0% Capital Gains. Both Sides. The Singapore DTAA Cheat Code.

Let's lay it out:

Singapore has zero capital gains tax. Your equity mutual fund gains from India? Singapore doesn't care. Not taxed.

The India-Singapore DTAA (Article 13) says capital gains on shares are taxable ONLY in the country of residence. Your country of residence is Singapore. Singapore doesn't tax capital gains.

So: 0% in Singapore + 0% under DTAA = your equity MF gains are completely tax-free.

Yet Indian AMCs still deduct 12.5% LTCG TDS on your redemptions. Because they deduct at default rates unless you've specifically claimed DTAA. That 12.5% is yours. You can get every rupee back.

1. Get your TRC from IRAS at mytax.iras.gov.sg. Free, digital, takes a week.

2. File Form 10F on incometax.gov.in with your Singapore tax details.

3. Optionally, submit TRC + Form 10F to your AMC so they deduct 0% going forward.

4. File ITR claiming Article 13 exemption. The 12.5% LTCG TDS comes back as a refund.

5. For past years: file condonation under Section 119(2)(b). Go back 6 years.

If you've been redeeming mutual funds from Singapore for 5 years without claiming this, you could be sitting on ₹3-5 lakhs of recoverable TDS. With Section 244A interest on top.

This isn't theoretical. This is what our Singapore NRI clients actually recover.

The 0% rate applies to capital gains on “shares.” Indian mutual fund units are generally treated as shares under the DTAA. But not all treaty interpretations are identical.

Debt mutual fund gains are trickier — they may not qualify under the shares article and could be treated as “other income” (which is also 0% under Article 21, but through a different route).

Property mutual funds (REITs, InvITs) have their own treatment.

The point: equity MF gains are the clearest win. For everything else, the answer is usually still “yes, DTAA helps” but the specific article varies. That's why country-specific CA expertise matters.

Our Singapore-specialist CAs deal with IRAS + Indian IT Department daily. They know which article to cite and how to structure the claim.