Form 15CA/15CB is now Form 145/146: what NRIs need to know in 2026
From 1 April 2026, Form 15CA became Form 145 and Form 15CB became Form 146 under the Income-tax Act, 2025. For NRIs and OCIs sending money out of India, the process is unchanged — only the form numbers are new. What to file now.
Anyone who has moved money out of India knows the drill: before the bank will send funds abroad, you file a Form 15CA, and for larger or taxable remittances a chartered accountant signs a Form 15CB. From 1 April 2026, those form numbers are gone.
Under the Income-tax Act, 2025 and the Income Tax Rules 2026 notified by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the entire schedule of prescribed forms has been renumbered. Form 15CA is now Form 145; Form 15CB, the accountant's certificate, is now Form 146. The change is administrative, not a new tax: the requirement to declare a payment to a non-resident before you make it, and to have a CA certify the tax position where the rules demand it, works as before.
For NRIs and OCIs repatriating money — rent, the sale of a property, an inheritance, funds from an NRO account — the practical points are these. Forms 15CA and 15CB are no longer valid for any remittance made on or after 1 April 2026; the equivalent filings must now go in on Form 145 and Form 146. Forms filed under the old numbers before 31 March 2026 remain valid, provided the actual remittance happened by the date specified in them. The core structure is largely unchanged, with some refinements to the certificate's detail and the section references updated to match the new Act.
The substance that governs the money — the $1 million-a-year ceiling on remittances from an NRO account, the FEMA rules, the tax to be cleared first — has not moved. Only the paperwork has a new name. If your accountant still refers to "15CA/15CB," they mean 145 and 146.
Full context in our guide to repatriating money from India.
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