No TAN needed to buy property from an NRI: Form 141's new Schedule E from 1 October 2026.

CBDT Notification 121/2026 lets resident individual and HUF buyers report TDS on an NRI property purchase through a new PAN-based Schedule E in Form 141 — no TAN required, effective 1 October 2026.

Buying a flat or office from a non-resident Indian has always meant two separate headaches for the resident buyer: deducting TDS at the higher non-resident rate, and first obtaining a TAN — a registration most individual home-buyers have never needed for anything else. CBDT Notification No. 121/2026 (G.S.R. 830(E), dated 22 September 2026, under the Income-tax (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2026) removes the second half of that problem for most buyers, effective 1 October 2026.

What actually changed

Resident individual and HUF buyers no longer need a TAN to deduct and report tax under Section 195 on a property purchase from an NRI. Form No. 141 has been amended to add a new Schedule E, which lets this specific transaction be reported against the buyer's own PAN instead — on a PAN-based challan, within 30 days from the end of the month in which the tax was deducted.

Companies, partnership firms and LLPs buying from an NRI seller are not covered by this relief — they still need a TAN and continue reporting the deduction under the existing TAN-based route (Form 49B, if one isn't already held).

What stays exactly the same

• The TDS rate is unchanged. This is a filing-mechanics change, not a rate cut — the buyer still deducts at the applicable non-resident rate on the sale consideration (or on the taxable gain alone, where the seller holds a lower/nil-deduction certificate).
• A lower-deduction certificate is still the only way to bring the rate down. If the NRI seller has obtained one under Section 197, Schedule E has a field to record it.
• The certificate the seller receives is reportedly unchanged in substance (commentary differs on whether it carries the old or a renumbered form number under the Income-tax Rules, 2026 renumbering — worth confirming on TRACES at the time of filing rather than assuming).

Why this is a real relief, not a formality

A TAN application (Form 49B) routinely added one to two weeks to a property closing, purely so a buyer who would never use the TAN again could deduct tax once. For a one-off NRI property purchase — easily the most common scenario for a resident buying from a sibling, parent or NRI investor selling up before leaving India — that delay sat on the critical path to registration. Reporting against an existing PAN instead removes that step entirely for individual and HUF buyers, who make up the overwhelming majority of such purchases.

It does not change the underlying TDS exposure. Buyers still under-withhold at real risk to themselves: Section 195 non-compliance makes the buyer an assessee-in-default for the shortfall, interest, and — in practice the sharper cost — triggers scrutiny at the time of the buyer's own return. Our NRI property TDS & Form 13 savings estimator sizes the TDS a transaction attracts and what a lower-deduction certificate could free up, whichever side of the transaction you're on.

How Advisory Monks Consulting helps

We handle both sides of exactly this transaction routinely — advising NRI sellers on lower-deduction certificates and repatriation, and resident buyers on getting the Schedule E filing right the first time, without the TAN detour this notification now removes.

This note is general guidance, not tax advice. CBDT Notification No. 121/2026 and the related Form 141 amendment are reported here from secondary coverage (TaxGuru, tdsman and other practitioner sources); confirm the exact Schedule E fields and certificate-form numbering against the gazette notification and current TRACES guidance before filing.

This note is general guidance, not tax or legal advice. Positions depend on your specific facts — speak with a partner before acting.