Antananarivo built your trade. Your Indian savings still matter.
India and Madagascar have no tax treaty, so Form 41 (formerly Form 10F) gives no relief. File an Indian income tax return to refund tax deducted at source (TDS) above your slab tax. Obtain Form 128 (formerly Form 13) before selling Indian property and Form 145/146 (formerly 15CA/15CB) to repatriate funds. Madagascar's code reaches residents' income of any origin and credits foreign tax only under its own four treaties.
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 17,500 (2,500 NRIs and 15,000 PIOs)
Indians in Madagascar
Senior CAs handle your whole India tax side, filing, recovery, notices, property, repatriation. No India trip needed.
Not just DTAA
Chartered Accountants for Madagascar 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 Madagascar NRIs, filing, property, tax notices, repatriation and more, all from Madagascar 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 Madagascar have no treaty. Your Indian tax life still needs a CA.
The Income Tax Department lists no Madagascar Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) or other tax agreement. Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest carries 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) and dividends 20%. Madagascar's Code des impôts (Articles 01.01.04 and 01.03.04) treats income "of whatever origin" of people living there as realised in Madagascar, covering Indian interest, dividends and rent. Madagascar relieves foreign tax only under its treaties with Canada, France, Mauritius and Morocco, giving no Indian tax credit. An Indian income tax return (ITR) refunds TDS above slab tax, and Form 128 (formerly Form 13) cuts property-sale TDS.
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.
Madagascar 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 Madagascar makes the difference.
Talk to a Madagascar-specialist CAWhat we still do
No treaty, no treaty rate. But plenty of real work.
Hypothetical example: Rakesh, 44, is an Indian citizen from Rajkot who has managed the import desk at a trading firm in Antananarivo for nine years. He holds ₹10L in Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) fixed deposits (FDs), ₹2L in NRO savings, and an ₹8L Indian mutual fund (MF) portfolio from which he redeems ₹1.5L of units a year. Because there is no treaty, his bank cuts 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) on the interest. Rakesh files an Indian income tax return (ITR) to claim back TDS above his slab tax.
Clean ITR filing
Full schedules (FA, AL, NRI disclosures). Section 91 foreign tax credit claim for any Madagascartax 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 Madagascar. CA-signed 15CB, Part C filings, bank coordination. Nothing stuck, nothing rejected.
This is what a typical Madagascar NRI with Indian passport holders: ₹5-20L in NRO and NRE fixed deposits, ₹5-10L in mutual funds, often a family flat in Gujarat. Gujarati-origin families of foreign nationality: inherited property or small accounts in India, managed on visits. actually needs, treaty or no treaty.
Your side of the process
How to get your Tax Residency Certificate
You're an Indian in Madagascar. India needs proof. Here's the workflow from Madagascar, documents, portal, timeline, the lot.
Who issues it
Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI), Madagascar
What it costs
Not applicable, no treaty to claim
Timeline
Not applicable
Form 10F / Form 41
Not required
Step-by-step for Indians in Madagascar
Not needed. A tax residency certificate (TRC) and Form 41 (formerly Form 10F) exist only to claim treaty rates, and there is no India-Madagascar treaty, so your Indian bank will not ask for them. Madagascar's code provides for an attestation de résidence fiscale from the Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI), with the conditions set by regulation (Article 01.01.05). Ask the DGI directly if another authority ever asks for one.
Don't want to deal with Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI), Madagascar yourself? Our CAs handle TRC guidance for Madagascar NRIs every day.
Want a CA who handles Madagascar-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 Madagascar NRIs should know
Pitfalls we've seen Indians in Madagascar face
We work with the Indian community in Madagascar every day. These are the traps that cost real money.
Budget for default Indian bank withholding. The Income Tax Department lists no Madagascar Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), so banks deduct 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest and 20% on dividends. A tax residency certificate (TRC) or Form 41 (formerly Form 10F) changes nothing.
Expect no Malagasy credit. Madagascar's code taxes residents' income of any origin, relieving foreign tax only under Canada, France, Mauritius and Morocco treaties. Yearly Indian income tax returns (ITR) refund tax deducted at source (TDS) above slab tax. Ask Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI) about declaring Indian interest and rent.
Count a rented flat as creating residency. Madagascar has no day count. Under Article 01.01.05, you are resident if you have a home available as owner, usufructuary or tenant, or if Madagascar is your main place of stay. A newly arrived professional leasing in Antananarivo is resident from the start.
Apply for Form 128 (formerly Form 13) under Section 395 (formerly Section 197) before selling an Indian flat. Without this certificate, the buyer deducts tax deducted at source (TDS) on the full sale price instead of your actual gain, and you wait for an Indian refund.
Line up tax forms before repatriating funds. You may remit up to USD 1 million a financial year from Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) balances, property sale proceeds or inheritances. Each taxable transfer requires Form 145 (formerly Form 15CA), plus a chartered accountant's Form 146 (formerly Form 15CB) above ₹5 lakh.
Arrange consular legalisation for Malagasy documents. Madagascar is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, meaning death certificates or succession papers cannot be apostilled for India. Confirm the accepted attestation route with the Indian bank or office beforehand.
Maintain separate pension records in both countries. Madagascar is not covered by India's 20 social security agreements, so Malagasy and Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) periods remain separate.
Match bank accounts to your passport. Many Gujarati-origin families in Madagascar are foreign citizens. As Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) definition, they can hold Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) and Non-Resident External (NRE) accounts, while the 2,500 Indian passport holders use them as NRIs.
Questions from Madagascar NRIs
Everything Indians in Madagascar 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.
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.
TDS rate when buying property from an NRI
Right now: 12.5% plus surcharge and cess on LTCG
Where it works differently
- The gain is short-term
- TDS is at the applicable slab rate, effectively 30% plus surcharge and cess for most NRI sellers.
- s.195 requires deduction at 'rates in force' for the actual character of the income.
- No lower-deduction certificate is obtained
- TDS applies to the ENTIRE SALE CONSIDERATION, not to the gain.
- s.195 operates on the sum paid unless the AO determines otherwise. This is the whole commercial case for Form 13 / Form 128.
- There are joint NRI sellers
- TDS is deducted separately against each seller's PAN in their ownership proportion.
- Rule 37BA. Deducting entirely against one PAN strands the other's credit.
- The buyer deducts 1% under s.194-IA
- Wrong section. The buyer becomes an assessee-in-default under s.201 for the shortfall plus 1% per month interest and penalty under s.271C.
- s.194-IA applies only where the seller is a RESIDENT.
Commonly got wrong
- TDS on property purchase is 1% over Rs 50 lakh. That is s.194-IA, for RESIDENT sellers only. For a non-resident seller it is s.195 at the full capital-gains rate, with no threshold.1% applies only if the seller is a resident. NRI seller means s.195 at 12.5% plus surcharge and cess on the whole consideration unless a certificate is obtained.
- The buyer files Form 26QB. 26QB (Form 141 from 1 April 2026) was for s.194-IA resident sellers. Until 30 September 2026 an NRI-seller purchase needed a TAN and Form 27Q (Form 144 from 1 April 2026). From 1 October 2026 a resident individual or HUF buyer uses Form 141's new Schedule E against their PAN, but still deducts at the s.195 / s.393(2) rate, not 1%.Buying from an NRI, you deduct at the full capital-gains rate, not 1%. If you pay on or after 1 October 2026 and you are a resident individual or HUF, you report it on Form 141 Schedule E against your PAN and give the seller Form 132; no TAN is needed. Payments before that date needed a TAN and Form 27Q or Form 144.
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 Madagascar.
More for Indians in Madagascar
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