LRS Scheme Thailand Property 2026: $250K Indian Limit Guide

TL;DR — what every Indian Phuket buyer needs to know about LRS in 60 seconds:

Part of the Phuket Property by Nationality Master Guide 2026 — our complete pillar covering everything in this cluster.

The RBI’s Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) allows every Indian resident individual to remit up to $250,000 USD per financial year (April 1 to March 31) for permitted overseas transactions, including investment in immovable property abroad.
Joint applicants — typically husband and wife — each have their own $250K limit, allowing combined annual transfers of $500,000 USD under one Sale-Purchase Agreement.
Multi-year staging works for $500K-$2M purchases: off-plan payment schedules with 24-36 month milestones align cleanly with LRS annual resets, allowing $1M+ purchases without breaching annual limits.
TCS at 20% applies on LRS remittances above ₹7 lakh in a financial year (effective 1 October 2023, confirmed in the 2024 Finance Act). Fully creditable against your income tax in the same ITR.
FEMA Section 13 penalty for breach is up to 3x the amount remitted plus prosecution for willful default. Structuring through family proxies is the single most common (and most expensive) violation pattern.

This guide is the operational playbook for using LRS to buy Phuket property in 2026 — written for Indian residents (not NRIs, who operate under separate FEMA rules). It covers what LRS is and what it isn’t, the 2026 limits and recent RBI updates, the bank-by-bank process at HDFC/ICICI/SBI/Axis/Kotak, the exact document checklist (Form A2, 15CA, 15CB, source of funds), three real Indian-buyer case studies including a $1.5M staged purchase, multi-year structuring strategy, the eight most common LRS mistakes, repatriation when you sell, and a full FAQ on company accounts, gift structures, and FY timing.

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What LRS is — and why every Indian Phuket buyer needs to know it

The Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) is the framework by which the Reserve Bank of India regulates how much foreign currency an Indian resident can send out of the country in a financial year for permitted purposes, without needing case-by-case RBI approval. It was introduced by the RBI on 4 February 2004 with an initial limit of $25,000 per individual per year. The limit was progressively raised — $50K in 2006, $75K in 2014, $125K (briefly), $200K in 2014, and the current $250,000 per financial year since June 2015, reaffirmed in the RBI’s Master Direction on LRS (latest update March 2025).

The legal source of authority is Section 5 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA) read with the Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000 and the Foreign Exchange Management (Permissible Capital Account Transactions) Regulations, 2000. LRS is the practical mechanism through which most retail and HNI cross-border outflows happen in India today.

What LRS covers (permitted transactions):

Permitted under LRS	Notes for property buyers
Investment in overseas immovable property	The category Phuket buyers use — Form A2 purpose code S0005
Investment in shares, debt, mutual funds abroad	Separate from property quota — same $250K combined cap
Maintenance of close relatives abroad	Different code (S1301) but same annual cap
Foreign education, medical treatment	Separate sub-limits in some cases
Foreign travel and tourism	Counts against the $250K for the FY
Gifts and donations to foreign individuals	Counts against the $250K
Setting up wholly-owned subsidiary or joint venture abroad	Allowed under ODI route, separate from LRS

What LRS does NOT cover (prohibited):

Margin trading or leveraged trading on foreign exchanges
Purchase of lottery tickets, sweepstakes, prohibited magazines
Remittance to FATF non-cooperative countries and territories
Remittance to entities involved in money laundering, terrorism financing
Trading in foreign exchange abroad (Forex retail)
Capital account transactions through an Indian resident with a non-resident’s account (proxy structures)

For Phuket property purchases, the relevant permitted purpose code is S0005 — “Investment in overseas immovable property” under the RBI’s Purpose Codes for LRS Reporting. This is the field your bank’s Form A2 needs to show.

