What is the Maximum Amount of Money an NRI can Send?

When you are living abroad, the sure thing you have done would be sending money to your loved ones. But have you ever wondered if there are any limits to sending?

To know more about this, let us look into the following scenarios:

Money Sent to NRI Accounts

Indian government has signed Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with majority of countries in the world. According to this treaty, you do not have to pay any tax in India, if you have already paid tax abroad.

This means, if you are sending money to your own NRI bank accounts in India, you do not have to pay any tax. As there are no taxes on the transferred money, you can send as much money you wish to your NRI Accounts.

Money Sent to Family Members

An NRI can also send money to family members. Money received by close relative of NRI does not attract any tax.

Overall the result is that, if money is transferred to India to close relatives and for personal use, then it is not responsible for any type of taxation. But it might attract the inquiry. In such case, the beneficiary is required to prove that the transfer was made from outside India from his close relative.

Therefore, without any concern for tax, a non Indian resident (sender) can send any amount of money to his relatives listed as:

1. Spouse of the sender
2. Brother or sister of the sender.
3. Brother or sister of the spouse of the sender.
4. Brother or sister of either of the parents of the sender.
5. Any lineal ascendant or descendant of the sender.
6. Any lineal ascendant or descendant of the spouse of the sender.
7. Spouse of the person referred in points from 2 to 6.

Money Sent as Gift

A non-resident Indian can also send money to any resident in India. However, the taxation depends on the person to whom you send the money. If the person is a close relative, then there are no taxes as per earlier mentioned points.

On other hand, if the money is sent to non-relatives, the recipient has to pay income tax if the amount exceeds Rs.50000 per year.

In short, the limit on how much money you can send depends up the person who receives the money.