Do I still need a TAN to buy from an NRI? It depends on the payment date
You need a TAN for any payment up to 30 September 2026. From 1 October 2026 you do not, if you are a resident individual or HUF.
| Payment | Buyer | TAN | Pay and report | Seller's certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 30 September 2026 | Any buyer | Yes | Deposit by the 7th of the next month (30 April for March); quarterly Form 144, formerly Form 27Q | Form 131, formerly Form 16A |
| From 1 October 2026 | Resident individual or HUF | No | Pay and report together with your PAN on Form 141, Schedule E, within 30 days from the end of the month of deduction | Form 132 |
| From 1 October 2026 | Company, firm, NRI or any other buyer | Yes | As for payments up to 30 September | Form 131, formerly Form 16A |
The relief comes from Section 397(1)(c) of the Income-tax Act 2025, as amended by the Finance Act 2026. The procedure was notified on 22 September 2026 in the Income-tax (Fifth Amendment) Rules 2026 (Notification 121/2026), which extend Rule 218(3), the Form 141 payment rule, to purchases from a non-resident.
If a portal help page still says Form 141 is only for resident sellers, it predates this amendment. Form 141 already carried the resident-seller 1% deduction (Section 393(1), formerly Section 194-IA, and Form 26QB before 1 April 2026). Schedule E is what adds the non-resident seller.
What Form 141, Schedule E asks you for
Schedule E is a full record of the sale, so collect the seller's details before the first payment, not at the deadline.
1. The property: address, type, agreement and registration dates, stamp duty value and total consideration. 2. Every buyer: PAN, name and share of the consideration. Joint buyers each file their own Form 141. 3. The seller: PAN if available, residential status, phone, email and overseas address. Phone, email and overseas address are mandatory even where the seller has a PAN. 4. A seller without a PAN: tax residency certificate details and the foreign tax identification number, which together with the contact details above keep the deduction off the higher no-PAN rate. 5. The payment: lump sum or instalment, and for a later instalment the earlier acknowledgement number. 6. The tax: long-term or short-term gain, rate applied, any Section 395 certificate (formerly Section 197), and the tax deducted including surcharge and cess.
A purchase that straddles 1 October 2026
Each deduction follows the route in force when you deduct, which is when you pay or credit the seller, whichever is earlier. The agreement date and the registration date do not decide it.
Worked example. Kavita, a resident in Bengaluru, buys a flat from an NRI seller in Dubai for Rs 1.5 crore. She pays a Rs 15 lakh advance on 12 September 2026 and the Rs 1.35 crore balance on 6 November 2026.
| Payment | Route | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Rs 15 lakh, 12 September | TAN; challan, then the July to September Form 144 | Deposit by 7 October 2026 |
| Rs 1.35 crore, 6 November | PAN; Form 141, Schedule E | Pay and file by 30 December 2026 |
So Kavita still needs a TAN for the advance. Had she paid nothing before 1 October, she would not have needed one to deduct. Whether a deduction made before 1 October can later be moved onto Form 141 is not settled, so plan the advance knowing it sits on the TAN route.
This is where most mistakes happen, because one deal ends up on two forms. We set the route payment by payment before the advance is paid.
Who the no-TAN route does not cover
The relief is narrow: a resident individual or HUF, buying immovable property from a non-resident.
| Situation | Route |
|---|---|
| Company, firm, LLP, trust or other entity buying from an NRI | TAN and Form 144, as before |
| NRI buying from an NRI | TAN and Form 144. The buyer is not resident |
| Resident and NRI buying jointly | Each deducts on their own share: the resident on Form 141, the NRI co-buyer through a TAN |
| Anyone buying from a resident seller | Unchanged: 1% under Section 393(1), formerly Section 194-IA, on Form 141, no TAN |
| Rent, interest or fees paid to an NRI | Not property consideration. The payer still needs a TAN |
| Agricultural land bought from an NRI | Rural agricultural land is not a capital asset, so there is generally no gain to deduct on, but get the classification confirmed in writing first. Agricultural land inside the limits of a municipality or cantonment board with 10,000 or more people, or within 2 to 8 km of those limits (the distance depends on the town's population), is a capital asset, and Form 141, Schedule E lists only non-agricultural land and buildings as the property type. Check the portal before you pay; if no option fits, deduct through a TAN and Form 144. Ask us to confirm the classification and the route before you pay the seller |
A returning NRI who is now resident, including one who is resident but not ordinarily resident (RNOR), counts as a resident individual buyer.
What has not changed: how much you withhold
The 2026 changes are about forms and the TAN, not the tax. For an NRI seller the default deduction is on the full sale value, not the gain: 12.5% on a long-term sale plus surcharge and 4% cess, and a higher rate on a short-term sale.
The seller can bring it down with a lower-deduction certificate obtained before the payment: Form 128 under Section 395 of the 2025 Act, formerly Form 13 under Section 197. Until you hold that certificate, deduct at the full rate. Form 128 applications have so far named the buyer by TAN, so if you will pay on the PAN route, have the seller's adviser confirm how the application identifies you before relying on it. Any payment in the 2025-26 year stays on the old forms and section numbers.