How-to TIN FATCA CRS foreign tax residency NRI self-certification

How to update the TIN on a Zerodha account

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated . Reading time ~11 min.

This guide explains how to update your Tax Identification Number (TIN) on a Zerodha account through the FATCA declaration, why Zerodha emails you to do it, and who actually needs to provide one. A TIN is the number a foreign tax authority assigns to a taxpayer, the overseas equivalent of an Indian PAN, and Zerodha is required to collect a valid one from any client who is a tax resident of a country other than India.

You are reading this most likely because an email from Zerodha asked you to update or correct your TIN. That email is not a scam and not optional. The Income Tax Department directs brokers to collect a valid TIN from clients who submitted an incorrect or invalid one, so that the broker can meet its reporting obligations under the FATCA and CRS framework. The fix is a short online declaration, free, that you can complete yourself.

This guide is for NRIs, OCI cardholders and foreign nationals who hold a Zerodha account and have foreign tax residency. A resident Indian with no tax residency outside India does not need a TIN and simply answers No to the foreign-tax-residence question. If you have actually become an NRI, the TIN update is one part of a larger change; pair it with How to update PAN and residential status when you become an NRI .

Conflict-of-interest disclosure. This guide is published by the WebNotes Editorial Team for informational purposes and is written independently. WebNotes operates a Zerodha account-opening referral programme, disclosed on the pages that carry the referral link; this guide does not carry it and earns no referral commission from the procedure described here.

Step-by-step procedure

The numbered box at the top of this guide gives the sequence. The detail below expands each step, including what to do when your country issues no TIN.

1. Confirm whether you owe a TIN at all

A TIN is required only if you are a tax resident of a country other than India. Tax residency is not the same as citizenship: an Indian citizen working abroad long enough to become a tax resident there owes that country’s TIN, while an OCI cardholder who is tax-resident only in India does not. If India is your sole tax residence, you will answer No to the foreign-tax-residence question in step 3 and will not be asked for a TIN. If you are tax-resident anywhere else, even in addition to India, you must declare it and provide that country’s TIN.

2. Open the FATCA declaration

Log in to your account at account.zerodha.com/account and open the FATCA section. You can also go straight to the dedicated form at signup.zerodha.com/rekyc/fatca. This is the same FATCA declaration captured during account opening; updating the TIN means re-submitting it with the correct value. The form first collects your income details, occupation and political-exposure status, so have those ready.

3. Declare foreign tax residence

When the form asks “Do you have tax residence in any other country than India?”, select “Yes, I do” if you are a foreign tax resident. The form then expands to capture your city and country of birth and your other country or countries of tax residence. Select the correct country of tax residence from the list.

4. Enter the TIN in the correct format

Enter the TIN issued by your country of tax residence. Each country’s TIN has its own format, so accuracy matters; an incorrectly formatted number is exactly the “invalid TIN” the Income Tax Department flagged in the first place. If you are unsure what your country’s TIN looks like, the OECD publishes TIN formats by country on its automatic exchange of information pages; confirm the format there before entering it.

5. Handle the no-TIN case

Some countries do not issue a Tax Identification Number, and seafarers, who can lack a settled tax residence, sit in a similar position. If your country of residence does not issue a TIN, or you are a seafarer, select “No” to the question about tax residence in another country, then submit the declaration. Do not invent or guess a number where none is issued; the No path is the correct treatment, and the framework provides for the reason-for-no-TIN case.

6. Submit and confirm

Click Continue or Submit to file the declaration. The corrected TIN flows into Zerodha’s FATCA and CRS records and onward to the reporting that the broker files with the Income Tax Department. Keep a note of the date you submitted, and if the broker had set a deadline (the CVLKRA FATCA declaration deadline was 31 October 2024), confirm you have met it.

Why the email asks for a TIN: the FATCA and CRS framework

The request traces to two international tax-transparency regimes that India has implemented domestically. FATCA is the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, given effect in India through the India-US Inter-Governmental Agreement. The CRS is the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard for automatic exchange of financial-account information among many countries. Both require financial institutions to identify account holders who are tax-resident abroad and report their accounts to the home tax authority for onward exchange.

India brought these obligations into law through Section 285BA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and Rules 114F to 114H of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, inserted by Notification No. 62 of 2015 dated 7 August 2015, together with reporting Form 61B. Rule 114F defines a reporting financial institution, which includes a broker holding financial assets for customers. Rule 114G sets the reporting requirement, the filing of Form 61B with the Director of Income-tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation). Rule 114H prescribes the due-diligence procedures, including obtaining a self-certification from each account holder that captures tax residency and the TIN. Your FATCA declaration on Zerodha is that self-certification. The TIN is the field that lets the foreign authority match the report to you, which is why a valid one is mandatory and an invalid one triggers the follow-up email.

