Mohali Home Sellers Abroad Have Till 31 Dec For Tax Refund विदेश में बसे मोहाली घर विक्रेताओं के पास टैक्स रिफ़ंड के लिए 31 दिसंबर तक का समय ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ ਵਸਦੇ ਮੋਹਾਲੀ ਘਰ ਵਿਕਰੇਤਾਵਾਂ ਕੋਲ ਟੈਕਸ ਰਿਫ਼ੰਡ ਲਈ 31 ਦਸੰਬਰ ਤੱਕ ਸਮਾਂ

An owner living abroad who sold a Mohali flat or plot in the year to March two thousand and twenty six has until the thirty first of December to file an Indian tax return and claim back any extra tax the buyer deducted. After that date, the only return left is an updated return, and the law does not allow an updated return to claim or increase a refund. For many sellers abroad, the money at stake runs into lakhs.

Why sellers abroad overpay

When the seller is a non-resident, the buyer must deduct tax under section one hundred and ninety five of the Income-tax Act before paying. Unless the seller obtained a lower deduction certificate from the tax department in advance, buyers usually deduct on the whole sale price, at the long-term capital gains rate plus surcharge and cess. Our earlier piece on [what a buyer of an NRI's flat has to file](/article/348-selling-a-mohali-property-from-abroad-the-new-tds-filing-rule-for-buyers) covers the deduction itself.

The tax actually owed is on the gain, not the price. A seller who bought a Mohali flat for sixty lakh rupees and sold it for eighty lakh owes tax on a gain of twenty lakh, less any exemptions claimed. Deduction on the full eighty lakh can leave the seller with several lakh more taken than the gain justifies. That excess sits with the government until the seller files a return showing the real gain.

Sellers who reinvested in another house in India, or put the gain into specified bonds, can claim an exemption that brings the tax owed lower still. That claim also needs a return.

The deadline

For the year to March two thousand and twenty six, the normal due date for an individual who does not need an audit was the thirty first of July two thousand and twenty six. A seller who missed it can still file a belated return under section one hundred and thirty nine, sub section four, up to the thirty first of December two thousand and twenty six.

A belated return carries a late fee under section two hundred and thirty four F: five thousand rupees, or one thousand rupees where total income is five lakh rupees or less. It can still claim the full refund. The interest the government pays on a refund runs from the date the return is filed, not from the start of the year, so filing earlier in the window earns more of it. The rate is half a per cent for each month or part of a month, and if the refund is delayed by the seller's own late filing, that period earns nothing.

What happens after the thirty first of December

After the belated deadline, a seller can only file an updated return under section one hundred and thirty nine, sub section eight A. It exists for people who left income out and want to pay tax on it. It cannot be filed to lower the tax already assessed, and it cannot be filed to claim or increase a refund. A seller abroad who misses the December date therefore loses the route to recover excess deduction on the sale.

The other route after the deadline is an application to the tax department to condone the delay, which the department can allow in genuine cases. It is discretionary and slow, and approval is never certain.

What a seller needs to file

The return must show the sale under capital gains, with the purchase cost and improvement costs set against the sale price. For a property held more than two years, the gain is long term. For property bought before the twenty third of July two thousand and twenty four, our piece on [a Mohali home sold from abroad getting no indexation choice](/article/407-mohali-home-sold-from-abroad-gets-no-indexation-choice) explains why a non-resident pays the flat rate without the indexed comparison.

The deduction made by the buyer appears in the seller's tax credit statement, Form twenty six AS, against the seller's PAN, once the buyer has filed the deduction return and paid it in. If it is missing, the seller cannot claim it, and the buyer has to correct the filing. Sellers should check the statement before filing.

Refunds go only to an Indian bank account that is pre-validated on the income tax portal and linked to the seller's PAN. For a seller abroad, that is usually the NRO account into which the sale money was paid. The return must also be verified within thirty days of filing, which can be done online with an Aadhaar or bank-based code, or by post.

Who this matters to

The deadline affects every non-resident who sold Mohali property between April two thousand and twenty five and March two thousand and twenty six and has not yet filed. Many sellers abroad treat the buyer's deduction as the end of the matter, especially where the sale was handled by a relative in Mohali under a power of attorney. The deduction is only an advance against tax. Without a return, the government keeps the excess.

Sellers who already filed by July but left out an exemption or made a mistake can file a revised return. Under the Finance Act two thousand and twenty six, the revised return window for this year runs to the thirty first of March two thousand and twenty seven, with a fee for revisions filed after the thirty first of December.

Owners abroad weighing a sale or a purchase can find more on the [NRI property section](/nri-property-investment-mohali).

The open point

The tax department has not announced any extension of the belated return deadline for this year. Unless it does, the thirty first of December is the last date to claim back excess deduction on a Mohali sale made in the year to March two thousand and twenty six.

Sources: The sources we use are listed on our Editorial Sources page.

This piece explains the tax return deadline for non-residents who sold property in Mohali. It gives no tax or legal advice, and the position of any seller turns on their own sale and tax record.