Transferring money abroad from India — the Form 15CA and 15CB mechanics

When an Indian bank sends rupees out of India as foreign currency — whether it is an NRI repatriating NRO balances, a resident funding a family member abroad under LRS, or a company paying an overseas vendor — the tax side of that transaction is governed by Section 195 of the Income-tax Act and Rule 37BB. The mechanical output of that rule is Form 15CA (a declaration filed by the remitter) and, in many cases, Form 15CB (a certificate issued by a chartered accountant). Banks will not release the SWIFT without the relevant form on file.

This article is about the forms themselves — when each is needed, what each contains, and how to file them on the current income-tax portal. For the broader rules on what you are allowed to remit, see sending money out of India. For the specific NRO-to-NRE use case, see the two-day process.

Three paths, not two

A common misconception is that every outward remittance needs both forms. Rule 37BB actually sets up three paths:

Neither 15CA nor 15CB — the remittance falls in the specified list of 33 transaction types where the rule is explicitly disapplied. Personal remittances by residents, most travel and tourism, salary of non-residents, and a range of government and embassy flows sit here.
15CA only — the payment is below the ₹5 lakh per financial year aggregate threshold to a single recipient, or it is covered by an assessing-officer order, or it is not chargeable to tax in India. The remitter files Form 15CA without a CA certificate.
15CA + 15CB — the payment is above ₹5 lakh in the financial year, is chargeable to tax, and no AO order exists. A CA issues Form 15CB first; the remitter then files Form 15CA Part C referencing the 15CB acknowledgement.

Get the classification right up front — filing Part C with a CA when a self-declaration would have done wastes a CA fee; filing a self-declaration when Part C was required is a FEMA and tax compliance risk.

The specified list — no forms at all

Rule 37BB names 33 payment categories where neither 15CA nor 15CB is required. The list covers the kinds of personal and routine flows that dominate household and small-business remittances:

Indian investment abroad in equity, debt, branches, subsidiaries, and real estate (ODI and LRS outflows).
Loans extended to non-residents.
Advance payments against imports of goods.
Payments for imported goods on sight-bill or other direct debit.
Delayed-payment charges on imports.
Freight insurance, postal services, business travel.
Operating expenses of Indian shipping companies and airlines abroad.
Booking of overseas air passages.
Remittance by non-residents towards family maintenance and savings out of Indian income (think: a non-resident relative's upkeep payments).
Personal gifts and donations.
Donations to religious and charitable institutions abroad.
Grants and donations by the government.
Contributions to international institutions.
Remittances by foreign embassies in India.
Remittances of pensions and family maintenance.
Travel under LRS — tourism, medical, education, employment, emigration.
Payment of taxes and refunds.

If the outflow fits one of these heads, the bank just needs Form A2 plus the purpose code and any purpose-specific documents. No income-tax portal step at all. This single exclusion is why most resident remittances under LRS (student fees, holidays, family support) do not involve 15CA/15CB — they are in the specified list.

When 15CA is needed but 15CB is not

Part A — small remittance, chargeable to tax

For payments that are chargeable to tax in India but whose aggregate to that recipient during the financial year does not exceed ₹5 lakh, the remitter self-declares on Part A. No CA involvement.

Part B — AO order or certificate exists

For payments above ₹5 lakh that are chargeable to tax where the remitter has obtained a certificate or order from the Assessing Officer under Section 195(2), 195(3), or 197, the remitter files Part B of Form 15CA. The AO order replaces the 15CB.

Part D — not chargeable to tax in India

Where the payment is not chargeable to tax in India at all — either under the Income-tax Act itself or under a DTAA — and does not fall in the specified list, the remitter files Part D declaring the basis for non-taxability. No CA certificate required.

When 15CB is also needed — Part C

The common case for NRIs repatriating meaningful NRO balances is Part C. This applies when:

The payment is chargeable to tax in India, and
The aggregate payments to that recipient in the financial year exceed ₹5 lakh, and
No AO order under 195(2)/195(3)/197 has been obtained.

Here a CA issues Form 15CB first. The CA examines the source of funds, verifies that applicable TDS has been deducted and paid, works out DTAA implications, and signs the certificate on their own income-tax portal login. The remitter then opens Form 15CA Part C on their portal login, enters the 15CB acknowledgement number, fills the remittance particulars, and submits. The bank wants both acknowledgements before it processes the SWIFT.

Where the forms live now

Since June 2021, Form 15CA and Form 15CB are filed entirely on the new income-tax e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in. The older NSDL-style interface at the historical incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in URL no longer accepts these forms — any instructions still pointing there are out of date.