LRS limit in 2026: confirmed $250K + recent RBI updates

As of April 2026, the LRS annual limit is USD 250,000 per Indian resident individual per financial year (1 April to 31 March), unchanged since 2015. The most recent regulatory updates Indian Phuket buyers need to be aware of:

March 2025 RBI Master Direction on LRS — reaffirmed the $250K limit, clarified that the limit is per individual (not per family/HUF), and specified that minor children’s LRS counts against the parent/guardian as natural agent. Joint accounts cannot pool LRS — each holder must use their own.
Tax Collected at Source (TCS) at 20% — effective 1 October 2023 under Section 206C(1G) of the Income Tax Act 1961, all LRS remittances above ₹7 lakh in a financial year attract TCS at 20% (collected by the remitting bank at the time of transfer). Education and medical remittances have a lower 5% TCS slab. The 2024 Finance Act confirmed these rates without change.
TCS is fully creditable — it appears in your Form 26AS / AIS and is adjustable against your income tax liability in the same ITR. For most HNI buyers with ₹50 L+ taxable income, TCS is recovered in full as part of normal year-end tax computation. It is not a cost — it is a working-capital timing adjustment.
AIS / Form 26AS reporting — every LRS transfer is reported by the bank to the Income Tax Department’s Annual Information Statement system. You cannot quietly remit money without it appearing in your tax records. Always declare consistently across LRS, ITR, and Schedule FA.
Schedule FA (Foreign Assets) disclosure — once the property is purchased, it must be disclosed annually on Schedule FA of your ITR-2/ITR-3 by every Indian tax resident. Non-disclosure penalty under the Black Money Act 2015: ₹10 lakh per asset per year, plus potential prosecution.

TCS example: Sending $250K (~₹2.08 Cr at INR/USD ~~83). Of this, the first ₹7 L is TCS-free (~~$8,400). The remaining ~₹2.01 Cr attracts 20% TCS = ~₹40 lakh collected by your bank at transfer. This ₹40 L appears in your AIS and is fully adjusted against your annual tax liability. Net cost to a buyer with sufficient existing tax liability: zero. Working-capital impact: ~₹40 L parked with the IT Department until ITR filing. Plan for this in your funding timeline.

Step-by-step LRS process: Mumbai/Delhi/Bangalore to Bangkok Bank

The end-to-end LRS journey from “I want to buy” to “money landed in Bangkok Bank Phuket account” runs 15 to 25 working days for first-time buyers, 5 to 10 working days for repeat transactions on the same KYC file.

The 11-step process:

Open a Thai foreign-currency account in your own name at Bangkok Bank, SCB, KBank, or Krungsri (most Indian buyers use Bangkok Bank — best India relationships, NRO-friendly remittance handling, branches in Phuket West that handle foreign property weekly). Requires in-person visit, passport, valid Thai visa or stamp, and a Thai address (developer’s office address acceptable).
Sign the Sale-Purchase Agreement (SPA) with the Thai developer or seller. This document — listing buyer name (matching your passport exactly), unit details, total price, payment schedule, and the developer’s bank account at Bangkok Bank — is the anchor document for every subsequent step in India and Thailand.
Engage a CA familiar with FEMA/LRS for overseas property. Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi each have firms that handle this routinely. The CA will issue Form 15CB and help you file Form 15CA online with the Income Tax portal.
Compile source-of-funds documentation: last 3 ITRs, last 6 months of salary slips OR business audited accounts, bank statements showing fund accumulation, sale deed if proceeds came from selling Indian property, ESOP/RSU statements if applicable.
File Form 15CA online at incometax.gov.in (Part C if amount is taxable, Part D if certified by CA via 15CB). Self-declaration, no fee. Available within minutes.
CA issues Form 15CB — a chartered accountant’s certificate confirming the nature of remittance and applicable tax. Mandatory for all transfers above ₹5 lakh (so always required for property purchase). CA fee typically ₹3,500-15,000 depending on complexity.
Submit Form A2 at your Indian bank (HDFC/ICICI/SBI/Axis/Kotak), in person or via the bank’s online LRS portal (HDFC NetBanking, ICICI iMobile, SBI YONO, Axis Mobile all support LRS for property now). Attach passport, PAN, Aadhaar, 15CA acknowledgement, 15CB original, source-of-funds, and SPA.
Bank does internal compliance check (typically 24-72 hours for HDFC/ICICI; 3-5 working days for SBI). KYC, FEMA Section 4 confirmation, AML check on the receiving Thai bank, sanction screening on the developer.
Bank executes wire to Bangkok Bank Phuket in USD (most common) or directly in THB. Recommend USD — better FX rate transparency, two-leg conversion at the Thai end gives Bangkok Bank’s TTM rate.
Bangkok Bank Phuket converts USD → THB at the daily TTM rate and credits your Thai account. The bank issues the FET Certificate (Foreign Exchange Transaction Certificate) within 5-14 working days. The FET is the document the Land Office requires for freehold registration and for future repatriation. See our FET certificate Thailand guide for the bank-by-bank FET process.
Funds released to the developer via cashier’s cheque on the agreed milestone date, against delivery of the milestone deliverable (signed SPA, 30%-completion sign-off, occupancy certificate, etc.). Each milestone over $50K generates its own FET certificate.

