Selling Indian property while you are a Swiss tax resident

India taxes the full capital gain from your original cost. For long-term property sold on or after 23 July 2024, the rate is 12.5% without indexation, and as an NRI you get neither the resident option of 20% with indexation nor any currency relief for the rupee's fall, so the whole rupee gain is taxed. The buyer must deduct TDS under Section 195 on the sale, plus surcharge and cess, not the small 1% that applies to a resident seller, so a lower-deduction certificate is worth getting and any excess is reclaimed by filing an Indian return.

The point NRIs get wrong: the choice residents have, 20% with indexation or 12.5% without, on property bought before 23 July 2024, is for resident individuals only. An NRI does not get it and pays the flat 12.5% without indexation, whatever the age of the property.

Switzerland taxes worldwide income but, as with foreign rent, makes a specific exception for foreign real estate. A gain on selling your Indian property is exempt from Swiss tax; it is only counted to set the rate on your Swiss-taxable income. Switzerland does have a real-estate gains tax, but it applies to Swiss-situated property, not foreign property.

So the sale is simple on the Swiss side: no Swiss tax on the gain, only a small rate effect. India's 12.5% is the whole cost. That is a much lighter outcome than a resident of the United States, the United Kingdom or Australia would face on the same sale, and it is worth understanding so you do not overpay in Switzerland by treating the gain as ordinarily taxable there. A practising CA computes the Indian gain, gets the lower-deduction certificate so the buyer withholds on the real gain, and gives your Swiss accountant the figure for the progression.