No income tax in Basseterre. India still deducts TDS.
Saint Kitts and Nevis has no personal income tax or Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with India, only a 2014 information exchange agreement. Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest attracts 30% tax deducted at source (TDS). Days in India decide tax residence, despite a St Kitts passport. Indian returns refund 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 600 (MEA, January 2026: 500 NRIs and 100 PIOs)
Indians in St Kitts
Senior CAs handle your whole India tax side, filing, recovery, notices, property, repatriation. No India trip needed.
Not just DTAA
Chartered Accountants for St Kitts 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 St Kitts NRIs, filing, property, tax notices, repatriation and more, all from St Kitts and Nevis 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 St Kitts and Nevis have no treaty. Your Indian tax life still needs a CA.
Saint Kitts and Nevis levies no personal income tax, leaving Indian interest, dividends, rent, and gains untaxed there. India and Saint Kitts and Nevis have no Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), only a 2014 tax information exchange agreement. Indian banks deduct default tax deducted at source (TDS) at 30% on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest and 20% on dividends. Only India taxes this income, and an Indian income tax return (ITR) refunds TDS above your slab tax. This page covers people actually living in Saint Kitts and Nevis. A St Kitts passport alone leaves Indian tax residence unchanged.
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.
St Kitts 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 Saint Kitts and Nevis makes the difference.
Talk to a St Kitts and Nevis-specialist CAWhat we still do
No treaty, no treaty rate. But plenty of real work.
Hypothetical example: Suresh, 44, from Ahmedabad, has managed a duty-free jewellery store in Basseterre for nine years while remaining an Indian citizen. He holds ₹12L in Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) fixed deposits, ₹2L in NRO savings, and a ₹5L Indian equity mutual fund from which he redeems ₹1L each year. With no treaty in place, his bank deducts 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) on his interest. Saint Kitts and Nevis taxes none of this income, and he recovers TDS above his slab tax by filing an Indian income tax return (ITR).
Clean ITR filing
Full schedules (FA, AL, NRI disclosures). Section 91 foreign tax credit claim for any St Kitts and Nevistax 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 St Kitts and Nevis. CA-signed 15CB, Part C filings, bank coordination. Nothing stuck, nothing rejected.
This is what a typical St Kitts NRI with Traders and restaurant owners: NRO accounts for Indian business income, ₹10-40L in NRO and NRE fixed deposits, often a family home in India. Medical school faculty: an NRE account fed by salary transfers, ₹5-20L in deposits, and mutual fund SIPs. actually needs, treaty or no treaty.
Your side of the process
How to get your Tax Residency Certificate
You're an Indian in Saint Kitts and Nevis. India needs proof. Here's the workflow from St Kitts and Nevis, documents, portal, timeline, the lot.
Who issues it
Inland Revenue Department, Saint Kitts and Nevis
What it costs
Not applicable, no treaty to claim
Timeline
Not applicable
Form 10F / Form 41
Not required
Step-by-step for Indians in St Kitts
Not needed for Indian TDS. A tax residency certificate (TRC) and Form 41 (formerly Form 10F) exist only to claim treaty rates, and India and Saint Kitts and Nevis have no tax treaty, so your Indian bank will not ask for them and they would change nothing. The Inland Revenue Department in Basseterre charges individuals no income tax, only Unincorporated Business Tax on local business revenue. To recover excess Indian TDS, file an Indian ITR.
Don't want to deal with Inland Revenue Department, Saint Kitts and Nevis yourself? Our CAs handle TRC guidance for St Kitts NRIs every day.
Want a CA who handles St Kitts and Nevis-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 St Kitts NRIs should know
Pitfalls we've seen Indians in St Kitts face
We work with the Indian community in Saint Kitts and Nevis every day. These are the traps that cost real money.
Expect 30% default tax deducted at source (TDS) on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest and 20% on Indian dividends. The Income Tax Department lists only a Saint Kitts and Nevis tax information exchange agreement (signed 11 November 2014, in force 2 February 2016), without Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) rates.
File an Indian income tax return (ITR) every year you face tax deducted at source (TDS). Because Saint Kitts and Nevis has no personal income tax or individual return to credit Indian tax against, the ITR is your only way to recover TDS above your Indian slab tax.
Track the ₹15 lakh limit while you remain an Indian citizen. Because no country taxes your residence, section 6(7) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (formerly section 6(1A)) deems Indian citizens resident, as not ordinarily resident (section 6(13)), when annual Indian income (excluding foreign-source income) exceeds ₹15 lakh.
Never assume a St Kitts passport makes you a non-resident of India. Many wealthy Indians get one via its citizenship by investment programme, yet days in India decide tax residence, taxing those living in India on any passport. This page covers people actually living in Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Weigh Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship carefully. Taking it, by investment or otherwise, ends Indian citizenship under section 9(1) of India's Citizenship Act 1955. With an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, OCIs cannot buy agricultural land, plantation property, or a farmhouse in India, though they may inherit it.
Keep Indian savings in Non-Resident External (NRE) or Foreign Currency Non-Resident (FCNR) deposits where possible. Interest stays tax free in India and untaxed in Saint Kitts and Nevis, so nobody taxes it. Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest bears 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) until you file.
Local charges spare Indian income: 5% employee, 6% employer (1% employment injury) Social Security to EC$6,500 monthly, Housing and Social Development Levy above EC$520 weekly (July 2025), and 4% Unincorporated Business Tax. India has no Saint Kitts and Nevis social security agreement, keeping Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) periods separate.
Use Form 128 (formerly Form 13) under Section 395 (formerly Section 197) before property sales, Form 145 (formerly Form 15CA) for Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) transfers, and Form 146 (formerly Form 15CB) above ₹5 lakh taxable. Saint Kitts and Nevis (since 1994) Hague Apostille Convention apostilles satisfy Indian banks and registrars.
Questions from St Kitts NRIs
Everything Indians in St Kitts 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.
Primary residence test: days in India
Right now: 182 days
Where it works differently
- The person is an Indian citizen leaving India for employment abroad, or as a crew member of an Indian ship
- Only the 182-day test applies. The 60-day secondary test is disabled.
- Explanation 1(a) to s.6(1)
- Counting days
- The day of arrival AND the day of departure both count as days in India.
- Settled administrative practice; partial days count as whole days.
- The financial year straddles a move
- Residence is decided for the WHOLE financial year, not from the date of the move. India has no split-year concept, unlike the UK.
- s.6 is a full-year test.
Commonly got wrong
- You become an NRI the day you leave India. True for FEMA, false for income tax. Under FEMA residence changes on departure with intent; under the Income-tax Act it is a full-year day count.Name which law you mean. Say 'non-resident under FEMA from the day you leave' or 'non-resident for income tax if you are in India under 182 days in that financial year'.
- India has split-year treatment. It does not. Only the treaty tie-breaker resolves a dual-residence year.Point to Article 4 of the relevant DTAA.
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.
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 Saint Kitts and Nevis.
More for Indians in St Kitts
Friends & neighbours
NRIs in nearby countries with similar DTAA benefits. Know someone? Share this.