What is ‘The One Big, Beautiful Bill’? How will NRIs be the most affected?

Indian living in the US and sending the earned income back home are set to face a big blow as the proposal, officially titled ‘The One Big Beautiful Bill’, introduced a 5% tax on all remittances sent outside the US by individuals who are not American citizens.

The financial impact of the remittance tax could be substantial, as per reports. For example, if an Indian in US wants to transfer ₹1 lakh to India, then they'll have to pay ₹5,000 to Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a department responsible for calculating and collecting taxes in US.

What is One Big Beautiful Bill?

The proposed formation of taxes and US policies, the bill, as per Ways & Means Chairman Jason Smith, “Pro-family, pro-worker tax provisions are the heart of President Trump’s economic agenda that puts working families ahead of Washington and will create jobs, grow wages and investment, and help usher in a new golden age of prosperity. Ways and Means Republicans have spent two years preparing for this moment, and we will deliver for the American people.”

Why Indians hit the most?

Indians make up the second largest foreign-born group in the United States, after Mexicans, accounting for 6 percent of all 47.8 million foreign-born residents as of 2023, according to Migration Policy Institute (MPI).

According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the United States is home to nearly 4.5 million overseas Indians, including approximately 3.2 million Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs).

A majority of them reside in the U.S. on temporary work visas such as the H-1B and L-1, or hold green cards but have not yet obtained American citizenship.