No treaty. No shortcut. The Form 13 lever is where Lagos Indians actually win.
India and Nigeria have no DTAA, there is no treaty rate to chase, and we won't pretend otherwise. What we CAN do for the Lagos textile, pharma and oil-services Indian community: file Form 13 BEFORE you sell that Mumbai or Surat ancestral flat (turns 12.5% Section 195 TDS (post-Budget 2024) on the full sale value into 12.5% on the actual gain, often a ₹90L-1.2Cr cash unlock), clean up five Assessment Years of unfiled ITRs under Section 119(2)(b) condonation, claim Section 91 unilateral relief for any income you genuinely paid Nigerian tax on, file 15CA/15CB for repatriation, and respond to Section 148 reassessment notices the right way.
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.
60,000+
Indians in Lagos
Recovery from ₹4,999/yr + 15% success fee. No India trip needed.
No DTAA, here's what we still do
India and Nigeria have no treaty. Your Indian tax life still needs a CA.
India and Nigeria have no comprehensive DTAA. That means no treaty rate on your Indian TDS, the default 30% on interest and 20% on dividends stands. Relief is only available through unilateral foreign tax credit under Section 91 of the Indian Income-tax Act. The rest of what a CA can do. ITR filing, property sale, Form 13, tax notices, repatriation, still matters, and that's where we help.
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.
Nigerian Indians 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 Nigeria makes the difference.
Talk to a Nigeria-specialist CAWhat we still do
No treaty, no treaty rate. But plenty of real work.
Deepak, 48, textile trader in Apapa Lagos, second-generation Indian-Nigerian, NRI for 22 years. Sold a ₹6.6 Cr Mumbai 2-BHK in 2025-26 (inherited from father, raw cost basis ₹4.05 Cr per the original purchase deed; indexation no longer available for NRIs post-July-2024, so LTCG is the raw gain ₹2.55 Cr). The buyer's lawyer was about to deduct Section 195 default TDS at 12.5% on the FULL ₹6.6 Cr sale value (with surcharge + cess, ~₹98.7L on top-bracket income, parked with the IT department for 9-12 months until refund). We filed Form 13 (Section 197) BEFORE registration, capped TDS at the actual 12.5% LTCG liability (~₹31.9L on the ₹2.55 Cr gain), and unlocked ~₹66.8L of cash flow on the day of sale. Same year we cleaned up five Assessment Years of unfiled rental ITRs under Section 119(2)(b) condonation. No DTAA, no treaty rate, pure Form 13 + ITR mechanics.
Clean ITR filing
Full schedules (FA, AL, NRI disclosures). Section 91 foreign tax credit claim for any Nigeriatax 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 Nigeria. CA-signed 15CB, Part C filings, bank coordination. Nothing stuck, nothing rejected.
This is what a typical Nigerian Indian with ₹40L-2 Cr in NRO FDs and family business reserves, ₹15-60L in mutual funds (often legacy folios), and almost always a Mumbai/Surat/Ahmedabad ancestral flat worth ₹80L-3 Cr. Property dominates because moving naira out of Nigeria is harder than keeping wealth parked 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 Nigeria. India needs proof. Here's the workflow from Nigeria, documents, portal, timeline, the lot.
Who issues it
Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)
What it costs
NGN 5,000 (~₹290 at current rates), only if pursuing Section 91 relief
Timeline
1 year
Form 10F / Form 41
Not required
Step-by-step for Indians in Lagos
Not applicable, there is no DTAA, so no TRC is needed to claim treaty rates. If you need a Nigerian residency certificate for Section 91 unilateral relief, apply through the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) with your TIN.
Don't want to deal with Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) yourself? Our CAs handle TRC guidance for Nigerian Indians every day.
Things Nigerian Indians should know
Pitfalls we've seen Indians in Lagos face
We work with the Indian community in Nigeria every day. These are the traps that cost real money.
No DTAA = no TDS shortcut. Any site promising a treaty rate on your Indian TDS is wrong. India and Nigeria never signed a comprehensive DTAA, so the default 30% on FD interest and 20% on dividends stands. Accept it and move to the levers that actually exist.
Form 13 (Section 197) lower-TDS certificate is the single biggest lever for Nigerian NRIs. Selling a Mumbai/Pune/Surat flat? Post Budget 2024 (effective 23 July 2024), Section 195 default TDS is 12.5% flat on the entire sale value (effective 13.0-14.95% with surcharge and 4% cess), not the gain. A pre-sale Form 13 application drops that to the actual LTCG liability (12.5% on the raw gain — indexation was removed for NRIs post-July-2024, no carve-out). On a ₹2 Cr flat with a ₹40L gain, that's a ₹20L+ cash flow unlock that nobody bothers to file.
Section 91 unilateral relief, the only India-side double-tax relief available without a DTAA, is capped at the LOWER of the Indian tax or the Nigerian tax actually paid on the SAME income. So if your Indian FD interest was hit with 30% Indian TDS but never declared on your Nigerian PIT return, Section 91 gives you nothing. Document the FIRS payment first, then file ITR with the Section 91 schedule.
NGN volatility + CBN FX rationing, repatriating from Nigeria to India runs into the Nigerian central bank's FX queue, not just the FEMA LRS limit. Most Nigerian Indian families keep wealth IN India because moving naira out is harder than moving rupees. That makes your Indian TDS housekeeping the main wealth-preservation lever, not a side gig.
Section 148 reassessments are a real risk for the textile/pharma/oil-services Indian-Nigerian business community. Long-time Indian property owners in Lagos with old Mumbai/Ahmedabad flats often get six-year-back notices because they never declared rental during their NRI years. Respond properly, don't ignore.
15CA/15CB filings for any inward remittance back to India: every wire from a Nigerian bank to an NRO/NRE account above ₹5L needs a CA-certified 15CB and an online 15CA. Your Lagos bank won't tell you. Your Indian bank will block the credit if it's missing.
ITR filing under correct residential status (Section 6), most Nigerian Indians are NRIs by tie-breaker (Lagos centre of vital interests) but some flip to RNOR in transition years. Get it right and you can recover the 30% TDS on FD interest via slab-rate refund even WITHOUT a DTAA.
Nigerian Indians who recovered
Real people. Real money back.
“My Indian CA had been filing at default rates for 20 years. No treaty claim, no Form 10F. The Kenya DTAA caps interest at 10%, and with five years of condonation plus Section 244A interest, TrustNRI recovered more than I'd expected. The property sale Form 13 the next year was the real cherry.”
D.F.
Business Owner, Nairobi
Questions from Nigerian Indians
Everything Indians in Lagos ask us
6+ answers. Hover on dotted terms for plain-English explanations.
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 Nigeria.
More for Indians in Lagos
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