Three real case examples:

Case A — Mumbai single transfer, $200K, 8 working days end-to-end

Profile: HDFC private banking client, Powai resident, salary ₹65 L/year. Buying a 1BR in Bang Tao for $200K (~₹1.66 Cr).

Timeline: SPA signed Day 0. CA engaged Day 1. Source-of-funds compiled Day 2 (last 3 ITRs + last 6 months salary slips + ESOP vesting statement). 15CA filed online Day 3. 15CB issued by CA Day 3. HDFC LRS application submitted via NetBanking Day 4 with documents uploaded. HDFC compliance approval Day 5. Wire executed Day 6. Funds in Bangkok Bank Phuket Day 7 (one business day in transit USD-USD, intra-day SWIFT). FET certificate issued Day 14.

Costs: HDFC LRS fee ₹15,000, SWIFT charges ₹2,500, TT spread ~0.5% ≈ ₹83K, CA fee ₹8,000, TCS 20% on amount above ₹7 L ≈ ₹33 L (recoverable as tax credit). Total non-recoverable cost: ~₹1.08 lakh on a ₹1.66 Cr transfer (~0.65%).

Case B — Couple’s joint LRS, $500K, single FY, ₹4.2 Cr off-plan

Profile: Bangalore couple, husband startup founder, wife consultant, both ICICI private banking clients. 2BR pool villa in Cherngtalay for $500K (~₹4.15 Cr), 50% off-plan booking + 50% completion 18 months later.

Structure: Both husband and wife use their full $250K LRS each in FY 2025-26. SPA signed jointly. Two separate Form A2 filings at ICICI — one per spouse. Two separate 15CA + 15CB filings. Two separate wires from ICICI’s Bangalore branch to Bangkok Bank Phuket — one per spouse. Two separate FET certificates, both names appear on Chanote.

Timeline: 50% booking ($250K) wired Month 1 — both spouses’ LRS used to fund half each ($125K each through individual LRS = $250K total deposit). Wait. Plot twist: ICICI flagged this as both spouses contributing to a single transfer raises a presumption of one beneficial owner. Solution: each spouse made a separate $125K wire to Bangkok Bank against a single SPA listing both as co-buyers. Two FETs, each in the respective spouse’s name. Land Office accepted both at registration day.

Second 50% ($250K) on completion 18 months later — by then in FY 2027-28, both spouses’ fresh LRS allowance available. Same structure: 2 x $125K wires.

Costs: Total fees ~₹2.4 L across 4 wires (0.58% blended); TCS recovered in normal ITR cycle.

Case C — $1.5M phased over 4 years (off-plan villa)

Profile: Delhi family, husband manufacturing business owner (declared income ₹3.5 Cr/year), wife director in family business. Buying a 3BR pool villa in Rawai with the developer’s preferred 20–20–20–20–20 staged payment schedule over 36 months from booking to handover. Total price $1.5M (~₹12.5 Cr).

Structure: Combined LRS over 4 financial years.

Financial Year	Husband LRS used	Wife LRS used	Combined transfer	Property milestone
FY 2025-26	$200K	$200K	$400K (₹3.32 Cr)	Booking + 1st construction
FY 2026-27	$200K	$200K	$400K (₹3.32 Cr)	2nd + 3rd construction
FY 2027-28	$200K	$200K	$400K (₹3.32 Cr)	4th construction + completion
FY 2028-29	$150K	$150K	$300K (₹2.49 Cr)	Final + furniture + lawyer
Total	$750K	$750K	$1.5M (₹12.45 Cr)	Full villa price

Each FY both spouses use their full LRS. Each FY produces 2-4 FET certificates (one per wire). At handover, the lawyer bundles all FETs (typically 12-14 across the four years) and submits to the Land Office for the 30+30+30 leasehold registration on the villa land plus Chanote for any condo unit included.

