, portal, timeline, the lot.
Who issues it
Steuerverwaltung (Liechtenstein Tax Administration)
What it costs
Not applicable, no treaty to claim
Timeline
Not applicable
Form 10F / Form 41
Not required
Step-by-step for Indians in Liechtenstein
Not needed for Indian TDS. A tax residency certificate (TRC) and Form 41 (formerly Form 10F) exist only to claim treaty rates, and there is no India-Liechtenstein treaty, so your Indian bank will not ask for them. A Swiss residence certificate does not help: you are not a Swiss resident, and the India-Switzerland DTAA covers only the Swiss Confederation. On the Liechtenstein side, what matters is your annual return to the Steuerverwaltung (Liechtenstein Tax Administration), filed in German, listing your Indian assets at their 1 January value and your Indian property for rate purposes.
Don't want to deal with Steuerverwaltung (Liechtenstein Tax Administration) yourself? Our CAs handle TRC guidance for Liechtenstein NRIs every day.
Want a CA who handles Liechtenstein-India tax every week?
Free 15-minute call. We tell you what you can recover and what it takes.
Senior CA who specialises in NRI tax · we deal with the tax officer, you don't
Things Liechtenstein NRIs should know
Pitfalls we've seen Indians in Liechtenstein face
We work with the Indian community in Liechtenstein every day. These are the traps that cost real money.
Do not claim Swiss treaty rates. Although Liechtenstein uses the Swiss franc, the India-Switzerland Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) defines Switzerland as the Swiss Confederation. India's 2013 tax information exchange agreement with Liechtenstein caps no rate. Banks deduct 30% on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest and 20% on dividends.
File an Indian income tax return (ITR) in India to refund tax deducted at source (TDS) above your Indian slab tax. Liechtenstein exempts actual interest and dividends, and its Tax Act credits foreign tax only under a treaty or reciprocity, so Vaduz gives no TDS credit.
Declare your Indian deposits, shares and funds as wealth. Liechtenstein values movable assets on 1 January and adds a deemed 4% return to taxable income. This includes Non-Resident External (NRE) and Foreign Currency Non-Resident (FCNR) balances, raising your Liechtenstein bill despite tax-free interest in India.
Declare your Indian flat on your Liechtenstein return even though it sits outside the wealth tax. Liechtenstein exempts foreign property from wealth tax and leaves its rent and sale gains untaxed, while the Tax Administration counts the property's value to set the rate on your other income.
Get Form 128 (formerly Form 13) under Section 395 (formerly Section 197) before selling Indian property so buyer TDS covers actual gain rather than full price. India taxes long-term share and equity fund gains at 12.5%; Liechtenstein exempts private asset and foreign property gains, without inheritance or gift tax.
Prepare for German returns and mismatched tax years. Residence begins by living in Liechtenstein intending to stay or staying over six months consecutively. Liechtenstein uses the calendar year against India's April to March year, and the Tax Administration can request German translations of Form 16A or bank interest certificates.
File Form 145 (formerly Form 15CA) to transfer NRO funds to Liechtenstein, adding a chartered accountant (CA) certificate on Form 146 (formerly Form 15CB) for taxable remittances above ₹5 lakh. You can repatriate up to USD 1 million per financial year from NRO balances, property sale proceeds, or inheritances.
Plan for separate pensions. India's social security agreement with Switzerland excludes Liechtenstein, which sits outside India's 20 partner countries, so Liechtenstein social insurance and Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) periods stay separate. For India, Liechtenstein documents can be apostilled under the Hague Apostille Convention, joined in 1972.
Questions from Liechtenstein NRIs
Everything Indians in Liechtenstein ask us
6+ answers. Hover on dotted terms for plain-English explanations.
The exceptions that change the answer
Where the general rule stops applying to you
Every rule below has a carve-out, a cut-off date or a condition that flips the answer. These are the ones that decide real cases.
FCNR(B) deposit tenure
Right now: 1 to 5 years; term deposits only, no savings variant
Where it works differently
- The holder returns to India permanently
- The deposit may run to maturity, then converts to RFC. Interest stays exempt while the holder is RNOR.
- Master Direction on Deposits and Accounts.
- Premature withdrawal before 12 months
- No interest is payable.
- Standard RBI condition on FCNR(B).
Commonly got wrong
- FCNR accounts work like a savings account. FCNR(B) is a term deposit only, 1 to 5 years.FCNR(B) is a fixed deposit in foreign currency, one to five years. There is no FCNR savings account.
NRO account: what it costs and what it caps
Right now: Interest taxed at 30% plus surcharge and cess; repatriation capped at USD 1 million a financial year
Where it works differently
- A TRC and Form 10F (Form 41 from 1 Apr 2026) are furnished
- The treaty rate applies to the interest, commonly 10-15% under Article 11 instead of 30% plus surcharge.
- s.90(2). This is the single largest recurring recovery item for most NRIs.
- Remitting out
- Form 15CA is needed, plus Form 15CB from a CA where the remittance is chargeable and above Rs 5 lakh in the year.
- Rule 37BB.
- Joint holders
- The USD 1 million ceiling is per person per financial year, so joint holders each have their own.
- FEMA 13(R).
Commonly got wrong
- NRO interest is taxed at 30%. Incomplete. Surcharge and 4% cess sit on top, and a treaty can cut it to 10-15%.30% plus surcharge and cess by default, but 10-15% under most treaties if you hold a TRC and file Form 10F.
EPF withdrawal exemption: continuous service
Right now: 5 years of continuous service
Where it works differently
- Service is under 5 years
- Four components are taxed separately: employer contribution and its interest as salary, employee contribution previously claimed under 80C reversed, and interest on employee contribution as other sources.
- Rule 8 of Part A of the Fourth Schedule.
- Employment ended for reasons beyond the employee's control
- The 5-year condition is relaxed.
- Proviso to Rule 8.
- The account is inoperative
- Interest continues to accrue and is taxable once the member leaves service.
- Settled position; a live issue for NRIs with dormant accounts.
Commonly got wrong
- EPF withdrawal is always tax-free. Only after 5 years of continuous service.An EPF withdrawal is tax-free only after five years of continuous service. Below five years, four separate components become taxable in different heads.
EPF interest that becomes taxable on high contributions
Right now: Interest on employee contributions above Rs 2,50,000 a year is taxable (Rs 5,00,000 where the employer makes no contribution)
Where it works differently
- The member is an NRI with a dormant account
- Interest continues to accrue, and an account becomes inoperative after 36 months without contribution, at which point the interest is taxable in India.
- EPF Scheme rules plus settled tax treatment.
- The member has left India
- Indian tax on that interest still applies as India-sourced income, and the residence country may tax it too.
- s.9 read with the relevant treaty.
Commonly got wrong
- All EPF interest is tax-free. Interest on employee contributions above Rs 2.5 lakh a year has been taxable since FY 2021-22.Interest is tax-free up to Rs 2.5 lakh of employee contribution a year (Rs 5 lakh where the employer does not contribute). Above that it is taxable.
No treaty. No shortcut.
Plenty we can still do.
ITR filing. Form 13 lower-TDS on property sales. Tax notices, repatriation, Section 91 unilateral relief. Your Indian tax life still needs a CA who knows Liechtenstein.
More for Indians in Liechtenstein
Friends & neighbours
NRIs in nearby countries with similar DTAA benefits. Know someone? Share this.