What India charges, by asset type
The split is what matters, so keep the two apart. India taxes only your direct company shares; your fund units carry no Indian tax.
| What you sold | Indian tax on the gain |
|---|---|
| Direct listed company shares, held over 1 year | 12.5% over Rs 1.25 lakh, no indexation (Section 112A) |
| Direct listed company shares, held under 1 year | 20% (Section 111A) |
| Equity or debt mutual fund units | Nil in India, taxable only in the Czech Republic |
The 12.5% and 20% share rates apply to sales on or after 23 July 2024, and the Rs 1.25 lakh yearly exemption is available to you as an NRI on the share gains. The fund units carry no Indian tax under the treaty, so there is nothing to compute in India on them.
The Czech Republic taxes the units instead
The Czech Republic taxes the unit gain instead. It taxes residents' gains as income at 15 or 23 percent, so the fund gain is taxable there, and because India has exempted it there is no Indian tax to credit against the Czech tax on the units. There is an upside in Czech law: gains on securities held more than 3 years are exempt from Czech tax, and the old value cap on that relief was removed from 1 January 2026, so a unit held that long can end up taxed nowhere, exempt in India and untaxed in the Czech Republic. Confirm your fund unit counts as a security under Czech law before relying on it.
So the planning point is simple: on your fund units there is no Indian tax to fight over, only the Czech tax, and you should make sure the Indian side does not withhold on the redemption in the first place. On your direct Indian shares the tax is Indian, and the Czech Republic gives a credit for it under Article 24, so the same gain is not taxed twice.
The India paperwork: TDS, TRC and Form 10F
On your direct Indian shares, tax comes out under Section 195, which becomes Section 393(2) from FY 2026-27, and you true it up on an Indian return, ITR-2. On your fund units, the aim is different: because the treaty exempts the unit gain in India, you want the fund house not to withhold, so you give it your Czech Tax Residency Certificate and Form 10F, now Form 41, and claim the Article 13 exemption. If tax is still deducted, you reclaim it in full through the return. A lower or nil deduction certificate, Form 13 under Section 197, now Form 128 under Section 395, before a large redemption is the clean way to stop the withholding up front.
A worked example: Vivek's Prague sale
Vivek, an NRI in Prague, redeems Indian equity mutual funds and books a gain of Rs 8 lakh, and separately sells listed Indian shares held nine months for a short-term gain of Rs 2 lakh.
On the fund units, the treaty makes the gain taxable only in the Czech Republic, so India taxes nothing on the Rs 8 lakh. Vivek files the Czech TRC and Form 10F so the fund house does not withhold, or reclaims it if it does. On the direct shares, the Rs 2 lakh short-term gain is taxable in India at 20% under Section 111A, Rs 40,000, and the Czech Republic then credits that Indian tax under Article 24. So the fund gain is the Czech Republic's alone to tax and the share gain is where the Indian tax sits.