Why this works: Off-plan staged schedules are the natural friend of LRS multi-year structuring. The developer’s milestone schedule and the RBI’s annual reset effectively interlock. Provided the family has the income and TCS-bearing tax liability to absorb the ~₹2.5 Cr of TCS spread across 4 years (all recoverable), the $1.5M villa is fully fundable through LRS without any breach.

Big bank comparison table — HDFC vs ICICI vs SBI vs Axis vs Kotak

The choice of remitting bank in India makes a measurable difference to fees, processing time, and operational ease. The five banks below cover roughly 85% of Indian outbound LRS transfers for overseas property in 2026.

Bank	LRS fee per transfer	TT spread (effective FX cost)	Processing time	Online filing	Max single LRS transfer	Existing account required
HDFC Bank	₹15,000	0.45–0.65%	3–5 working days	Yes (NetBanking + InstaRem partner)	$250K full LRS	Yes — Preferred / Imperia tier preferred
ICICI Bank	₹12,000	0.50–0.70%	3–5 working days	Yes (iMobile + Money2World)	$250K	Yes — Wealth / Private clients faster
SBI	₹5,000	0.60–0.90%	7–10 working days	Partial (YONO submission, branch verification)	$250K	Yes — Personal Banking
Axis Bank	₹12,500	0.45–0.70%	4–6 working days	Yes (Axis Mobile + Outward Remit)	$250K	Yes — Burgundy / Burgundy Private faster
Kotak Mahindra	₹14,000	0.40–0.60%	3–5 working days	Yes (Kotak Mobile + Outward Remit)	$250K	Yes — Privy / Wealth tier preferred

Practical recommendations:

Fastest end-to-end: HDFC and Kotak — both accept full online submission with branch courier of original 15CB, typically wire within 5 working days of SPA signed.
Cheapest: SBI on flat fee but the 0.6-0.9% TT spread can outweigh the saving on transfers above $100K. Run the full math before defaulting to SBI on price.
Best for HNI/HUF/business owners: ICICI Wealth and HDFC Imperia teams have dedicated LRS-property handlers who pre-clear documentation. Worth the relationship if you plan multiple transfers.
All five support transfers up to the full $250K annual LRS limit. None has a per-transaction cap below $250K for property purpose code S0005.

Documents required — the operational checklist

The exact document set depends on the bank, but the following 11-document pack works across all five major Indian banks for a property purchase up to $250K. Have all of these ready before walking into the branch — chasing them later adds 5-10 working days.

Form A2 — Application for remittance abroad. Purpose code: S0005 (Investment in overseas immovable property). Available at the bank counter or pre-fill online via NetBanking.
PAN card copy (front and back).
Aadhaar card copy (or alternative valid government ID for KYC).
Address proof — utility bill, passport, or rental agreement, dated within 3 months.
Form 15CA acknowledgement — generated after online filing at incometax.gov.in. Self-declaration, free.
Form 15CB — Chartered Accountant certificate. Mandatory for all overseas remittances above ₹5 lakh in a financial year (so always required for property). Original signed copy.
Source of funds documentation:
- Last 3 financial years’ ITR-V acknowledgements
- Last 6 months salary slips (if salaried) OR last 2 years audited accounts (if business owner)
- Bank statements showing fund accumulation over the last 12 months
- Sale deed if proceeds came from selling Indian property
- ESOP/RSU vesting statements if applicable
Sale-Purchase Agreement (SPA) from the Thai developer — original and a notarised English translation if the original is in Thai. Must show buyer name exactly matching passport.
Beneficiary bank details: Bangkok Bank (or SCB/KBank/Krungsri) Phuket branch — full SWIFT code (BKKBTHBK for Bangkok Bank), account name (your own name or developer escrow if applicable), account number, IBAN-equivalent if requested.
Passport copy (first page + valid Thai visa stamp page if you’ve already visited).
Self-declaration of LRS usage in the current FY — bank-format declaration confirming this transfer plus any prior LRS in the current FY does not exceed $250K. Bank may pull data from the LRS daily reporting database (RBI’s LRS Daily Reporting System — banks must report every transaction by next working day) to verify.

