Buying Dubai property from India: what the return has to say

Foreign rent and asset reporting depend on your residence category and the year concerned. The familiar section numbers from the 1961 Act should not be assumed to describe a new purchase under the 2025 Act. Have a chartered accountant confirm the applicable residence tests and return before the first remittance.

Keep records of rent, property expenses, borrowing and exchange rates. Rental deductions and relief for losses depend on the applicable tax regime. This guide does not promise an interest deduction or a loss carry-forward amount.

Before selling, ask your adviser to compute the gain using the applicable legislation, holding period, acquisition date and rupee conversion rules. Confirm any transitional protection, surcharge and cess. A headline rate alone is not a reliable estimate of the tax due.

The agreement was signed at New Delhi on 29 April 1992 and entered into force on 22 September 1993, the date recorded in notification GSR 710(E) of 18 November 1993. Article 31, paragraph 1(b) makes it effective in India “in respect of income arising in any previous year beginning on or after 1st April next following the calendar year in which the Agreement enters into force”, so from the previous year commencing 1 April 1994.

Article 6 provides that income from immovable property situated in the other state may be taxed in that other state, with paragraph 3 extending it to letting, and Article 13, paragraph 1 says the same of the gain on selling. Read the verb: it permits the United Arab Emirates to tax, it does not prohibit India. Article 25 gives India the credit method: Indian tax is reduced by income tax paid in the UAE, capped at the Indian tax on that income. The UAE levies no personal income tax, so the credit is nil and the Indian charge stands whole.

Ask your chartered accountant whether and where the property and any overseas account must be disclosed, including the relevant foreign-asset schedule. Keep purchase, financing and income records even when the property earns no rent. This guide does not determine an exemption or calculate penalties under the Black Money Act.

The RBI permits resident individuals to remit up to USD 250,000 per financial year, April to March, for permitted purposes including overseas-property acquisition. Previous remittances reduce what remains. Have the authorised dealer bank approve the route, documentation and timetable before signing.

Combining family allowances requires the RBI conditions, including co-ownership for the relevant capital-account transaction; it is not an automatic doubling of one buyer’s allowance. Confirm any tax collection separately under the applicable tax law. Do not assume overseas borrowing or a payment plan bypasses the remittance rules.

India abolished estate duty in 1985 and has not replaced it, so there is no Indian death tax on the apartment. The exposure sits at the other end: a UAE court dealing with a deceased owner’s estate can apply UAE personal status and inheritance rules to UAE assets, and for a non-Muslim owner who left no will that can mean Sharia based fixed shares rather than the distribution the family expected.

The published answer is the DIFC Courts Wills Service, established by Resolution No. 4 of 2014 of the DIFC President and reaffirmed by Dubai Law No. 15 of 2017. It lets a non-Muslim owner of UAE assets register an English language will, recognised for probate in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, directing the apartment on its own terms and appointing guardians for minor children.

At AED 1 to INR 25.90, the mid-market rate reported for 9 September 2026, an AED 3,000,000 apartment is about INR 77,700,000. A buyer carrying the whole 4 per cent transfer fee pays AED 120,000, roughly INR 3,108,000. The registration trustee fee at this value is AED 4,000 plus 5 per cent VAT, so AED 4,200, about INR 108,780, with AED 250 for the title deed and AED 10 each for the knowledge and innovation fees. Registration comes to about AED 124,470, roughly INR 3,224,000, for a total near AED 3,124,470, about INR 80,924,000, before agency commission, financing or service charges. In dollars, at the dirham’s peg of 3.6725 to the dollar, that total is about USD 851,000, which is what the LRS cap has to be planned around.

The rupee column converts a dirham price, which does not move when the rate does, so every instalment of a payment plan converts separately. The rate above is not official: the Central Bank of the UAE’s exchange rate page refused our request on 10 September 2026, so this is an aggregator figure, to be replaced before anything is signed. Run the numbers on the cost of buying calculator and see what is selling in the off-plan catalogue.

Foreign ownership here is a carve-out. Article (4) of Law No. (7) of 2006 restricts real property ownership to UAE and GCC nationals and companies wholly owned by them, then permits freehold for non-UAE nationals “in certain areas determined by the Ruler”. Regulation No. (3) of 2006 fixes those areas by numbered land plot on attached maps, not by project names, so ask for the plot in writing. Off-plan instalments sit in an account which Article (9)(1) of Law No. (8) of 2007 requires to be “dedicated exclusively to the construction of that Real Estate Development project”, beyond the developer’s creditors. That is ring-fencing, not a refund guarantee.

The Land Department publishes its transfer fee as 2 per cent from the seller and 2 per cent from the buyer, so a buyer carrying all 4 per cent follows market practice rather than the published rule. The government portal puts the property route to the golden visa at a “Minimum capital of AED 2 million”, with no duration printed here because two government pages disagree. Test the threshold on the golden visa calculator.

This guide does not map every former 1961 Act provision to the 2025 Act, compute foreign rental deductions or capital gains, or determine disclosure penalties. Those calculations and residence decisions belong with a chartered accountant. Earlier research citations retain their original dates and are not represented as a fresh review of current law.

Currency examples remain illustrative historical figures. Obtain a current bank quote, confirm the source of funds and agree the remittance route with your authorised dealer bank before committing to a purchase.