Sending Money from India for Dubai Property: LRS Limits, TCS and the Paperwork
Under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme, a resident Indian can send up to USD 250,000 per financial year — roughly ₹2.26 crore (Oct 2026, indicative) — to buy Dubai property, and co-owning family members can each remit the same. Since 1 April 2025, TCS is nil up to ₹10 lakh and 20% above it, fully creditable in your ITR.
How much can you send abroad under LRS?
Under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme, every resident Indian individual can remit up to USD 250,000 per financial year for permitted purposes, and buying property abroad is one of them. The limit is per person, cumulative across all your banks, and anything above it needs prior RBI approval.
The Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) is the RBI's standing window for residents to send money abroad without case-by-case approval. The cap is USD 250,000 per resident individual per financial year (April to March) — roughly ₹2.26 crore as of Oct 2026, indicative. Purchase of immovable property overseas is a permitted purpose under FEMA, so a Dubai apartment sits squarely inside the scheme.
Three mechanics people routinely miss:
- The limit is per person, not per family. Your spouse, parents and adult children each carry their own USD 250,000 — which is why co-ownership matters (next section).
- It is cumulative across banks. Remittances are tracked against your PAN, so splitting transfers between three banks does not create three limits.
- It resets every April. An off-plan payment plan that stretches across financial years lets you fund a larger purchase from a single person's limit, year by year.
At the indicative Oct 2026 rate, one person's annual limit converts to about AED 918,000. That covers Danube Timez — entry price AED 871,000 as published by the developer, Oct 2026 — including the 4% DLD transfer fee, with little to spare. Bigger tickets need family pooling or more than one financial year. Above the cap, prior RBI approval through your bank is the only legal route — there is no workaround worth your PAN's reputation.
Family pooling: a couple commands USD 500,000 a year
LRS limits are individual, so the family — not the individual — is the right unit of planning. Family members can remit for the same property provided each remitter is a co-owner of it. That one condition does all the work:
| Who remits | Annual LRS capacity | ≈ ₹ (Oct 2026, indicative) | ≈ AED |
|---|---|---|---|
| One resident individual | USD 250,000 | ₹2.26 Cr | 918K |
| Couple, both co-owners | USD 500,000 | ₹4.5 Cr | 1.84M |
| Four family co-owners | USD 1,000,000 | ₹9 Cr | 3.67M |
Worked example: a couple buying Bayz 101 at AED 1.175M (as published by the developer, Oct 2026) ≈ ₹2.89 crore. One person's AED 918K capacity cannot cover it in a single year; the couple's combined AED 1.84M covers the price plus the 4% DLD fee comfortably. The discipline: both names on the booking form and SPA, and each spouse remits from their own account against their own PAN.
In practice you rarely need full capacity in year one. Danube-style plans ask roughly 10% at booking and then about 1% monthly, so the outflow spreads itself across financial years — compare live tranche schedules on our payment plans page.
One line for visa planners: joint owners counting toward Dubai's 10-year Golden Visa need their own share to be at least AED 2 million, and a qualifying purchase may make you eligible subject to government criteria — confirm the current basis with DLD/GDRFA. Our guide on buying Dubai property from India covers the visa angle in detail.
TCS on foreign remittance: the 2026 slabs
Tax Collected at Source (TCS) is what your bank collects at the counter and deposits against your PAN. For LRS remittances toward overseas property, the current slabs are:
| Aggregate LRS remittances in a financial year | TCS |
|---|---|
| Up to ₹10 lakh | Nil |
| Above ₹10 lakh | 20% of the amount above ₹10 lakh |
Correct the record: many sites still say the nil threshold is ₹7 lakh. The rule changed on 1 April 2025 — the threshold was raised to ₹10 lakh. And from April 2026 the TCS provisions sit under the rewritten Income-tax Act (sections renumbered), so ignore stale section citations you find online; the slabs above are what apply.
