Q.985 Tax on GOVT pension and

repatriation

Question: R/Sir All available information on your FQR page looks out dated on guide line for repatriation of GOVT. pension by US citizen as many fold changes has occurred in field of Taxation and RBI guide line.I will be thankful for your latest information. I am US citizen having only income as govt pension in India and it is just above the taxable limit. Where am I liable to pay tax on this income? How to report this income on my tax return? what is the latest procedure and guide lines available to repatriate my pension in USD? (My bank is asking for 15CA,15CB, Form A2 and FEMA declaration and then after I may have to pay 30% tax before remittance.) May I get some helpful information through this web sight? Thanks for your help. Bankim Answer: Before stating that all information is out dated in the faq section, perhaps you should have made an effort to check out the numerous informational articles posted on the website. In addition to the question/answer section there are many articles including repatriation of pension posted on NRI Information. Current information related to pension repatriation, Form 15CA, Form 15CB, FEMA declaration etc. are all available on the website, you may not have found this information but I assure you it’s there. Even governments with their vast resources continue to have information on their websites that is no longer valid due to changes that come into effect from time to time. People just need to ascertain the correct information on their own or hire professionals to do so on their behalf. My site is available to all free of charge and is a one man operation started 10 years ago following my retirement. At age 70 it is not possible for me to go back and continuously update the question/answer section that happens to now have over a thousand pages! Readers are advised to confirm information through the appropriate authorities before acting solely on the basis of information derived from this or for that matter any other website. Information on websites is general in nature, subject to change by the authorities at any time and certainly not a substitute for services that are provided by professional accountants and lawyers. If indeed a reader of this website becomes aware of a particular page where something requires correction, I would hope they would be kind enough to send me the details of the page location etc. so I can make the necessary changes. Returning to your question on repatriation of pension to USA. I wonder if you have read an article titled Repatriation of pension income from India on my site. It explains quite a few things that pensioners should be aware of in respect to transferring their pension abroad. The page can easily be found from our homepage under banking navigation, here is a direct link to the article: http://nriinformation.com/articles5/repatriate_pe nsion.htm You can also refer to an question number 472 which deals with how government and private pensions are taxed in USA under the Double Tax Avoidance Agreement The reason your bank is asking for the forms is because you have taxable income in India. Non- residents pay the higher tax wherever tax is withheld unless they provide a tax residency certificate to claim DTAA benefits. If the 30% tax is deducted then you can always claim a refund after filling an Indian income tax return.