In brief: An Indian resident can send up to USD 250,000 abroad per financial year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme and buying property overseas is a permitted purpose. Amounts above ₹10 lakh in a year attract 20% Tax Collected at Source, which is an advance against your income tax, not an extra cost.
Most questions Starbird receives from Indian buyers are not about Dubai at all. They are about how the money leaves India. The purchase is simple once the remittance is understood, so this memo lays out the rules an Indian resident actually operates under.
What is the LRS limit for buying property in Dubai?
The Liberalised Remittance Scheme allows every resident individual to remit up to USD 250,000 per financial year, April to March, for permitted purposes. Purchase of immovable property outside India is one of those purposes. The limit is per person, not per family, which matters for the next section.
At an exchange rate near ₹96 to the dollar, USD 250,000 is roughly ₹2.4 crore. In dirhams it is about AED 918,000. A single person’s annual headroom therefore covers a studio or a one-bedroom in most of Dubai outright or the early instalments of something larger.
Can a family pool LRS limits?
Yes. Each adult family member has their own USD 250,000 allowance. A couple can remit USD 500,000 in one financial year and a family of four with adult children can remit USD 1 million, provided each remitter is a genuine co-owner on the sale agreement. The Dubai Land Department registers multiple owners on one title without difficulty.
The remittance must come from each person’s own account against their own PAN. Routing one person’s money through another’s allowance is not pooling, it is a breach.
How does TCS work on a property remittance?
Since 1 April 2025, remittances under LRS above ₹10 lakh in a financial year attract Tax Collected at Source at 20% for purposes including property purchase. The bank collects it at the point of transfer. Keep your PAN active and linked to Aadhaar, because higher rates apply when it is not.
TCS is not a tax on the property. It is an advance payment of your own income tax, reflected in Form 26AS and you set it off against your liability when you file or claim the balance as a refund. The cost is cash flow, not money lost. On a ₹1 crore remittance you need ₹1.2 crore available on the day, with ₹20 lakh coming back through your return.
Why does the payment plan matter for LRS?
Off-plan purchases in Dubai are paid in instalments over the construction period. An instalment schedule that spans two or three Indian financial years lets a buyer use two or three years of LRS headroom on one property. A buyer with a single USD 250,000 allowance can therefore commit to a larger unit than the annual limit suggests, as long as the schedule and the April reset line up.
The reverse is also true. A plan that front-loads payments into one financial year can exceed one person’s limit even on a modest unit. This is the first thing Starbird checks on a payment schedule for an Indian buyer, before yield or location.
Where does the money go in Dubai?
For an off-plan unit, instalments are paid into a RERA-regulated escrow account under Law No. 8 of 2007, not to the developer’s operating account. The developer draws on it against certified construction progress. The purchase is recorded on Oqood, the interim register, until handover, when it moves to a title deed. Keep every SWIFT confirmation and escrow receipt. They are your proof of source of funds for both DLD and the Indian tax authority.
Figures at a glance
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| LRS limit | USD 250,000 per resident individual per financial year |
| Indian financial year | 1 April to 31 March |
| TCS on property remittance | 20% on the amount above ₹10 lakh per year, since 1 April 2025 |
| TCS treatment | Advance tax, set off or refunded in the income tax return |
| Off-plan payments | RERA-regulated escrow, Law No. 8 of 2007 |
| Off-plan registration | Oqood interim register until handover |
Yes. Purchase of immovable property abroad is a permitted purpose under the scheme.
No. TCS is collected in rupees on top of the remitted amount and does not reduce the dollar headroom.
Developers require bank transfer into the escrow account, so plan on wire transfers under LRS rather than card payments.
Pay it in March if you have headroom left, otherwise agree the date with the developer so it lands after the April reset. Check this before signing, not after.