For larger transfers ($200K+) some banks additionally request: Form 1 (Bank of Thailand FX Form) — the Thai-side declaration form. Most banks accept the FET certificate as substitute documentation post-arrival.

FEMA compliance: what NOT to do

The single biggest source of expensive trouble for Indian Phuket buyers is not the LRS process itself — it is creative interpretations of the LRS process. The four red-line behaviours that trigger FEMA Section 13 penalties (up to 3x the amount remitted plus prosecution for willful default):

1. Splitting transfers across family or friends to dodge the $250K cap. Sending $200K via your unmarried sister, $200K via your father, and $200K via your business partner to fund a single $600K purchase is structuring under FEMA + AML rules, regardless of the genuine source of funds. RBI’s LRS Daily Reporting System cross-references PAN + property purpose code + same beneficiary bank — pattern detection is automated. Penalty for a $600K structuring case: up to $1.8M (₹15 Cr) plus prosecution under FEMA Section 13(1A) and Black Money Act 2015.

2. Using a friend’s or business associate’s USD account abroad. Wiring INR to a friend in the US/UK/Singapore via LRS as “gift to relative” (purpose code S1301, $250K limit also) and then having them onward-wire USD to your Thai account is treated as a sham transaction under FEMA Section 6 read with the FEMA Notification on Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property Outside India 2015. The original Form A2 stated a different purpose. Both you and the proxy face penalties.

3. Undisclosed property in India ITR. Once purchased, the Phuket property must be declared annually in Schedule FA (Foreign Assets) of your ITR-2/3, listing the property address, purchase value, current FMV, and any rental income. The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act 2015 imposes a penalty of ₹10 lakh per asset per year of non-disclosure, plus potential prosecution. The information arrives at the IT Department through CRS data sharing from Thailand regardless of your filing — non-disclosure is detected, not avoided.

4. Splitting one wire below the $50K Thai-side FET threshold to avoid documentation. Wiring 5 x $40K instead of 1 x $200K does not avoid FET — it just produces no FETs at all (since $40K is below the practical bank-side property-FET threshold). Result: Land Office will not register the freehold in your name. The “saved” documentation cost is the loss of legal title.

Bottom line: LRS is generous. $250K per individual per year, doubled for couples, multi-year staging up to $2M+. There is no rational reason to game it for a Phuket purchase. Use the structure as it is designed and the entire process is uneventful.

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Multi-year structuring for $500K-$2M purchases

The structural beauty of Phuket off-plan purchases for Indian buyers is the natural alignment between the developer’s milestone schedule (typically 24-36 months from booking to handover) and the RBI’s annual LRS reset (every 1 April). This means a $1M-$2M purchase that would otherwise breach the LRS cap can be cleanly funded across 3-5 financial years, with each milestone payment fully compliant.

Standard Phuket off-plan payment schedules and LRS alignment:

Schedule type	Payment milestones	Typical timeline	Best for buyer scale
20–20–20–20–20	Booking 20%, then 4 x 20% at construction stages	36 months	$500K-$2M, single buyer over 4 FYs OR couple over 2 FYs
30–30–40	Booking 30%, midway 30%, completion 40%	24-30 months	$300K-$700K, couple in single FY
50–50	Booking 50%, completion 50%	18-24 months	$200K-$500K, single FY straddle
10–20–70	Booking 10%, structure 20%, completion 70%	30-36 months	$700K-$2M, completion-heavy structure

Worked example — $1.5M villa, 36 months, couple, 4 FYs:

The 20–20–20–20–20 schedule for a $1.5M villa produces 5 milestone payments of $300K each. A couple with combined $500K/yr LRS capacity can fund:

FY 2025-26: $400K (Booking $300K + first construction $100K of $300K). Couple uses $200K each. Bank fees ~₹1.4 L; TCS ~₹65 L (recoverable).
FY 2026-27: $400K (remaining $200K of milestone 2 + Construction milestone 3 $200K of $300K). Same structure.
FY 2027-28: $400K (Construction milestone 4 + part of completion).
FY 2028-29: $300K (final completion balance).

