Freetown is home now. Your Indian savings still matter.
India and Sierra Leone have no tax treaty. File an Indian income tax return to refund tax deducted at source (TDS) above your slab tax. Get Form 128 (formerly Form 13) before selling a flat, and use Form 145 (formerly Form 15CA) and Form 146 (formerly Form 15CB) to repatriate funds. Sierra Leone taxes temporary residents on remitted Indian income, and other residents on worldwide income.
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 4,519 (MEA, January 2026: 4,500 NRIs and 19 PIOs)
Indians in Sierra Leone
Senior CAs handle your whole India tax side, filing, recovery, notices, property, repatriation. No India trip needed.
Not just DTAA
Chartered Accountants for Sierra Leone 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 Sierra Leone NRIs, filing, property, tax notices, repatriation and more, all from Sierra Leone 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 Sierra Leone have no treaty. Your Indian tax life still needs a CA.
The Income Tax Department lists no India-Sierra Leone Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA). Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest bears 30% tax deducted at source (TDS), dividends 20%; Indian income tax returns (ITR) refund TDS above slab tax. A normal place of abode or over 182 days in a 12-month period creates residency (Income Tax Act 2000, section 10). For four years, non-domiciled foreign nationals are temporary residents: section 15 taxes only remitted Indian interest, dividends and rent, before section 14 taxes worldwide income, including India-exempt Non-Resident External (NRE) interest. Section 90 caps credits at Sierra Leone's average rate per item.
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.
Sierra Leone 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 Sierra Leone makes the difference.
Talk to a Sierra Leone-specialist CAWhat we still do
No treaty, no treaty rate. But plenty of real work.
Hypothetical example: Rakesh, 46, is an Indian citizen from a Sindhi trading family running a wholesale business in Freetown. Having lived in Sierra Leone for nine years, he is past the four-year temporary-resident window and is taxed on worldwide income. He holds ₹20L in Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) fixed deposits (FDs), ₹4L in NRO savings, and a ₹10L Indian mutual fund (MF) portfolio, redeeming ₹2L of units a year. Because there is no treaty, his bank deducts 30% tax deducted at source (TDS) on the interest. Rakesh files an Indian income tax return (ITR) to recover TDS above his slab tax and claims a section 90 credit in Sierra Leone for the remaining Indian tax.
Clean ITR filing
Full schedules (FA, AL, NRI disclosures). Section 91 foreign tax credit claim for any Sierra Leonetax 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 Sierra Leone. CA-signed 15CB, Part C filings, bank coordination. Nothing stuck, nothing rejected.
This is what a typical Sierra Leone NRI with Indian-national traders and managers: ₹10-40L in NRO and NRE fixed deposits, ₹5-20L in mutual funds, often a family flat or house in India. Newer contract staff: smaller NRE balances fed by monthly transfers and SIPs. actually needs, treaty or no treaty.
Your side of the process
How to get your Tax Residency Certificate
You're an Indian in Sierra Leone. India needs proof. Here's the workflow from Sierra Leone, documents, portal, timeline, the lot.
Who issues it
National Revenue Authority (NRA), Sierra Leone
What it costs
Not applicable, no treaty to claim
Timeline
Not applicable
Form 10F / Form 41
Not required
Step-by-step for Indians in Sierra Leone
Not needed. A tax residency certificate (TRC) and Form 41 (formerly Form 10F) exist only to claim treaty rates, and there is no India-Sierra Leone treaty, so your Indian bank will not ask for them. On the Sierra Leone side, what matters is a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) from the National Revenue Authority (NRA). Since 15 May 2023 you can apply online through the NRA's ITAS portal, attaching your National Identification Number (NIN); the NRA says applications are vetted within 24 hours and the TIN certificate is emailed. The NRA publishes no residence-certificate procedure, so ask its Domestic Tax Department if a foreign authority ever asks for one.
Don't want to deal with National Revenue Authority (NRA), Sierra Leone yourself? Our CAs handle TRC guidance for Sierra Leone NRIs every day.
Want a CA who handles Sierra Leone-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 Sierra Leone NRIs should know
Pitfalls we've seen Indians in Sierra Leone face
We work with the Indian community in Sierra Leone every day. These are the traps that cost real money.
Plan for default deductions at your Indian bank. Because the Income Tax Department lists no Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Sierra Leone, banks deduct 30% on Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) interest and 20% on dividends. A tax residency certificate (TRC) or Form 41 (formerly Form 10F) changes nothing.
Track your four-year clock. Under section 11, non-domiciled foreign nationals are temporary residents while not resident in Sierra Leone for more than four years and not intending to stay longer. Until then, only remitted Indian income is taxed there; afterwards, all is, including India-exempt Non-Resident External (NRE) interest.
Time your remittances into Sierra Leone carefully. For a temporary resident, section 15 taxes Indian interest, dividends or rent sent to Freetown, while income left in India stays untaxed in Sierra Leone. Plan transfers from your Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) accounts around this rule.
Recover excess Indian tax deducted at source (TDS) through an Indian income tax return (ITR). Section 90 credits foreign tax only up to Sierra Leone's average rate on each foreign income item. Where 30% Indian TDS is higher, filing an ITR refunds the TDS above your Indian slab tax.
Obtain Form 128 (formerly Form 13) under Section 395 (formerly Section 197) before selling an Indian flat. Because the buyer must deduct tax deducted at source (TDS), this lower-deduction certificate keeps the deduction to the tax on your actual gain instead of the full price.
Arrange compliance forms before repatriating funds. You can 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.
Use consular legalisation. Sierra Leone is outside the Hague Apostille Convention, and in April 2026 the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it was still working to open a resident mission in Delhi. Confirm the Indian office's accepted route; the High Commission of India in Freetown opened in August 2020.
Track your two pension accounts separately. India and Sierra Leone have no social security agreement, so your National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) contributions in Sierra Leone and your Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) service periods in India cannot be combined.
Questions from Sierra Leone NRIs
Everything Indians in Sierra Leone 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.
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 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 Sierra Leone.
More for Indians in Sierra Leone
Friends & neighbours
NRIs in nearby countries with similar DTAA benefits. Know someone? Share this.