Buying property from an NRI in 2026: the TAN and form changes, and when they start

From the 2026-27 tax year, the property-TDS forms have new numbers under the Income-tax Rules 2026, though what they do is the same.

For a resident seller, the 1% deduction that used to go on Form 26QB now goes on Form 141, still PAN-based, still no TAN, under Section 393(1), which replaced Section 194-IA. For a non-resident seller, the deduction is under Section 393(2), which replaced Section 195, and the quarterly return that used to be Form 27Q is now Form 144. The TDS certificate the buyer gives the seller, the old Form 16A, is now Form 131. A transaction in the 2025-26 year stays on the old forms; the new numbers apply from 1 April 2026.

This is the part people get wrong. For a purchase from an NRI seller today, and right through to 30 September 2026, the compliance is essentially unchanged. You deduct under Section 393(2) on the sale value, you have to obtain a TAN, and you file the quarterly Form 144, the successor to Form 27Q. The renumbering did not remove the TAN for the NRI-seller case.

So if you are buying from an NRI now and cannot find a simple PAN-based option on the portal like the resident 26QB flow, that is expected. The resident route, Form 141, is PAN-based, but the NRI route still runs through a TAN and Form 144.

The relief is real, but it starts later and is narrower than the headlines suggest. Under the Finance Act 2026, from 1 October 2026 a buyer who is a resident individual or a Hindu undivided family, buying immovable property from a non-resident, will no longer need a TAN. They will deduct and report by quoting their PAN, in the same way as a resident-to-resident purchase, on a challan-cum-statement the department is to notify.

Two limits matter. It applies only from 1 October 2026, so nothing changes for a purchase before then. And it is for resident individual and HUF buyers only; a company or a firm buying from an NRI will still need a TAN. If your purchase falls after that date and you are an individual, the process gets much simpler.

None of this changes how much the buyer withholds, which is where the real money is. For a resident seller it is still 1% of the sale value. For an NRI seller it is the capital-gains rate: for a long-term sale, 12.5% without indexation plus surcharge and cess, on the full sale value, not just the gain, unless the seller gives you a lower-deduction certificate first, the old Form 13 under Section 197, now Form 128 under Section 395.

So the 2026 changes are about the forms and, from October, the TAN, not about the tax. The single biggest saving for an NRI seller is still to get that lower-TDS certificate before the deed, so the deduction is on the gain rather than the whole price.