15CA / 15CB Filing in Hyderabad

What is this filing, and what replaced Form 15CA and 15CB?

The filing is the information a person making a payment to a non-resident must furnish to the Income Tax Department about that payment. It sits alongside, not instead of, the withholding obligation — you still have to deduct tax where the sum is chargeable, and this declaration is how the Department connects the remittance to that deduction.

Forms 15CA and 15CB are not valid for a remittance made on or after the changeover date. The most common transition error is a finance team continuing to generate the old forms out of habit, which the bank will reject. The decision-making logic is the one people already know; the labels and citations have moved.

Which part of the declaration applies to your remittance?

The declaration is a single form with four parts, and exactly one of them applies to any given remittance. Two questions decide it: whether the sum is chargeable to tax under the Act, and whether the remittance — or the aggregate of such remittances during the tax year — exceeds the prescribed threshold.

Two mechanics are worth pinning. The threshold is tested on the aggregate of such remittances during the tax year, not on the single transfer, so a series of small payments to the same recipient can push you from Part A into Part C midway through the year. And where the information has been furnished in Part B, Part C is not additionally required — the officer's order supersedes the need for a certificate. Most commercial remittances of any size land in Part C, and Part D is the part banks scrutinise hardest because it asserts that no tax is due.

When is no reporting required at all?

A defined set of remittances falls outside the reporting requirement entirely. These are not cases where you file a nil declaration; they are cases where no form is due.

• Remittances by an individual that do not require prior approval of the Reserve Bank of India under the current-account transaction rules
• Remittances made by a unit of an International Financial Services Centre, as specified
• Remittances of a nature appearing in the notified list of exempt purposes
• Typical entries in that list include indenting commission, advance against exports, and specified travel, education and medical remittances
• Payments for imports where the transaction falls within the specified exempt purpose codes
• Remittances towards family maintenance and personal gifts within the liberalised route
• Refunds of over-remittance and reversals of earlier inward remittances, where covered by the list

The exempt list is notified, has been amended over time, and is organised around the Reserve Bank's purpose codes. Because falling inside or outside it is a binary outcome that your bank will also test independently, match the purpose code to the current list rather than assuming a remittance is form-free. Where a remittance is not chargeable to tax but is also not on the exempt list, Part D of the declaration is still required.

Who has to file, and by when?

The obligation falls on the person responsible for paying any sum to a non-resident who is not a company, or to a foreign company. That is the remitter — an Indian company paying a foreign software vendor, an importer paying an overseas supplier, an individual paying an overseas consultant, a subsidiary paying its parent for shared services.

The declaration is furnished before the remittance is made. There is no post-facto window, because the bank needs the acknowledgement to process the transfer — which makes this filing unusual among tax compliances in having a commercial deadline rather than a statutory one. In practice, plan two to three working days for a Part C remittance: the accountant's certificate is filed first, the remitter then files the declaration referencing it, and the bank verifies both.

Where withholding is required, the tax must be deducted and deposited under the ordinary rules — the declaration does not discharge it. That means the remitter needs a TAN, and the deduction must be reported in the quarterly statement for payments to non-residents; see TDS return filing.

What does the accountant's certificate cover?

The certificate is a professional opinion on the withholding position, not a rubber stamp. The accountant examines the underlying agreement and invoice, characterises the payment, identifies the provision under which it is chargeable, considers whether a tax treaty applies and whether it gives a more beneficial rate, and then certifies the rate at which tax should be withheld together with surcharge, cess, and the amount liable for deduction.

1. 1.Nature and purpose of the remittance, and the country of the recipient
2. 2.Whether the sum is chargeable to tax in India, and under which provision
3. 3.Whether the recipient has a permanent establishment or business connection in India
4. 4.Whether a tax treaty applies, and which article governs the payment
5. 5.Whether the treaty rate is more beneficial than the domestic rate
6. 6.The rate of withholding, with surcharge and cess where applicable
7. 7.Whether grossing-up is required because the remitter bears the tax
8. 8.The amount on which tax is to be deducted and the resulting tax
9. 9.The accountant's permanent account number and firm registration number
10. 10.The unique document identification number generated for the certificate

The characterisation step is where the real work sits. Whether a payment is a royalty, a fee for technical services, business profits, or a reimbursement determines both whether it is taxable and at what rate — and the same invoice can be argued either way depending on what the contract actually says. This is why a certificate should be based on the agreement rather than on the invoice narration.

Why does the unique document identification number now matter?

The certificate now requires a unique document identification number generated on the professional institute's portal — a reference that makes the certificate verifiable in real time and traceable to the accountant who signed it. A certificate without a valid number is treated as invalid: the remitter cannot use it to file the declaration, and the bank will not process the remittance against it.

