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Built for Maldives NRIsNo India DTAA

The Maldives ignores your Indian income. India does not.

India and the Maldives have no Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), only limited agreements on SAARC cooperation, airline profits and information exchange. None lowers 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest. Temporary residents owe no Maldives tax on Indian income. An Indian return refunds TDS above slab tax, Form 128 (formerly Form 13) cuts property sale TDS, and Form 145/146 (formerly 15CA/15CB) clears NRO transfers.

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 59,900 (MEA, May 2026: 59,725 NRIs and 141 PIOs)

Indians in the Maldives

Trusted by Indians in the Maldives · Senior CAs who specialise in NRI tax

Senior CAs handle your whole India tax side, filing, recovery, notices, property, repatriation. No India trip needed.

Not just DTAA

Chartered Accountants for Maldives 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 Maldives NRIs, filing, property, tax notices, repatriation and more, all from Maldives with no India trip.

No DTAA, here's what we still do

India and Maldives have no treaty. Your Indian tax life still needs a CA.

The Maldives Income Tax Act (Law 25/2019) started 1 January 2020, taxing salaries from 1 April 2020. Full residents pay 0% on worldwide income up to MVR 720,000 yearly, rising to 15% above MVR 2,400,000. The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) taxes foreigners on immigration permits unmarried to Maldivians as temporary residents on Maldives income only, sparing most Indian teachers, doctors, nurses and resort staff on Indian interest, dividends and rent. Without a tax treaty (DTAA), default tax deducted at source (TDS) is 30% on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest and 20% on dividends, refunded via Indian income tax returns (ITR).

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.

Maldives 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 Maldives makes the difference.

Talk to a Maldives-specialist CA

What we still do

No treaty, no treaty rate. But plenty of real work.

Sreeja, 38, is a hypothetical secondary school teacher on an island in an outer atoll. Originally from Kollam, she has spent five years in the Maldives on a work permit. Because she is a temporary resident, the Maldives does not tax her Indian income. She holds ₹6L in Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) fixed deposits (FDs) from before she left, ₹1L in NRO savings, and is redeeming ₹50,000 from a ₹3L Indian equity mutual fund. Her bank deducts 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) on the interest and no treaty lowers it. Since her total Indian income is small, an Indian income tax return (ITR) gets most of that TDS back.

Clean ITR filing

Full schedules (FA, AL, NRI disclosures). Section 91 foreign tax credit claim for any Maldivestax 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 Maldives. CA-signed 15CB, Part C filings, bank coordination. Nothing stuck, nothing rejected.

This is what a typical Maldives NRI with Typically an NRE account fed by monthly transfers, ₹3-15L in NRE or NRO fixed deposits, small mutual fund SIPs, and often a family home in India. actually needs, treaty or no treaty.

Your side of the process

How to get your Tax Residency Certificate

You're an Indian in the Maldives. India needs proof. Here's the workflow from Maldives, documents, portal, timeline, the lot.

Who issues it

Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA)

What it costs

Not published (not needed for Indian TDS)

Timeline

As stated on the certificate

Form 10F / Form 41

Not required

Step-by-step for Indians in the Maldives

Not needed for Indian TDS. With no India-Maldives DTAA there is no treaty rate to claim, so a tax residency certificate (TRC) and Form 41 (formerly Form 10F) change nothing at your Indian bank. If you need one for another purpose, MIRA takes requests on form MIRA 926 (Request for Tax Residency Certificate), uploaded online or handed in at a MIRA counter. Companies and partnerships can download a certificate from MIRAconnect; the form page gives individuals only the upload and counter routes. Most Indian workers are temporary residents, taxed only on Maldives income, which is not the same as being a full tax resident.

Don't want to deal with Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) yourself? Our CAs handle TRC guidance for Maldives NRIs every day.

Want a CA who handles Maldives-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 Maldives NRIs should know

Pitfalls we've seen Indians in the Maldives face

We work with the Indian community in the Maldives every day. These are the traps that cost real money.

No India-Maldives Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) caps Indian tax deducted at source (TDS) on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest, dividends, rent or capital gains. India's Income Tax Department lists three limited agreements: the SAARC Limited Multilateral Agreement, a 2016 agreement exempting airline profits, and a 2016 tax information exchange agreement.

File an Indian income tax return each year to recover tax deducted at source (TDS) above your Indian slab tax. Because the Maldives does not tax temporary residents on Indian income, Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest bears only Indian tax, with no Maldives return to credit it against.

Marrying a Maldivian makes you a worldwide-taxed full resident (permanent homes on immigration permits stay temporary). Report Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest, dividends and Indian rent on Maldives returns, deducting Indian tax up to Maldives tax under section 72 of the Income Tax Act within two years after the accounting period.