Two worked examples, both financial-year aggregates:
- ₹50 lakh remitted: TCS = 20% of ₹40 lakh = ₹8 lakh. Your day-of cashflow is ₹58 lakh, and the ₹8 lakh is fully claimable as credit in your ITR.
- ₹2.46 crore remitted (≈ AED 1M at ₹24.60/AED, Oct 2026, indicative): TCS = 20% of ₹2.36 crore = ₹47.2 lakh if one person sends it all in one year. Sent by a couple as two co-owners, each remitting ₹1.23 crore against their own PAN, total TCS drops to ₹45.2 lakh and the cashflow splits across two people — and across two refund claims.
Remember: the ₹10 lakh threshold is PAN-based across all your banks. Splitting one remittance across three banks does not get you three nil slabs.
Get the transfer checklist before you remit
We hand you a bank-ready checklist — Form A2, purpose code S0005, the TCS working, escrow account details — and your CA signs off before a single rupee moves. WhatsApp us, 10:00-19:00 IST.
WhatsApp the checklistTCS is a cashflow item, not a cost
This is the point most buyers get wrong, so let's be precise. TCS is not a tax on buying property abroad. It is your own money, parked with the tax department until you file. The mechanics:
- Your bank collects TCS on the amount above ₹10 lakh and deposits it against your PAN.
- It appears in your Form 26AS and AIS — typically within the quarter; verify before filing.
- In your ITR, you claim it as credit against your total tax liability. If the credit exceeds your liability, the excess comes back as a refund.
So the real question is working capital, not cost. If you remit ₹50 lakh in May, the ₹8 lakh TCS may not come back to you until your refund is processed after filing — plan for that gap.
Payment plans soften this considerably. On a 1% monthly plan against AED 1 million, each instalment is about ₹2.46 lakh (Oct 2026, indicative) — roughly ₹29.5 lakh a year. TCS on that year is about ₹3.9 lakh, not ₹47 lakh, and it is creditable each year as you go. Compare how different projects' tranches land across financial years on our payment plans page.
Timing remittances around the April reset, choosing who in the family remits what — these are CA conversations. We will give you the worked numbers; consult your CA before you structure anything.
At the bank counter: Form A2, purpose code S0005, and the gotchas
Walk in prepared and the transfer is boring — which is exactly what you want. What the bank will put in front of you:
- Form A2. The FEMA declaration every outward remittance rides on. You state the purpose and confirm you are within your LRS limit for the year.
- Purpose code S0005. The code for Indian investment in real estate abroad. A mismatched purpose code is a common reason for compliance queries and delayed transfers — check it before you sign, not after.
- PAN. Mandatory. The bank reports your remittance against it, which is how your cumulative LRS usage and TCS position follow you across banks.
- Beneficiary details. For off-plan Dubai purchases, money goes only into the project's DLD-registered escrow account, released against construction milestones. If anyone asks you to wire funds to a personal or agency account instead, stop. Ambervista never collects money — every payment goes to the developer or DLD escrow.
- The paper trail. Most banks ask for the booking form, SPA or developer demand letter — carry them. Keep every SWIFT copy; you will need them for Schedule FA disclosure and for matching TCS credits.
Expect the first remittance to take the longest — source-of-funds questions, document verification, an occasional call from the bank's trade desk. Later instalments against the same property typically move faster. Each bank's checklist differs slightly, so confirm yours before booking day.
Schedule FA and the Black Money Act: disclose, always
Buying is the easy half. Disclosing is the half that keeps you safe, and it is not optional.
- Schedule FA. A resident taxpayer who holds foreign assets must report them in Schedule FA of the ITR every year — the Dubai flat, and any UAE bank account you open for rent or service charges — even in years with zero income from them. For an under-construction unit, have your CA determine exactly how the Oqood-stage asset and your paid instalments are reported; the conservative answer is to disclose.
- The stakes. Non-disclosure of foreign assets carries penalties under the Black Money Act. This is the one compliance item where "I didn't know" buys you nothing — build the disclosure habit from year one.
