Wiring Money from India to a US Broker: Form A2, TCS, and What Can Go Wrong

Every LRS remittance for investment purposes requires Form A2 -- a declaration you submit to your bank (usually filled in online through net banking or the bank's forex remittance portal) stating the purpose of the remittance. For buying foreign shares or depository receipts, the relevant RBI purpose code is S0001 ("Investment in equity/debt securities"). Along with Form A2, most banks ask for your PAN, the receiving broker's account details (account number, SWIFT/routing code, broker's registered address), and sometimes a simple declaration that you have not exceeded your LRS limit for the year across all purposes.

If you're funding an Indian platform (Vested, INDmoney, and similar) rather than wiring directly to a foreign broker, the platform typically generates the exact remittance details and A2 form pre-filled for you inside its own app -- you still complete the transfer through your own bank, but with less manual form-filling.

You can send the remittance two ways: directly through your own bank's forex/wire desk, or through an online cross-border remittance service that some banks and platforms integrate with. A direct bank wire is the more traditional route -- typically 2 to 5 business days to reach the broker, with a flat wire fee (often Rs 500-2,000 depending on the bank) plus the bank's own foreign exchange margin on the conversion rate, which is frequently the larger of the two costs and varies more between banks than the flat fee does.

An online remittance partner (where your bank or platform offers one) can sometimes be faster and show you the exact exchange rate upfront before you commit, which makes comparing the true cost easier than with a traditional wire where the FX margin isn't always disclosed clearly in advance. Either way, ask specifically for the all-in cost -- the wire fee plus the FX spread -- rather than comparing wire fees alone, since the spread is usually where the real difference lies.

TCS is collected by your remitting bank at the time the wire goes out, not later. If your investment remittances for the financial year (across all your LRS investment transfers combined) exceed Rs 10 lakh, the bank deducts 20% TCS on the amount above that threshold from the funds you provide -- meaning you need to hand over more than the amount you actually want your broker to receive.

After deducting TCS, the bank issues a TCS certificate (Form 27D), which is your proof of the tax already collected. Keep this safe -- it's the document you'll reference when claiming the TCS credit in your income tax return. This is a separate credit from the Foreign Tax Credit you may separately claim via Form 67 for US withholding tax on dividends; the two are not the same thing and are not interchangeable (see the repatriation and tax-filing guide linked below for the distinction in full).

The most common hold-ups are avoidable: a Form A2 purpose code that doesn't match what the broker's compliance team expects, broker account details entered with a typo (double-check the SWIFT code and account number character by character), and not accounting for LRS headroom already used elsewhere in the financial year -- if a family member's tuition payment or a foreign holiday already used part of the combined limit, your bank will flag or reject a remittance that pushes the total over $250,000.

It's also normal for funds to take a few extra business days to actually reflect and become investable in your brokerage account after the wire completes, especially the first time -- intermediary correspondent banks and the receiving broker's own processing add time beyond what the sending bank quotes. Build in a buffer if you're timing a purchase around a specific date.

(1) Confirm your remaining LRS headroom for the financial year, (2) get the exact receiving account details from your broker or platform (account number, SWIFT/routing code, registered address), (3) fill Form A2 with purpose code S0001, (4) send the wire with enough buffer to cover the TCS deduction above Rs 10 lakh if applicable, (5) save the TCS certificate (Form 27D) and the wire confirmation, and (6) wait for funds to reflect in the brokerage account -- typically a few business days -- before assuming the transfer failed.