73. OCI Holder Buying Flat in

Kolkata India

Q: I am a OCI card holder. I have Irish passport and working in Ireland. I like to buy a flat in Kolkata. Do I need Income tax clearance before registration Do I need any clearance or any approval from Reserve bank of India. Can I buy it by NRO account. My NRO a/c has money which went from NRE ac after term deposits in NRE were expired. Also some money were earned in India when I had no NRI status in the past. In those years I did submit income tax return and advance tax though my impression was that I was below tax limit. I was never returned the any overpayment of tax back. I did not hear any thing from tax department either. Or is it safer to buy with NRE account after transferring money in that account from abroad. Looking forward to hearing from you. Regards Dr Ray A. As an OCI holder you should be able to buy a flat in India without any clearance from the Reserve Bank of India. As far as registration of the flat is concerned, NRIs don't require income tax clearance to register a property in India. There are however some unscrupulous agents who will make you believe that you do and try and get money from you on some pretext or the other. If you are buying a new flat, make it part of the agreement that the builder will get the registration formalities done. As long as the source of the money you use is legal, it should not matter what type of account it comes from. So NRE or NRO accounts should not make any difference. When income tax is paid in India in advance or from banks etc on interest earned, the tax department will only refund tax paid to you if you file a proper return and claim a refund. If you filed a return, claimed a refund and they did not respond, then you should check with them and ask for an explanation