SAARC Article 8 never cuts Indian tax deducted at source (TDS); confirm with Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) since school teaching may not qualify. It exempts visiting professors, teachers or research scholars at government-approved universities, colleges or similar institutions from host-country teaching or research pay tax (up to two years).

Check changing bank transfer limits before planning Non-Resident External (NRE) deposits or equated monthly instalments (EMIs). Amid US dollar (USD) shortages, Maldives banks ration transfers for staff paid in rufiyaa (MVR); in October 2025 SBI's Malé branch capped them at USD 150 monthly per account, leaving dollar-paid staff unaffected.

Apply for a lower deduction certificate on Form 128 (formerly Form 13) under Section 395 (formerly Section 197) before registering an Indian flat sale while working in Malé. The buyer must deduct tax deducted at source (TDS); this keeps deduction to your actual gain rather than the full price.

File Form 145 (formerly Form 15CA) to send money out of your Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) account to the Maldives, plus a chartered accountant (CA) certificate on Form 146 (formerly Form 15CB) for taxable amounts above ₹5 lakh. Money coming in from the Maldives needs neither form.

Plan for consular legalisation when an Indian bank or office needs an attested Maldives document, and ask the office which route it accepts. Because the Maldives has not joined the Apostille Convention, its papers cannot be apostilled for India. India also has no social security agreement with the Maldives.

Questions from Maldives NRIs

Everything Indians in the Maldives ask us

6+ answers. Hover on for plain-English explanations.

No. India and Maldives do not have a comprehensive Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. Some sites quote a "Maldives rate" (often a fictional 7.5%), that document does not exist. Without a DTAA, India deducts at the full domestic rate (30% on interest, 20% on dividends, 12.5% on long-term capital gains) and you cannot claim a treaty-cap reduction.

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.

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.

TDS on NRO account interest

Right now: 30% plus surcharge and cess

Where it works differently

A valid TRC and Form 10F (Form 41 from 1 Apr 2026) are furnished
The treaty rate applies, commonly 10-15% under Article 11.
s.90(2) gives the more beneficial of treaty or Act.
No PAN is furnished
s.206AA imposes at least 20%, but Rule 37BC allows escape by furnishing name, address, TIN and TRC. Courts have also held s.206AA cannot override a treaty rate.
Rule 37BC + settled case law.
Claiming the treaty rate at source
The s.115A(5) filing exemption is lost, so an Indian return becomes necessary.
That exemption requires TDS at not less than the s.115A rate.
The account is NRE instead
NRE interest is exempt only while the individual meets the FEMA residence-outside-India condition or is permitted by RBI to maintain the account, and the account is maintained in accordance with the applicable FEMA rules. Income-tax non-resident or RNOR status alone does not establish this exemption.
Income-tax Act 2025 Schedule IV, entry 1 (retaining the earlier s.10(4)(ii) conditions): https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/w/schedule-iv-4
The deposit is FCNR instead
The exemption covers interest from a qualifying foreign-currency deposit with a scheduled bank whose acceptance of the deposit is approved by RBI, paid to a non-resident or a resident but not ordinarily resident (RNOR) under income-tax law. Check the deposit and residence conditions; FEMA non-residence alone does not establish the FCNR exemption.
Income-tax Act 2025 Schedule IV, entry 14 preserves s.10(15)(iv)(fa) subject to its conditions: https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/w/schedule-iv-4 ; underlying conditions: https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/w/section-10-62

Commonly got wrong

  • NRO interest TDS is 30%. Incomplete. Surcharge and 4% cess sit on top, so the effective rate is higher.30% plus surcharge and cess, around 31.2% at the base level.
  • You can file Form 15G/15H to stop NRO TDS. Those are resident-only declarations. An NRI filing one makes a false declaration.Use Form 13 (Form 128 from 1 April 2026), or claim the treaty rate with a TRC.

Form 15CB requirement threshold

Right now: Rs 5,00,000 in the financial year, where the remittance is chargeable to tax

Where it works differently

The remittance is not chargeable to tax
Part D of Form 15CA only. No 15CB.
Rule 37BB structure.
The remittance falls in the specified exempt list
No Form 15CA at all.
Rule 37BB(3) specified list.

Commonly got wrong

  • Every outward remittance needs Form 15CB. Only where chargeable to tax and above Rs 5 lakh in the year.Form 15CB is needed only where the remittance is chargeable to tax AND exceeds Rs 5 lakh in the financial year. Otherwise Part D of Form 15CA is enough.

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 Maldives.

More for Indians in the Maldives

Friends & neighbours

NRIs in nearby countries with similar DTAA benefits. Know someone? Share this.