How the TIN update relates to your residential status

Updating the TIN is a declaration about tax residency. It is not, by itself, a change of your account’s residential status. If you remain a resident Indian for KYC purposes but happen to be tax-resident abroad as well, the TIN declaration alone is the correct and complete step.

If you have genuinely become an NRI, the TIN is only one piece. You must also update your residential status to non-resident on the Income Tax Department records and convert your resident account to an NRI-NRO account through a full re-KYC . The two are connected in practice, the FATCA declaration with TIN is part of the NRI conversion paperwork, but they are distinct actions with different consequences. NRI clients whose residential status was not updated on the Income Tax Department records by 9 February 2024 were blocked from trading on the NSE and BSE, so an NRI should not stop at the TIN. Follow How to update PAN and residential status when you become an NRI for the full conversion.

See also

External references

References

  1. Income-tax Rules, 1962, Rules 114F to 114H and Form 61B, inserted by Notification No. 62 of 2015 dated 7 August 2015 (FATCA and CRS due diligence, self-certification and reporting).
  2. Income Tax Act, 1961, Section 285BA (obligation to furnish statement of financial transaction or reportable account).
  3. CBDT, Guidance Note on FATCA and CRS, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
  4. Zerodha support, Why did Zerodha send an email asking to update the Tax Identification Number (TIN)? (CVLKRA FATCA declaration deadline 31 October 2024) (as of 21 June 2026).

WebNotes Editorial Team prepares factual how-to guides based on publicly available regulatory documents and broker disclosures. WebNotes is not affiliated with Zerodha Broking Limited. Cross-border tax matters are subject to FEMA and applicable DTAA terms; for complex situations consult a chartered accountant or a financial adviser familiar with NRI taxation. Procedures and deadlines are subject to change; verify current requirements at support.zerodha.com before acting.

Related articles

Frequently asked questions

Why did Zerodha email me to update my Tax Identification Number?
The Income Tax Department asked Zerodha to collect a valid TIN from clients who had submitted an incorrect or invalid one. A valid TIN lets the broker meet its FATCA and CRS reporting duties under the Income Tax Rules and avoid penalties, so the email is a compliance step.
Where do I update my TIN on Zerodha?
Log in to account.zerodha.com/account and open the FATCA section, or go directly to signup.zerodha.com/rekyc/fatca. Answer Yes to having tax residence outside India, then enter your country of tax residence and your TIN for that country.
Who actually needs to give a TIN?
Anyone who is a tax resident of a country other than India: NRIs, OCI cardholders and foreign nationals. A resident Indian with no foreign tax residency answers No to the foreign-tax-residence question and is not asked for a TIN.
What if my country does not issue a TIN, or I am a seafarer?
If your country of residence does not issue a Tax Identification Number, or you are a seafarer, select No to the question about tax residence in another country and submit. You should not invent or guess a TIN where none is issued.
Where do I find my country's TIN format?
The OECD publishes TIN formats by country on its automatic exchange of information pages. Use the OECD tax-identification-numbers resource to confirm what your country’s TIN looks like before you enter it, so you submit a valid number.
What happens if I do not update an invalid TIN?
An invalid or missing TIN leaves the broker unable to complete its FATCA and CRS reporting, exposing both you and the broker to penalties under the Income Tax Act. NRIs whose status and declarations are not in order have separately faced trading blocks, so update it promptly.
Is updating the TIN the same as changing my residential status?
No. The TIN update is a tax-residency declaration under FATCA and CRS. Changing your residential status from resident to NRI is a separate, larger re-KYC and account-conversion process. If you have become an NRI, do that too; see the resident-to-NRI guide.

Reviewed and published by

WebNotes Editorial Team

The WebNotes Editorial Team covers Indian capital markets, payments infrastructure and retail investor procedures. Every article is fact-checked against primary sources, principally SEBI circulars and master directions, NPCI specifications and the official support documentation published by the intermediary in question. Drafts go through a second-pair-of-eyes review and a separate compliance read before publication, and revisions are tracked against the SEBI and NPCI rule changes referenced in the methodology section.

Last reviewed
Conflicts of interest
WebNotes is independent. No relationship with any broker, registrar or bank named in this article.