- Rental income. Once the unit is leased, rent is taxable in India for residents, with credit available for any UAE-side tax under the India-UAE DTAA. NRIs are taxed differently on both counts.
Your SWIFT copies, Oqood registration and SPA are the documents your CA will build the schedule from — file them from day one. None of this is tax advice; the rules turn on your residential status and facts, so consult your CA before the first remittance, not at filing time.
What can go wrong: the honest list
A brochure will not tell you this part. We will, because buyers who know the risks make better decisions — and stay clients longer.
- Exchange-rate risk. Your instalments are AED-denominated. At ₹24.60/AED (Oct 2026, indicative), 1% monthly on AED 1M is about ₹2.46 lakh; if the rupee slides 5%, every future instalment costs roughly ₹12,300 more per month. The flip side: your asset and its rent sit in a dollar-pegged currency.
- Oversupply. Around 100,000 units are scheduled for 2026 delivery and about 75,000 for 2027, though historically only around 48% deliver on time; the pipeline is roughly 66% studios and 1BRs concentrated in five districts (analyst reports, 2025-26). Prices rose about 13% in 2025, but that is a deceleration from +22% in 2023 and +18% in 2024. Our position: buy for payment-plan affordability and rental yield, not price speculation — and prefer nearer-handover projects like Oceanz 3 (handover Q1 2027; AED 1.2M as published by the developer, Oct 2026).
- Yields are a band, not a promise. Gross apartment yields run about 6-8% across Dubai (2025 market data, not our projection); net typically lands around 4.5-6% after service charges and vacancy. Anyone promising you a fixed return is selling, not advising.
- Delays. If handover slips, your money sits in the DLD-registered escrow and is released only against construction milestones — protected, but your plans slip with it. Budget time, not just money.
- Rule changes. LRS, TCS and visa rules all moved between 2025 and 2026. Re-verify in the month you remit: RBI and your bank for LRS, your CA for TCS, DLD/GDRFA for visas.
How the money actually moves — and where we fit
The full sequence, India to Dubai:
- Shortlist the unit and get the live tranche sheet — schedules vary per project and tranche, so compare on our payment plans page.
- Booking amount — typically around 10% on Danube plans — goes straight to the developer's DLD-registered escrow account.
- Your bank processes Form A2 with purpose code S0005; TCS applies once your financial-year aggregate crosses ₹10 lakh.
- The off-plan unit is registered in your name via Oqood — file it with your SWIFT copies.
- Instalments follow the plan: roughly 0.5-1% (sometimes 2%) monthly through construction, often with a post-handover tail.
Where Ambervista fits: we are a registered Danube channel partner. You pay developer prices — off-plan bought direct from the developer carries no agent fee to the buyer. We never collect money; every dirham goes to the developer or DLD escrow. What we actually hand you: a transfer checklist your bank will recognise, a TCS working and remittance calendar your CA signs off, and the live tranche sheets for every project. WhatsApp-first, 10:00-19:00 IST. If you are starting from zero, read how to buy Dubai property from India first, then come back to this page before booking day.
FAQs
Can I send more than USD 250,000 in one year for a Dubai flat?
Not on your own PAN without permission — the LRS cap of USD 250,000 per financial year is per resident individual, cumulative across all your banks. But you have three legal routes to more capacity. First, family pooling: co-owners can each remit up to USD 250,000, so a couple commands USD 500,000 a year and four co-owning family members about USD 1 million. Second, time: the limit resets every April, and Dubai payment plans — Danube's roughly 1% monthly structure especially — naturally spread your outflow across multiple financial years. Third, prior RBI approval for an above-cap remittance, applied through your bank; most buyers never need it. What you cannot do is route extra money through friends who are not co-owners, or through informal channels — that invites FEMA trouble that no apartment is worth. Plan the unit and payment plan around your family's LRS capacity, not the other way around.
Is the 20% TCS an extra cost of buying Dubai property?
