What Is Form 15CA and 15CB? Now Form 145 and 146: Rules and Filing

Form 15CA is the remitter's declaration that an Indian resident files online before paying a non-resident, stating the payment and the tax deducted on it. Form 15CB is the Chartered Accountant's certificate that confirms whether that payment is taxable, at what TDS rate and with what tax treaty relief; it is needed only when the taxable payment exceeds ₹5 lakh in a year.

• Form 15CA (now Form 145): filed by the payer on the income tax e-filing portal
• Form 15CB (now Form 146): issued by a Chartered Accountant, with a UDIN
• Applies to: money paid out of India to a non-resident or foreign company
• CA certificate needed: only for taxable payments above ₹5 lakh in the tax year
• Not needed: for many listed payments, such as LRS personal remittances
• Not for exporters: receiving money into India needs neither form

From 1 April 2026, under the Income-tax Act 2025, Form 15CA is called Form 145 and Form 15CB is called Form 146; the rules and the ₹5 lakh threshold carry over. In practice the forms come up when a business pays an overseas vendor: a Bengaluru startup paying a US company for a software licence, an importer paying a consultant in Dubai, or an NRI moving money out of an NRO account. In each case the bank will not release the payment until it sees the Form 145 acknowledgement.

If you only receive money from abroad, you can stop reading here; these forms are for payments going out.

These forms exist so the tax department can track money leaving India and check that the right tax was deducted before it went.

Payments to non-residents can be taxable in India, and the payer must deduct tax under section 393 of the Income-tax Act 2025 (earlier section 195). Form 145 records who was paid, how much and why, so the department can match outward payments with TDS returns and flag unusual or under-taxed remittances. Your AD bank, in turn, asks for the acknowledgement before it sends the money abroad, which is what makes the forms unavoidable in practice.

The difference between 15CA and 15CB is often misread here: the declaration (15CA) is the record, while the certificate (15CB) is the check on it.

Consider a Pune company paying ₹8 lakh to a UK firm for technical services. If the payment is taxable and no tax is deducted, the company itself can be treated as the defaulter for the tax it should have deducted, with interest. The forms force that question to be answered before the money leaves, when fixing it is cheap, rather than in an assessment years later.

Skipping the form does not stop the payment from being taxable; it only adds a penalty on top of any tax you should have withheld.

Form 15CA is your own declaration as the payer; Form 15CB is a Chartered Accountant's certificate that backs it up for larger taxable payments. You file 15CA for reportable payments, and you need 15CB only for Part C cases.

The order matters more than most people expect. For a Part C payment, the CA files Form 146 first and gives you its acknowledgement number; only then can you file Form 145, which pulls the CA's details in automatically. If you try to file Form 145 first for a Part C case, the portal has nothing to link it to. One Form 146 can be used by one Form 145 only, so each remittance needs its own certificate.

For withholding rates and grossing up, see our guide to TDS on foreign payments.

Form 145 replaces Form 15CA and Form 146 replaces Form 15CB for payments made from 1 April 2026, under the Income-tax Act 2025. Forms 15CA and 15CB already filed for payments made before 31 March 2026 stay valid.

What actually changed is narrower than the new numbers suggest. 'Financial year' becomes 'tax year'; Form 146 now carries a UDIN that the portal checks with ICAI; and Part B, where you hold a tax officer's certificate, no longer needs Form 146 at all. Who must file, the four parts and the ₹5 lakh threshold are unchanged.

The practical risk is using old references on new filings. A CA certificate that still cites section 195 for a payment made in May 2026, or a bank form asking for '15CA', is a sign the paperwork needs updating; most portals and banks have moved, but check before you file.

Any resident making a reportable payment to a non-resident files Form 15CA (Form 145), and the part depends on the amount and whether the payment is taxable.

