# How to Choose a CA Who Handles NRI Returns Any chartered accountant in India can file your return. A much smaller number file NRI returns every year. The difference shows up in the forms they reach for, whether they claim your TDS credit in the right assessment year, and whether they have ever prepared the paperwork a bank asks for before it moves money out of the country. This page is the check to run before you hand anyone a login. ## Why the resident CA is the wrong default The family CA who has filed your parents' returns for twenty years is a good CA. Resident returns are a different job from yours. An NRI with Indian property is filing ITR-2 rather than ITR-1, carrying TDS deducted at source on rent or on a sale, claiming relief under a treaty with the country of residence, and often needing the remittance forms before a bank releases funds abroad. A CA who does that work once a year is learning on your file. The tell is not seniority. It is repetition. ## Check one: the membership is real and current ICAI keeps a public register. The CA Connect portal lets anyone search practising members and firms by service, state and city with no login. Ask for the membership number, then confirm the name against the register. A membership number that the person will not give you is the end of the conversation. So is a firm that describes itself as "CA-affiliated" without naming the member who signs. ## Check two: they file ITR-2 as routine, not as an exception Ask a direct question: how many NRI returns did you file last assessment year, and what forms were they. You are listening for ITR-2, and for a number rather than a shrug. Someone who files two hundred resident returns and three NRI returns is not the person to run a treaty claim. Ask a second one: what happens when the TDS on my rent shows in a different year from the income. A CA who does this work has an answer ready, because the mismatch is the most common thing that goes wrong on an NRI file. ## Check three: they have handled repatriation, not just filing Filing the return and getting the money out are two jobs. The second one runs through your bank on the current statutory forms, and a CA who has never certified one will slow the transfer by weeks. Ask whether they have signed the remittance certification, how many times, and for which banks. Bank-by-bank familiarity is worth more than a general claim of competence. Our guide on [repatriating property sale proceeds from an NRO account](/guides/repatriating-property-sale-proceeds-nro) sets out what the bank asks for. ## Check four: the treaty is a document they have read If you live in the USA, the UAE, the UK or Singapore, the India treaty with that country decides where the same income gets taxed and what credit you get. Ask which article covers rental income from immovable property, and which covers capital gains. You are not testing recall. You are testing whether the treaty is a live document in their practice or a phrase on a services page. ## Check five: the price is a number before the work starts A quote given after the work is done is not a quote. Ask for the fee for the return, the fee for the lower-deduction certificate if you are selling, the fee for the remittance certification, and what triggers anything on top. Get it in writing. A CA who will not price the job in advance will not itemise the bill at the end. ## Check six: they will talk to you in your timezone You are not in India. Ask how they take questions, whether video calls happen outside Indian office hours, and who answers when the person you hired is in audit season. February to July is the period when NRI clients report going quiet on their CA. ## What none of this buys you None of these checks makes anyone liable for the outcome of your return. They lower the odds of the failures that repeat: the wrong form, the lost TDS credit, the treaty claim nobody made, the money sitting in an NRO account because a certificate was never signed. ## Where to find one 66 MG Road keeps a directory of [verified chartered accountants who work with NRI clients](/directoryforNRIs/category/chartered-accountants). Everyone in it applied, gave a membership number, and had it checked against the register. Browsing is free. If you would rather not browse, [tell us the situation](/directoryforNRIs/request) and we shortlist two or three whose specialty fits, then make the introduction. We take no cut of what you agree with them. Nothing on this page is tax or legal advice. It is a checklist for picking someone who gives you that advice. ## FAQ **Can any CA in India file an NRI tax return?** Yes. Membership of ICAI allows it. The question is not permission but repetition: an NRI return runs on ITR-2 with TDS credit, treaty relief and often repatriation paperwork, and a CA who files three a year is slower and more error-prone than one who files two hundred. **How do I verify a chartered accountant's membership number in India?** Ask for the number, then check it on ICAI's public register. The CA Connect portal at caconnect.icai.org searches practising members and firms by service, state and city with no login required. **Which ITR form does an NRI with property income file?** ITR-2 in the common case, not ITR-1. A CA who reaches for ITR-1 on your file has not understood your residential status. **What should I ask a CA before hiring them for an NRI return?** How many NRI returns they filed last year and on which forms, how they handle a TDS credit that lands in the wrong year, whether they have signed remittance certifications and for which banks, which treaty article covers your income, and the fee for each piece of work in writing before it starts. **Does 66 MG Road charge for the CA introduction?** No. The directory is free to browse, the shortlist request is free, and we take no commission on whatever you agree with the professional you pick. **Is a bigger firm safer than a sole practitioner?** Not on its own. Size predicts coverage during audit season and little else. The named member who signs your return is what matters, along with how many NRI files that person personally handles. --- **Want the property looked after too?** 66 MG Road starts with a [₹20,000 Property Health Check](/property-health-check): one visit, one written report, no keys and no power of attorney. *66 MG Road newsdesk* ## Sources - ICAI CA Connect, public search of practising members and firms: [https://caconnect.icai.org/search-your-ca](https://caconnect.icai.org/search-your-ca) - The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India: [https://www.icai.org/](https://www.icai.org/) - 66 MG Road directory of verified chartered accountants: [https://66mgroad.com/directoryforNRIs/category/chartered-accountants](https://66mgroad.com/directoryforNRIs/category/chartered-accountants) ## Compare and cost - [The NRI Property Management Companies in India: A Comparison You Can Check](/guides/best-nri-property-management-companies-india) - [What NRI Property Management Costs in India: The Four Models and What Hides in Each](/guides/nri-property-management-cost-india) - [NoBroker NRI Services Review: What the Pages Promise and What They Leave Out](/guides/nobroker-nri-services-review) --- Source: [https://66mgroad.com/guides/how-to-choose-ca-for-nri-tax-return-india](https://66mgroad.com/guides/how-to-choose-ca-for-nri-tax-return-india) · 66 MG Road. Full LLM brief: https://66mgroad.com/llms.txt