No. TCS is tax collected at source — your own money, parked with the tax department until you file. The bank collects 20% on the amount above ₹10 lakh in a financial year, deposits it against your PAN, and it appears in your Form 26AS and AIS. When you file your ITR, you claim it as credit against your total tax liability, and any excess comes back as a refund. On a ₹50 lakh remittance, the bank collects ₹8 lakh, so you need ₹58 lakh of cashflow that day — but the ₹8 lakh is money in transit, not an expense. The real impact is working capital: between remitting and getting your refund or adjusting the credit, that money is locked. Plan remittance dates and the family's split with your CA so credits land in the right year — and consult your CA for your specific position; this is mechanics, not tax advice.
Does the ₹10 lakh TCS threshold apply per bank or overall?
Overall. The nil slab of ₹10 lakh is per person per financial year, aggregated across every bank you remit from — reporting is PAN-based, so splitting transfers across three banks does not create three thresholds. Two things worth correcting from older articles you may find: the threshold was ₹7 lakh until 31 March 2025 and was raised to ₹10 lakh from 1 April 2025, and from April 2026 the TCS provisions sit under the rewritten Income-tax Act with renumbered sections, so stale section citations online may not match current law — the rates and threshold described on this page are what apply. One genuinely useful nuance: the threshold is per person. A couple remitting as two co-owners gets two separate ₹10 lakh nil slabs in the same year, which trims the total TCS and splits the cashflow across two refund claims.
Can NRIs use LRS to buy property in Dubai?
LRS is a scheme for resident individuals under FEMA, so the USD 250,000 limit and the TCS slabs described on this page apply to residents remitting from India. NRIs typically fund a Dubai purchase from overseas earnings or their NRI accounts and sit outside the LRS route altogether — and their India-side tax treatment, including how rental income and disclosure obligations work, differs from a resident's. Mixed families are common in our client base: if one co-owner is a resident and another is an NRI, each follows their own rules for their own share, which can actually make the funding plan more flexible. The routing, documentation and tax answers all turn on residential status under FEMA and the Income-tax Act — two different definitions that do not always agree. Confirm the remittance route with your bank and have your CA map residential status before you structure the ownership.
Do I have to declare my Dubai property in my Indian ITR?
Yes, if you are a resident. Foreign assets must be disclosed in Schedule FA of your ITR every year you hold them — the flat itself and any UAE bank account you open for rent or service charges — even in years with no income from them. Non-disclosure carries penalties under the Black Money Act, and this is the one compliance item where ignorance buys you nothing, so build the habit from year one. For an under-construction unit, ask your CA exactly how the Oqood-stage asset and paid instalments should be reported; the conservative answer is to disclose. Once the unit is rented, the rent is taxable in India for residents, with credit for any UAE-side tax under the India-UAE DTAA. Your SWIFT copies, Oqood and SPA are what your CA builds the schedule from, so file them as you go. NRIs' obligations differ — consult your CA either way.
Can I pay a 1% monthly Danube plan from India without breaching LRS?
Comfortably, for most units. On AED 1 million, 1% a month is AED 10,000 — about ₹2.46 lakh at ₹24.60/AED (Oct 2026, indicative) — which totals roughly ₹29.5 lakh a year, far inside one person's LRS capacity of about ₹2.26 crore. TCS on that year: the aggregate crosses ₹10 lakh, so 20% applies on the excess — about ₹3.9 lakh, fully creditable in your ITR. The largest single remittance is usually the booking amount, typically around 10% on Danube plans, plus the 4% DLD fee. Two caveats. Exact schedules vary per project and tranche — Timez, Aspirz and Oceanz 3 all carry different splits, so work from the live tranche sheet, not the headline. And instalments are AED-denominated, so budget for rupee movement across the years you will be paying; the ₹ figure per instalment is not fixed.
Projects this guide points to
Get the transfer checklist before you remit
We hand you a bank-ready checklist — Form A2, purpose code S0005, the TCS working, escrow account details — and your CA signs off before a single rupee moves. WhatsApp us, 10:00-19:00 IST.