The short answer
A net worth certificate states what a person owns less what they owe on a stated date. The calculator beside this guide sets it out in three blocks, each subtotalled: immovable assets (A), movable assets (B) and liabilities (C). Net worth is A + B less C, printed under the three subtotals it is struck from. On the illustrative statement below, total assets of ₹ 2,04,15,000 less liabilities of ₹ 42,30,000 leave a net worth of ₹ 1,61,85,000.
It is asked for by an embassy with a visa file, by a bank for finance, a bank guarantee or a student loan, and by a tender authority with a bid. Before signing, the CA examines the evidence behind each head, settles the valuation basis and date each figure is on, and, where the file is going abroad, names the exchange rate and the date it was taken. A UDIN is then generated against the certificate.
The rule in plain words
No statute governs the statement. A net worth certificate is normally required to be issued and signed by a practising Chartered Accountant, but that requirement comes from whoever is asking for it, an embassy, a bank or a tender authority, and not from statute; for many other purposes a net worth statement can be self declared. Where an ICAI member does issue it, the evidence behind each head has to be examined and a UDIN generated against it.
The statement runs to thirteen heads. Block A is one head, immovable property: residential, commercial, land, plots and agricultural land. Block B is eleven heads: bank accounts, fixed and recurring deposits, provident fund, NPS, life insurance policies, post office schemes, mutual funds, shares, vehicles, jewellery and partnership firms. Block C is one head, liabilities: home, car, personal, education and business loans, cards and ODCC. Each block is subtotalled before assets are totalled as A + B and net worth struck as A + B less C, so the reader can follow the arithmetic without redoing it. In the issued certificate each head has a lettered annexure behind it listing the items that make it up.
The format rests on ICAI guidance only for its elements: the ICAI Guidance Note on Reports or Certificates for Special Purposes requires no standard format, and none of its four illustrations is an individual's net worth statement. The three subtotalled blocks are the calculator's presentation of the arithmetic; read the current Guidance Note on the ICAI site before settling the wording. For a visa or a foreign embassy, the ICAI Handbook of October 2025 drafts the certificate as Annexure III(ii), with nine procedures and a Statement that carries the basis of valuation, and a turnover and net worth certificate for a tender or bid is Annexure III(ix) and III(x). No ICAI publication drafts the net worth certificate for bank finance, a bank guarantee, a student or education loan or a general purpose, so for those the wording is settled on the Guidance Note (Revised 2016).
The worked statement, head by head
An illustrative individual's assets as the calculator lays them out, run on the figures its Load a worked file button fills: immovable property of ₹ 1,20,00,000 under A and ten of the eleven movable heads entered under B, with nothing under partnership firms.
| Head | Figure carried | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Immovable Properties | market valuation | ₹ 1,20,00,000 |
| Immovable assets (A) | subtotal | ₹ 1,20,00,000 |
| Bank Accounts | balance on the statement date | ₹ 8,50,000 |
| Fixed and Recurring Deposits | amount | ₹ 12,00,000 |
| Provident Fund (PF) | amount | ₹ 6,75,000 |
| National Pension System (NPS) | current value | ₹ 3,20,000 |
| Life Insurance Policies | surrender value | ₹ 1,45,000 |
| Post Office Schemes | amount | ₹ 2,00,000 |
| Mutual Funds | current value | ₹ 18,60,000 |
| Shares and Stocks | total market value | ₹ 9,40,000 |
| Vehicles | market value | ₹ 7,25,000 |
| Jewellery | estimated value | ₹ 15,00,000 |
| Partnership Firms | capital balance | ₹ 0 |
| Movable assets (B) | subtotal | ₹ 84,15,000 |
| Total assets (A + B) | A + B | ₹ 2,04,15,000 |
A head at nil prints here for completeness; the calculator's summary shows it only once Show all 13 heads is pressed. The second column is the figure each head carries, which is what a reviewer queries.