Two further mechanics follow. Once a certificate has been used by the remitter in the corresponding part of the declaration, it is marked as consumed and cannot be reused for another remittance — one certificate, one remittance. And a certificate filed in error can be withdrawn within a short prescribed window, with the withdrawal automatically updating the status of the linked declaration. Sequence matters: generate the number at or before filing the certificate, not afterwards.

The certificate is signed with the accountant's digital signature, so a lapsed certificate on the professional's side stalls the remittance just as effectively as a missing document on yours — see digital signature certificate.

How do you decide whether a remittance is taxable?

1. 1.Read the agreement, not the invoice — the contract determines characterisation
2. 2.Establish what is being paid for: goods, services, use of intellectual property, interest, dividend, or a reimbursement
3. 3.Determine whether the income has a source in India under the charging provisions
4. 4.Check whether the recipient has a permanent establishment or business connection in India
5. 5.For services, test whether they are technical, managerial, or consultancy in nature
6. 6.For software and content, test whether the payment is for a copyright or for a copyrighted article
7. 7.For reimbursements, confirm there is no mark-up and that the underlying cost is documented
8. 8.Identify the domestic rate that would apply if no treaty existed
9. 9.Check the applicable treaty article and whether it provides a lower rate or excludes taxability
10. 10.Confirm the documents needed to claim the treaty rate are in hand before the remittance
11. 11.Where the position is genuinely uncertain, consider applying to the assessing officer for a determination

The route through the assessing officer is under-used. Where a large remittance turns on a contestable characterisation, an order determining the withholding rate moves the filing into the simpler part of the declaration and removes the exposure that comes with taking a view. It takes time, so it suits recurring or high-value flows rather than a one-off invoice.

How does a tax treaty reduce the withholding rate?

Where India has a treaty with the recipient's country, the recipient may be taxed at the treaty rate if that is more beneficial than the domestic rate. Treaties commonly cap withholding on royalties, fees for technical services, interest, and dividends, and often exclude business profits altogether in the absence of a permanent establishment.

• A tax residency certificate issued by the recipient's tax authority for the relevant period
• The prescribed declaration of particulars, where those particulars are not already in the residency certificate
• A no-permanent-establishment declaration from the recipient, where business profits are claimed as non-taxable
• The recipient's Indian permanent account number, or the alternative particulars permitted for specified payments
• The agreement establishing the nature of the payment
• Beneficial ownership confirmation where the treaty article requires it
• Any documentation supporting the principal-purpose or limitation-of-benefits position, where relevant

Collect these before the remittance, not after. A residency certificate that is missing, expired, or covers the wrong period generally means the accountant certifies at the domestic rate — safer for you, more expensive for the recipient. And where the recipient has no Indian permanent account number, the higher default rate applies unless the specified alternative particulars are furnished. Recovering excess withholding then falls to the recipient through an Indian return, which reliably becomes your commercial problem.

What documents are required to file?

• Invoice and the underlying agreement or purchase order
• Name, address, country, and overseas tax identification of the beneficiary
• Beneficiary bank details and the Reserve Bank purpose code for the remittance
• Amount in foreign currency, the rupee equivalent, and the exchange rate applied
• Remitter's permanent account number and, where withholding applies, TAN
• Tax residency certificate and the prescribed particulars declaration, for a treaty claim
• No-permanent-establishment and beneficial ownership declarations, where relied on
• Any order from the assessing officer determining the withholding rate
• Details of earlier remittances to the same beneficiary in the tax year, for the threshold test
• Import documents, bill of entry, or shipping documents for a trade payment
• Board resolution or authorisation, where the remitter is an entity
• Evidence of tax already deducted and deposited, where applicable

Incomplete contracts and a missing residency certificate are the two most common reasons a certificate is delayed. One further consistency check saves a rejected wire: the nature-of-remittance description on the certificate has to match the purpose code on the payment instruction, because the bank compares them.

How do you file step by step?