Total over 4 FYs: $1.5M (₹12.45 Cr). All transfers within LRS limits, fully documented, fully repatriable. No FEMA breach.

The single biggest mistake in multi-year structuring: forgetting that the developer’s invoice currency lock is in USD or THB, not INR. If INR depreciates 8% over the 3-year build, the rupee cost of milestones 4 and 5 rises ~8% in INR terms. Build a ~10-15% INR buffer into your total budget at the start, or hedge with a forward booking through your bank (some private banking desks at HDFC/ICICI offer this for property buyers).

Repatriation: when you sell the Phuket property

The whole architecture of LRS + Form A2 + FET certificates is designed to make selling the Phuket property and bringing the proceeds home to India clean. Provided you executed the inbound process correctly, repatriation works.

The sale-side process:

Sell the unit in Thailand. Sale price denominated in THB. Buyer transfers funds to your Thai Bangkok Bank account.
Thai capital gains tax is deducted at source (typically 1% withholding for individuals selling residential property, plus the Specific Business Tax of 3.3% if held under 5 years). See our Thailand property tax for foreigners guide for the full sale-side tax mechanics.
Proceeds repatriated to India via the same bank that holds your FET certificates. Up to the cumulative FET-recorded amount, no Bank of Thailand approval is required — Bangkok Bank converts THB → USD and wires to your NRO/NRE/resident savings account in India.
Indian capital gains tax assessed for Indian tax residents. DTAA India-Thailand 1985 gives credit for Thai tax paid (file Form 67 with your ITR). NRIs typically only pay the Thai capital gains tax. See our NRI tax on Thailand property — DTAA India 2026 guide for the full DTAA application.
Indian bank credit of repatriated proceeds — within 1-3 working days of the Thailand-side wire. Funds land in INR after Thai-side USD conversion at Bangkok Bank’s TTM rate.

The single document that makes this entire chain work: the FET certificate(s) from the original purchase. Without them, repatriation requires a Bank of Thailand Tor Tor 3 approval per tranche over THB 50,000 — a 6-12 week bureaucratic process per transfer.

Eight common LRS mistakes by Indian Phuket buyers

Filing 15CA without 15CB for transfers over ₹5 lakh. 15CA Part D requires the 15CB CA certificate as an annexure. Banks reject Part D submissions without it. Cost of error: 3-5 days re-filing.
Wrong purpose code on Form A2. Using S1301 (gift to relative) when the actual purpose is property purchase (S0005) creates a mismatch with the SPA shown to the bank. Treated as misdeclaration under FEMA Section 6.
Sending wire to the developer’s account directly, not your own Thai account. Generates no FET in your name. Land Office cannot register the freehold. The fix is either retroactive FET (rare) or restructuring the deal as leasehold.
Not retaining 15CB original. Banks return the original after recording. Lose it and you cannot defend the transfer in a future FEMA scrutiny. Always scan and store digitally.
Underdeclaring source of funds. Showing only ₹50 L of bank balance while making a ₹1.5 Cr remittance triggers an immediate compliance hold. Disclose all sources upfront — recent property sale, business profits, ESOP vesting, family gift (with separate 15CA from the giver if required).
Forgetting the TCS in cash flow planning. A ₹2 Cr LRS transfer attracts ~₹40 L of TCS at the bank’s counter. If you didn’t budget for the TCS as a working-capital outlay, the wire date slips. Always budget LRS amount + 20% TCS as the cash needed at transfer.
Mixing personal and family LRS. Asking your father to do a $250K LRS “on your behalf” because he has unused capacity is a sham transaction even though he can legally use his own LRS. The FA disclosure and source-of-funds chain don’t add up at audit.
Not declaring the property on Schedule FA from year one. First-year non-disclosure is the single most common Black Money Act trigger for Indian residents with overseas property. ₹10 L per asset per year penalty compounds fast across multiple years of non-disclosure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use my company's USD account to buy Phuket property?