The portal flow:

Remitter login → e-File → Income Tax Forms → File Income Tax Forms → Form 15CA.
Select Part A, B, C, or D as applicable.
For Part C, the CA must already be added as a CA on the remitter's profile, must have accepted the request, and must have already filed the 15CB. The 15CB acknowledgement number is the link-pin between the two forms.
Submission requires either a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) (mandatory for any entity required to get accounts audited) or an Electronic Verification Code (EVC) via Aadhaar OTP, net-banking, or bank/demat-account EVC for individuals.
The acknowledgement is downloadable as a PDF and lives in the "filed forms" tab of the remitter's portal account.

Documents the CA will ask for

For a Part C / Form 15CB filing, a CA handling an NRO repatriation typically wants:

PAN of remitter and beneficiary (or foreign Tax Identification Number if the beneficiary is outside India).
NRO account statement showing the balance and how it was built up.
Source evidence — sale deed for property, will or succession certificate for inheritance, rent agreement and receipts for rental income, dividend/interest TDS certificates for investment income, salary slips and Form 16 for employment income.
TDS certificates (Form 16 / Form 16A / Form 16B) covering every tax deduction on the underlying income stream.
Capital gains computation where applicable.
Passport and visa / OCI as proof of NRI status.
Beneficiary details — name, address, bank, SWIFT / BIC, IBAN if EU/UK.
Applicable DTAA analysis where the remittance rides on a treaty rate.

Fees for a clean 15CB are typically ₹3,000–₹10,000 depending on complexity and city; property-sale capital-gains cases run higher.

What the bank does with the forms

When the remitter presents 15CA and (where applicable) 15CB to the bank, the branch:

Cross-verifies the acknowledgement numbers against the income-tax portal.
Matches the amount and remittance purpose against the Form A2 declaration.
Updates the USD 1 million per financial year register for NRO repatriation, or the USD 250,000 LRS register for residents.
Applies any TCS (for LRS) or confirms TDS paid (for NRO).
Releases the SWIFT.

If the forms do not match — say the 15CA says ₹50 lakh but Form A2 says ₹48 lakh — the bank will send the file back. Align the numbers at the start.

Common mistakes

Using the old URL. incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in was decommissioned. Everything is at incometax.gov.in now.
Filing 15CA Part D when the income is actually taxable. A self-declaration that the payment is not chargeable to tax, when it is, exposes the remitter to penalty under Section 271-I (₹1 lakh per default) and a FEMA contravention on top.
Treating the ₹5 lakh threshold as per remittance. It is the aggregate to that payee across the financial year. Breaking a large transfer into four ₹1.25 lakh pieces does not avoid 15CB — once the cumulative crosses ₹5 lakh, Part C kicks in.
Forgetting to add the CA on the portal. The CA cannot file 15CB until the remitter's profile has them listed and they have accepted the request. First-time filings stall here.
Assuming LRS tourism or education needs 15CA/15CB. Those sit in the specified list and need neither — just Form A2, purpose code, and (post-1 October 2023) TCS where applicable.
Stopping tax compliance at 15CB. 15CB certifies that tax was deducted or paid at the time of remittance; it is not a shield against later assessment. If the underlying capital gain is misreported, the 15CB will not save it.
Using 15CA/15CB as a substitute for Form A2. The bank always wants Form A2 too — it is the FEMA-side declaration under the Current Account Rules. Rule 37BB is the tax side.

A quick classification decision tree

Is the remittance in the specified list (personal LRS, travel, family maintenance, donations, import advances, etc.)? → No forms.
Is it chargeable to tax and above ₹5 lakh aggregate with no AO order? → 15CB + 15CA Part C.
Is it chargeable to tax but up to ₹5 lakh aggregate? → 15CA Part A only.
Is it chargeable to tax, above ₹5 lakh, but you have an AO certificate or order? → 15CA Part B only.
Is it not chargeable to tax (under Act or DTAA) and not on the specified list? → 15CA Part D only.

Bottom line

The 15CA/15CB framework intimidates first-time remitters but the logic is clean. Most household remittances by residents under LRS need neither form, because they sit in the specified list. Most NRO repatriations by NRIs need both, because they involve taxable Indian income above the ₹5 lakh threshold. The rare middle cases use Part A, B, or D. File on the current portal at incometax.gov.in, keep the acknowledgement numbers and PDFs with your records, and the outward transfer itself is a same-day banking operation.