The same statement with the liabilities side
The same individual with ₹ 42,30,000 outstanding under C, and the result also stated in USD at ₹ 88.50 per USD, a rate typed in for the example as a CA types the rate being certified.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Immovable assets (A) | ₹ 1,20,00,000 |
| Movable assets (B) | ₹ 84,15,000 |
| Total assets (A + B) | ₹ 2,04,15,000 |
| Liabilities (C), amount outstanding | ₹ 42,30,000 |
| Net worth (A + B less C) | ₹ 1,61,85,000 |
| Liabilities against total assets | 20.72% |
| Net worth in USD at ₹ 88.50 per USD | USD 182,881.36 |
No rate is fetched and none is assumed: the rupee figure is divided by the rate typed, and the certificate states that rate and the date it was taken, usually the RBI or FBIL reference rate for the date.
What a CA checks, and what gets asked
The valuation basis decides the answer. Cost and market value give different figures for the same property or the same jewellery, and the certificate has to say which was used and on what date. The calculator names the figure each head carries, market valuation for property, surrender value for a life policy, total market value for listed shares, estimated value for jewellery and the capital balance for a partnership interest, but it takes the amount as typed and cannot tell which basis it is on.
Which block a head sits in matters even where net worth does not move. The same money entered under mutual funds rather than immovable property leaves total assets and net worth where they were but shifts both the A and the B subtotal, and the subtotals are the figures a reader checks. The calculator carries a partner's interest under partnership firms at the capital balance in the firm, with the share held.
Each head has to be supported: bank statements, deposit certificates, the valuer's report, the folio statement, the loan sanction and outstanding balance. Totalling unvouched figures proves nothing. Assets held jointly, or standing in the name of a spouse, HUF or minor, belong in the statement only to the extent of the applicant's own interest in them, so a flat owned in equal shares with a spouse goes in at half its value. Establishing that share is the CA's work; the calculator adds whatever figure it is given.
Where the file is going abroad, net worth is also stated in a second currency at a rate the CA supplies. The calculator divides by the rate typed, at the precision it prints, so the two figures on screen reconcile and a reader can reproduce one from the other: ₹ 1,61,85,000 at ₹ 88.50 per USD is USD 182,881.36.
Where liabilities exceed assets, the statement is still complete. It reports a negative net worth, labelled as an excess of liabilities over assets and printed without a minus sign, rather than floored at nil; the second currency figure is then a deficit, and liabilities against total assets is still printed while there are any assets to set them against.
What changes for tax year 2026-27 under the 2025 Act
Nothing in the statement. No Finance Act stands behind a net worth statement: what governs it is the form required by whoever asked for it and the evidence behind each head, which is why the calculator's basis names a method and leaves the year off. The Income-tax Act, 2025 does not govern it either, so tax year 2026-27 changes neither the thirteen heads nor the arithmetic. The dates that matter are on the certificate itself: the statement date the balances are taken at, the date of each valuation and the date of the exchange rate.
What the calculator does
The calculator beside this guide takes an amount under each of the thirteen heads, subtotals A, B and C, and prints net worth or the excess of liabilities over assets, with liabilities as a percentage of total assets and, optionally, the result in a second currency at a rate you type. It runs in your browser and uploads nothing. It certifies nothing: it does not examine the evidence, choose between cost and market value, value a property or jewellery, apportion a joint asset, fetch a rate or generate a UDIN. Those are the CA's, and so is the certificate.
To take away
- Net worth is immovable assets plus movable assets less liabilities; the calculator prints it under the three subtotals so the arithmetic can be followed without being redone.
- On the worked statement, total assets of ₹ 2,04,15,000 less liabilities of ₹ 42,30,000 leave a net worth of ₹ 1,61,85,000, with liabilities at 20.72% of total assets.
- The certificate has to say which valuation basis was used and on what date, and state the rate and its date behind any second currency figure.
- The need for a CA's signature comes from the embassy, bank or tender authority asking, not from statute, and where an ICAI member issues it, the evidence behind each head has to be examined and a UDIN generated against it.
- A joint asset, or one in the name of a spouse, HUF or minor, goes in only to the extent of the applicant's own interest.