No, not under LRS. LRS is a personal scheme for resident individuals only — Indian companies cannot use LRS. If you want to buy Thai property in a corporate name, you must use the Overseas Direct Investment (ODI) route under FEMA Notification 120, which requires RBI approval (or automatic-route for certain sectors), audited overseas entity establishment, and is not generally suitable for residential property purchase. Companies buying overseas immovable property face restrictions under Indian companies law and FEMA — most Indian buyers structure Phuket purchases personally under LRS, not corporately. Talk to a FEMA specialist before considering any corporate structure.

What happens if I exceed $250K LRS accidentally?

FEMA Section 13 imposes a penalty of up to 3x the contravening amount, but in practice unintended marginal breaches (e.g., $252K because of FX timing) are routinely regularised by filing a compounding application with the RBI and paying a nominal compounding fee, usually under ₹50,000 for genuine errors. Willful structuring or breach over multiple FYs is treated more harshly. Most genuine errors arise from forgetting that incidental LRS transactions during the year (foreign travel via debit card, online shopping in foreign currency, education remittance for kids) all count against the same $250K. Always pull your bank's LRS year-to-date statement before initiating a property wire near the cap.

Does buying Thai property via a Thai company use LRS?

If you set up a Thai limited company to purchase land (the structure sometimes used for villa-on-land deals where leasehold is undesirable), the foreign-shareholder portion of the share capital subscribed in foreign currency from India must come via LRS, with proper Form A2 documentation. The structure is also subject to FEMA's overseas direct investment rules, which add an ODI declaration on top of the LRS requirement. Note: pure Thai-company structures for land ownership by foreigners have come under increased Thai regulatory scrutiny since 2018 — the safer Thai-law route for villa land is the 30+30+30 leasehold. Do not use Thai company structures without both an Indian FEMA specialist and a Thai land lawyer.

Can NRIs use LRS too?

No — LRS is for resident individuals only, defined under Section 2(v) of FEMA 1999. NRIs operate under the Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property Outside India) Regulations 2015, which allow NRIs to acquire foreign immovable property using funds sourced from outside India (NRE/FCNR balances, foreign salary, foreign business income) without using any LRS quota. Practically, NRIs in Dubai, Singapore, London, or the US typically remit directly from their foreign accounts to Bangkok Bank — no LRS, no Form A2 from India needed. They still need to file Schedule FA disclosure if they retain Indian tax residency under the deemed-resident provisions of Section 6.

Is cryptocurrency purchase allowed under LRS?

No. The RBI's Master Direction on LRS (March 2025 update) explicitly excludes purchase of cryptocurrencies, virtual digital assets, and similar instruments from permitted LRS transactions. Even using LRS to fund a foreign brokerage account that subsequently trades crypto is treated as misdeclaration. For Phuket property buyers this matters because some buyers consider 'sending crypto to a Thai exchange and converting to THB' as a route — this is not legal under FEMA, will not generate a FET certificate, and breaks both Indian and Thai compliance. Always use the bank-to-bank LRS route in fiat currency.

What about a gift from parents to fund the Phuket purchase?

Allowed and common. A parent can gift you up to any amount under Indian gift tax rules (gifts from defined relatives are tax-free under Section 56(2) of the Income Tax Act). The gifted funds, once in your account, are your money for LRS purposes — you use your own $250K LRS. The parent does not separately use LRS for this. However, the source-of-funds documentation at your bank should include the gift deed (notarised, dated, recital-clear) plus the parent's bank statement showing the transfer to you, and your last ITR showing the gift correctly disclosed in 'Exempt Income — Schedule EI' if relevant. Do not skip the gift deed — without it, the bank treats the funds as undocumented for the source-of-funds chain.

When does the LRS financial year reset, and can I time my purchase around it?

The Indian financial year runs 1 April to 31 March, and LRS limits reset at the start of each FY. This is one of the most useful structuring tools for Indian buyers: a $500K purchase with a single individual's LRS can be funded $250K in late March (using current FY allowance) and $250K in early April (using new FY allowance) — effectively doubling annual capacity over a 2-week window. Two FETs are issued, both sit cleanly in the same property file, the Land Office accepts both. This works even better for couples — $1M can be cleanly funded over the same March-April fortnight using both spouses' two-FY allowances. Always coordinate the SPA payment schedule with the developer to allow this March-April straddle for large purchases.

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