• Part A: taxable, total up to ₹5 lakh in the tax year; no CA certificate
• Part B: taxable, above ₹5 lakh, with a tax officer's certificate under section 395; no CA certificate
• Part C: taxable, above ₹5 lakh, no tax officer's certificate; Form 146 filed first
• Part D: not taxable in India; no CA certificate

Take a Pune IT company paying a US vendor ₹6 lakh for a taxable software licence. Because the total crosses ₹5 lakh and it has no lower-deduction certificate, this is Part C: it assigns its CA, the CA files Form 146, and the company files Part C of Form 145 using that acknowledgement. Had the licence cost ₹4 lakh, Part A would apply with no CA certificate. Had the payment been for something not taxable in India, Part D would apply whatever the amount.

Note that the ₹5 lakh is counted across the tax year, not per payment, so a third ₹2 lakh payment to the same kind of payee can push you from Part A into Part C. If you both pay and receive across borders, see inward remittance vs outward remittance.

No. A CA certificate (Form 15CB, now Form 146) is mandatory only when the payment is taxable in India, the total crosses ₹5 lakh in the tax year, and you do not hold a tax officer's certificate. Below ₹5 lakh, or for non-taxable or exempt payments, the law does not require one. That is the whole of 15CB applicability.

In other words, the certificate is tied to Part C. Part A payments, Part B payments backed by a tax officer's certificate, Part D non-taxable payments and exempt payments all go without one. The reason the rule exists is that above ₹5 lakh the tax at stake is large enough that the department wants an accountant to stand behind the taxability and rate.

Banks are the complication. Some ask for a CA certificate on every outward remittance for their own comfort, especially for NRO account transfers, even when the law does not require one. If your bank insists, ask whether it will accept a Part A or Part D Form 145 instead; if not, a CA certificate is the faster route than arguing the point the day before a payment is due.

Plan for it early: a Part C payment needs the CA's Form 146 before you can file anything, so build a day or two into your payment schedule.

Form 15CA (Form 145) is not required in three cases under Rule 220: an individual's remittance that needs no RBI approval under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, a remittance by a unit in an International Financial Services Centre, and a payment whose purpose is on RBI's specified list.

The LRS exemption covers most personal payments by individuals: travel, education fees, gifts, maintenance of relatives and medical treatment, within LRS limits. The IFSC exemption covers units operating in GIFT City's International Financial Services Centre. The specified list covers 33 purposes, including payments for imported goods, refunds and certain investments abroad; it went from 28 to 33 items in December 2015, not under the new Act, as some sources wrongly say.

Imports are the case businesses ask about most. Paying an overseas supplier for goods you import is on the specified list, and tribunals have held that the ₹1 lakh penalty does not apply to import-of-goods payments (for example, Kalathiya Impex v ACIT, ITAT Surat). Paying the same supplier for services, such as installation or consulting, is a different question and may need Form 145.

If you are unsure whether a payment is taxable or on the list, confirm with your CA before you remit; a five-minute check is cheaper than a penalty notice.

Usually yes. An NRO to NRE transfer, or moving NRO money abroad, counts as a remittance out of India, so the bank needs the information in the tax department's format: Form 145, and Form 146 where the amount is taxable and above ₹5 lakh.

RBI allows NRIs to move up to USD 1 million per financial year from NRO balances, across all such transfers, after applicable tax on income such as rent, interest or a property sale. The bank also asks for documents showing the funds are your own legitimate receivables. Legally the CA certificate is tied to Part C, but most banks ask for it on NRO repatriation anyway.

Picture an NRI in Dubai who sold a flat in Kochi and wants ₹60 lakh moved to an NRE account. The bank will want proof that tax on the capital gain was paid or deducted, the sale deed, Form 145 and, in practice, a CA's Form 146 confirming the tax position, before it moves the money within the USD 1 million yearly limit.

NRE balances are freely repatriable under RBI rules, so remittances from an NRE account generally do not need these forms, though some banks still ask for a declaration.

File on the income tax e-filing portal: for Part C, your CA files Form 146 first, then you file Form 145 using its acknowledgement number and e-verify it.

1. Confirm the payment is taxable and not on the exempt list.
2. For Part C only, assign your CA under My Account, Authorised Partners, Add CA, choosing Form 146.
3. Your CA files Form 146 with DSC and UDIN, and you receive the acknowledgement number.
4. File Form 145: e-File, Income Tax Forms, File Income Tax Forms, then the 'Forms as per Income Tax Act 2025' tab and Form 145. Choose the part and tax year; for Part C, enter the Form 146 number and the details prefill.
5. e-Verify with DSC or EVC (DSC is mandatory for TAN users) and save the acknowledgement.
6. Give the acknowledgement to your bank, which releases the remittance against it.

