Chartered Accountant · ICAI M.No. 153926 · FRN 136869W
Inheritance is repatriable
Money you receive as inheritance — and the proceeds of inherited assets you later sell — can be sent abroad from your NRO account, within the USD 1 million per financial year limit. Inheriting itself is not taxed, so the block is procedural, not a tax bar.
Prove the source
The bank will want documentary proof of the inheritance — the will, a succession or legal-heir certificate, and the link between the deceased and the funds. For inherited property that you sold, you also show the sale deed and that the capital-gains tax has been handled. Document requirements vary by bank — confirm the checklist.
A worked example
Example: you inherit ₹60 lakh from your late father’s bank accounts. With the will and a legal-heir certificate, your CA issues Form 15CB, you file Form 15CA, and the bank repatriates the ₹60 lakh — well inside the annual limit. If you also inherited and sold a flat, that adds the sale and gains documents. A point worth planning: the USD 1 million limit is per financial year and aggregates all your NRO repatriations, so a very large inheritance may need to be moved across two financial years — splitting a transfer at the end of March and the start of April can effectively double the amount you move in a short window. Keep the chain of documents clean, as banks scrutinise inheritance remittances closely. Our NRI repatriation & FEMA service assembles the paperwork.