I am a citizen of Australia with Indian descent. Four siblings will share the proceeds of sale of inherited family home in India. I want to repatriate my share to Australia. Do I have to pay tax on my share I receive in India? If so, then how much? Can I opt to pay tax in Australia instead?

Tax shall have to be paid in India on sale of a property situated in India. You shall be taxable for the portion of capital gains that belongs to you. The gains on sale of a property are considered as long-term capital gains if the property has been held for more than two years and short-term capital gains if it has been held for two years or less. In your case, we are assuming the property has been held for more than two years. To calculate the period of holding, remember to include the period for which the previous owner held the property. Long-term capital gains can be calculated by reducing the indexed cost of acquisition from the sale price of the property. The indexed cost of acquisition can be calculated by multiplying the original cost of the property by the CII (cost inflation index) of the year of sale and dividing it by the CII of the year of purchase. If the property was purchased before 1 April 2001, you can use the CII of FY 2001-02. You are allowed to reduce the cost of improvements made by indexing them in a similar manner.

You can claim exemption from paying tax on your capital gains by opting for one of the following. You may choose to invest your share of capital gains in another property situated in India or you may choose to invest the capital gains in capital gains bonds. If you are not able to suitably invest the capital gains before the due date of filing of income tax return for the financial year in which the property is sold, you may deposit them in Capital Gains Account Scheme and invest them later as per the conditions.

Since you are a resident in Australia for tax purposes, you may have to report this transaction in your Australian tax return as well. To avoid paying tax on this transaction twice, you may refer to the Double Tax Avoidance Agreement between the two countries.