A filed Form 145 cannot be edited, but it can be withdrawn within 7 days, which also withdraws the linked Form 146, so a mistake means withdrawing and refiling rather than correcting in place. Blank Form 145 and 146 PDFs, FAQs and the offline utility are on the official incometaxindia.gov.in and incometax.gov.in download pages; that is the safest Form 15CA and 15CB download source, since third-party copies are often the old 1961 Act versions.

The most common filing error is choosing the 'Forms as per Income Tax Act 1961' tab out of habit; for payments from 1 April 2026, use the 2025 Act tab.

Your CA needs the payment papers and the payee's tax details to issue Form 146, and you need the same details to fill Form 145.

• Invoice and agreement for the service or goods
• Payee's name, address, country, and PAN, or a tax identification number from their country if they have no PAN
• Tax residency certificate (TRC) from the payee's country, if you claim tax treaty relief
• Form 41 (earlier Form 10F) from the payee, if the TRC does not carry all required details
• No permanent establishment declaration, where treaty relief depends on it
• Remittance details: amount, currency, bank, RBI purpose code and nature of payment

Get these together before you approach the CA; a complete set usually turns a certificate around in a day, while a missing payee detail can hold the remittance for a week.

A missing TRC is the most common reason a CA applies the higher domestic TDS rate instead of the lower treaty rate, so ask the payee for it when you sign the contract, not when the invoice is due.

How much does a CA charge for Form 15CB?

CAs typically charge about ₹1,500 to ₹5,000 for a single Form 15CB (Form 146), more for complex or high-value cases, and usually issue it within one to two days once they have the documents above. The fee depends on whether treaty relief is claimed, how many invoices are covered and whether the CA must examine a contract for permanent establishment risk; a simple, single-invoice case at the domestic rate sits at the lower end. Outward LRS remittances also carry TCS on foreign remittance, worth checking alongside TDS before you pay.

No. If you are an exporter or freelancer receiving payment into India, you do not file Form 15CA, 15CB, 145 or 146. These forms are for residents paying non-residents.

On the receiving side, your paperwork is different: the foreign inward remittance proof, a FIRC or eFIRA, and the right RBI purpose code on each receipt; see tax on inward remittances to India and foreign inward remittance. Many freelancers worry about Form 15CA because a foreign client mentions 'tax forms', but the client's own withholding is handled under their country's rules, not Indian forms.

Xflow works on the receiving side. Payments settle to your Indian bank account the same day, with an eFIRA within 24 hours for every international transaction and the purpose code captured. Xflow does not file Form 145 or 146; outward payments stay with you and your CA. For how receipts feed a GST refund, see export of services under GST, and for collecting in 25+ currencies, see receiving accounts.

If your business both pays and receives across borders, keep the two sets of records separate: Forms 145 and 146 for money out, FIRCs and purpose codes for money in. Mixing them is how audits get slow, because your CA then has to untangle which receipts and payments each document relates to.

Not filing, or filing wrong information, can attract a penalty of up to ₹1 lakh on the payer under section 462 of the Income-tax Act 2025 (earlier section 271-I). An accountant who gives an incorrect Form 146 faces up to ₹10,000 per certificate under section 463 (earlier section 271J).

The penalty is not automatic. Tribunals have held it does not apply to import-of-goods payments, and it sits on top of, not instead of, any tax you should have deducted. Forms filed for payments before 1 April 2026 are still judged under the old sections.

If you spot a mistake, withdraw Form 145 within 7 days of filing and refile; withdrawing also withdraws the linked Form 146, so your CA will need to issue a fresh one. After 7 days you cannot withdraw on the portal, and the fix depends on whether the remittance has already gone, so speak to your CA quickly. Keep the withdrawn and refiled acknowledgements together with your bank's remittance advice, since a tax officer reviewing the payment later will ask for the full trail.

For the wider outward-payment picture, see our cross-border tax compliance overview.