1. 1.Confirm the remittance date, because it decides which form set applies
2. 2.Establish the purpose code and check whether the remittance falls within the exempt list
3. 3.Determine chargeability and, where taxable, the withholding rate
4. 4.Aggregate earlier remittances of the same nature in the tax year to test the threshold
5. 5.Identify which part of the declaration applies
6. 6.Where the certificate route applies, engage the accountant and provide the agreement and invoice
7. 7.The accountant generates the identification number and files the certificate on the portal
8. 8.Log in as the remitter, locate the certificate in the worklist, and open the declaration
9. 9.Prefill the applicable part from the certificate acknowledgement, or from the officer's order
10. 10.Complete the remitter, recipient, remittance, withholding, and purpose-code fields
11. 11.Verify and submit, then download the acknowledgement
12. 12.Deduct and deposit the tax by the prescribed date, quoting the TAN
13. 13.Hand the acknowledgement and supporting documents to the authorised dealer bank
14. 14.Confirm the certificate status has moved to consumed, and report the deduction in the quarterly statement

Keep the declaration, the certificate, the residency certificate, and the deduction proof together for each remittance. There is no government filing charge for either form; the bank keeps its own copy, but the record that matters in a later assessment is yours.

What will the bank ask for?

The authorised dealer bank is the practical gatekeeper. It will ask for the declaration acknowledgement, the accountant's certificate where applicable, the invoice or agreement, its own remittance application with the purpose code, and evidence of tax deduction where the sum is chargeable. Its FEMA responsibilities run in parallel with the tax filing, so it also tests the remittance against the permitted current-account or capital-account route.

Banks file their own periodic statement of remittances to the Department, which is why a mismatch between what you declared and what the bank reported eventually surfaces. Keep the purpose code, the amount, and the beneficiary consistent across the declaration, the certificate, and the bank application — a discrepancy in any of the three is the most common reason a remittance is held at the branch.

What are the common remittance categories and how are they treated?

This table is a starting point for scoping, not a conclusion. Two companies paying the same overseas vendor can be in different parts of the declaration because their contracts allocate rights differently, which is exactly why the certificate is based on the agreement.

How does this fit with FEMA and GST obligations?

The declaration answers a tax question and does not replace FEMA reporting. An outward remittance that is an overseas investment still needs its own filing through the bank — see ODI filing — and an inward investment that later generates a dividend remittance still sits on the company's FDI filing with RBI and FLA return history. Trade remittances also need to reconcile with the entity's import export code records.

On the indirect side, import of services from a foreign vendor commonly attracts reverse-charge GST in addition to income tax withholding on the remittance. The two are separate obligations, and settling one does not settle the other. Put both on the remittance checklist before the bank is instructed, because discovering the GST liability at the annual reconciliation is considerably more expensive.

What happens to forms filed before the changeover?

A declaration or certificate filed on the old forms before the changeover remains valid provided the remittance actually took place on or before the date specified in the form. If the remittance did not go through within that window, fresh forms under the current rules are required — the old ones cannot be revived. What decides the form set is the date the money moves, not the date the invoice was raised.

The more awkward case is a liability that accrued in the earlier year but is remitted after the changeover. The reporting format follows the law in force on the date of remittance, so the current forms apply, while the taxability and rate of the underlying income are governed by the Act applicable to the year of accrual. That means one transaction sitting across two statutes — a position worth confirming rather than assuming, and worth documenting in the file, because it is exactly the sort of thing that looks like an error to a later reviewer.

What are the penalties for getting this wrong?

Penalty amounts are set by statute and change, and reasonable cause is a defence for several of them, so treat these as heads of exposure rather than a price list. The exposure that bites hardest is the withholding default, because it costs interest, penalty, and the deduction for the expense itself.

What are the common errors in remittance filings?

• Using the old form numbers for a remittance made after the changeover
• Testing the threshold on the single transfer rather than on the aggregate for the tax year
• Filing the not-taxable part for a remittance that is actually chargeable, to avoid the certificate
• Treating a remittance as exempt without matching the purpose code to the notified list
• Basing the certificate on the invoice narration rather than on the agreement
• Applying a treaty rate without a residency certificate on file at the time of remittance
• Missing the recipient's permanent account number and not furnishing the permitted alternative particulars
• Reusing a certificate that has already been consumed against an earlier remittance
• Filing the certificate without generating the identification number first
• Inconsistent purpose code or amount across the declaration, certificate, and bank application
• Filing the declaration but never depositing the withheld tax, or depositing it late
• Omitting the remittance from the quarterly statement for payments to non-residents

Most of these are sequencing failures rather than technical ones. Where an enquiry does follow, it is normally answered with the four documents that should already be in the file together — see income tax notice handling.

Why choose Arjun Filings for 15CA / 15CB filing?

Arjun Filings runs 15CA / 15CB filing as a checklist-first engagement: a qualified CA or CS scopes the work, tells you exactly which documents are needed, and reviews every form before it is signed and submitted. You get a named specialist, a status update at each stage, and a compliance calendar for whatever comes next.

• CA-reviewed 15CA / 15CB filing
• Checklist before computation
• E-verification guidance
• Notice awareness when relevant