Moving money from your NRO account to NRE or abroad — 15CA, 15CB and the USD 1 million route

An NRO account holds income that arose in India — rent, dividends, interest, sale proceeds, gifts — some already taxed, some not. Before money crosses into an NRE account or leaves the country, the bank needs proof the tax side is clean.

That proof comes in two parts. Form 15CB is a certificate signed by a practising chartered accountant confirming the nature of the funds and that the correct tax has been deducted or paid. Form 15CA is your own declaration, filed online with the income tax department, quoting the 15CB. The bank keeps copies of both on file as its record that it did not move untaxed money out of India.

For an NRO-to-NRE move of any size, most banks insist on the CA certificate — it is the document that protects them.

Under RBI's FEMA rules, an NRI can remit up to USD 1 million per financial year out of their NRO account balances — the same ceiling covers property sale proceeds and inherited assets routed through NRO. The limit runs April to March, per person; a couple each has their own ceiling.

The USD 1 million is a remittance ceiling, not a tax allowance. Staying inside it does not make the money tax-free — the tax still has to be settled, which is what the 15CB certifies. Both hurdles have to be cleared. Funds in an NRE or FCNR account are freely repatriable and sit outside this limit.

If your transfer is heading toward the ceiling, splitting across two financial years is a normal solution. The CA who prepares your 15CB will flag where you stand against the limit before the bank sees the transfer.

Anita lives in Singapore and rents out a flat in Bengaluru. Over two years the rent — net of the tenant's TDS — has built up to about ₹38 lakh in her NRO account; she now wants it in her NRE account to move freely to Singapore.

Her CA checks the source: rental income, TDS already deducted, returns filed. On that basis the CA issues a Form 15CB describing the funds as post-tax rental income. Anita files Form 15CA online quoting the certificate, hands the bank both documents, and the funds move from NRO to NRE.

At ₹38 lakh the transfer is comfortably under the USD 1 million ceiling — a single remittance works. Had the rent been larger, say ₹70 lakh, the CA would have staged part into the next financial year.

If you rent out a flat in India and want the rent in your home country month after month, you don't have to treat each transfer as a new project. Rent is current income — once TDS is being deducted and you account for it in your return, the bank releases it on a recurring basis using the same rental-income purpose code.

There is no standing certificate that covers all twelve months. Each remittance still needs its own Form 15CA (becoming Form 145 from FY 2026-27), and where a month's taxable total — added to the year's others — crosses ₹5 lakh, that transfer also needs a Form 15CB (Form 146 from FY 2026-27). A CA who already holds your rent agreement, TDS position and PAN can turn each one around quickly.

Consistency is what keeps it smooth: the same purpose code, the same rent pattern, the same evidence on file.

People often assume the 15CA/15CB drill applies to any money crossing a border. It doesn't. These forms only govern money leaving India for a non-resident. Money you send from abroad into India is an inward remittance — no 15CB needed, and a gift to your parents is exempt in their hands as a gift from a relative (Section 56(2)(x)).

The forms come into play only the other way — when a resident in India sends maintenance to a relative abroad. Even then, maintenance is not chargeable to tax in India, so it goes on Form 15CA Part D with no CA certificate; several personal-remittance purposes need no 15CA at all.

The certificate is reserved for payments that actually carry an Indian tax charge.

A common stall is the bank rejecting a valid certificate because the remittance purpose code doesn't match what the certificate describes. The bank tags every outward transfer with an RBI purpose code — rent, investment income, sale proceeds — and a mismatch triggers a hold.

The fix is alignment, not a fresh start. The purpose code is corrected to match the actual nature of the funds; Form 15CA is re-filed on the matching footing (Part C where a 15CB applies, Part D where the remittance isn't taxable); if the certificate itself needs adjusting the CA re-certifies. Once purpose code, certificate and declaration all agree, the bank releases the money.

Naming the funds accurately when the certificate is first prepared — investment income as investment income, rent as rent — is what avoids the bounce.

Not every remittance needs a CA certificate. Form 15CB is required only where the money leaving India carries an Indian tax charge. Several common transfers don't.

Three lighter routes exist. If the payment isn't chargeable to tax in India, file Form 15CA Part D yourself — no CA certificate needed. If the transfer is on the Rule 37BB specified-purpose list, no Form 15CA is needed at all. Where taxable remittances to a person in the year stay within ₹5 lakh, only Form 15CA Part A is required.

The judgement that matters is placing the remittance in the correct box — and that turns on whether the underlying payment is taxable in India, not on the amount alone.