Sell a Chennai property as an NRI and the buyer must withhold TDS on the full sale price — often 13–14.95%, not the 1% a resident seller pays. When you book a valuation for a sale, we include a free estimate of what you actually owe on the gain and hand you off to a CA who can act on it — so the excess is never withheld in the first place.
This is a rough planning estimate, not a filing — indexation, holding period, and exemptions change the real number. It exists to show why the gap is worth closing before you sign.
*Long-term capital gains rate shown at 12.5% (no indexation) per current law for transfers on or after 23 Jul 2024 — illustrative only, confirm your actual holding period and applicable rate with your CA. Without a Form 128 lower-deduction certificate, the buyer withholds on the full sale price regardless of your actual gain.
What you paid, adjusted for inflation and improvements. For property acquired before 1-4-2001 — including most inherited property — this uses the fair market value as on 1-4-2001 instead of the original price, from our Valuation service, indexed forward.
Sale price minus indexed cost, checked against your actual holding period to confirm long-term vs short-term treatment.
What the buyer should withhold once a lower-deduction certificate reflects your real gain, instead of the default rate on the full price.
Whether your numbers support a lower/nil-deduction certificate (renamed from Form 13, effective 1 Apr 2026) — the starting point your CA uses to decide whether to file. See our full guide to the Section 197 process.
Tell us the purchase date and price, any improvement costs, and expected sale price when you book a valuation — no separate booking needed.
You take the computed estimate to a CA — yours, or one we introduce from our network — who prepares and files the Form 128 application entirely. That's their work, not ours.
Once filed and approved, the buyer withholds the correct, lower amount at the time of sale — not the default rate, refunded a year later after filing a return.
We are not a chartered accountancy or law firm, and we don't prepare or file the Form 128 application. Our work is the computed estimate above — included free with your valuation, no separate charge — showing what it's likely worth to have a lower-deduction certificate at all. If you don't have a CA, we introduce independent CAs from our network; that engagement, including preparing and filing the application, is between you and them directly, and we don't carry responsibility for their filing or its outcome.
The lower-deduction certificate takes time to process — starting before you have a buyer, not after, is what actually saves the withholding.