Form 41 under the Income-tax Act, 2025: how non-residents now furnish details to claim DTAA relief on the e-filing portal

A non-resident who wants a lower treaty rate on Indian income now has a new form number to learn. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, which applies from 1 April 2026 (tax year 2026-27), the particulars a non-resident must furnish to claim relief under a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) are filed in Form 41 on the income-tax e-filing portal. The Income Tax Department's Form 41 user manual says the form "must be filed when a nonresident wants to claim relief under a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) as provided in section 159" of the new Act, and that it can be submitted online only.

For readers who claimed treaty relief under the Income-tax Act, 1961, the closest predecessor was Form 10F, furnished alongside a Tax Residency Certificate (TRC). This explainer walks through what Form 41 asks for, who can file it, how it is verified, and how it fits with withholding in India, foreign tax credit abroad and repatriation through NRO, NRE and FCNR accounts. It covers six treaty partners for which Oquilia's treaty table holds rates: the United States, the United Kingdom, the UAE, Singapore, Canada and Australia.

FEMA / DTAA Position

Treaty relief and foreign-exchange control run on two separate statutes. The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 governs whether money can move: Section 3 restricts unauthorised dealings in foreign exchange, Section 5 covers current account transactions (generally permitted) and Section 6 covers capital account transactions, which need RBI permission unless specifically allowed. None of these sections decides how much income tax India collects; that is the job of the income-tax law and the relevant DTAA.

Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, the treaty-relief provision is section 159. The Form 41 user manual ties the form to two specific provisions: section 159(8), which refers to the certificate a non-resident must hold, and Rule 75, under which "the supporting information" is to be furnished "so that the claim for relief can be made correctly". The manual describes the purpose in one line: Form 41 "enables a nonresident to furnish the particulars that are required under section 159 and Rule 75".

Two documents therefore sit at the centre of any claim from tax year 2026-27 onwards, as the manual's prerequisites list shows:

Relief is never automatic. A treaty caps India's rate only for the income types and conditions its articles describe, and the claim rests on the documentation above. The table below shows the rates Oquilia's treaty table holds for six partners, with effective dates of each agreement.

The last column matters most for investors. On long-term gains from Indian shares, India keeps its taxing rights at 12.5% under each of these six treaties. Canada's Article 13 says so expressly for shares of Indian-resident companies, and Singapore's 2017 Protocol made gains on shares acquired from 1 April 2017 taxable in India. The relief that remains on such gains is a credit in the country of residence, not removal of Indian tax.

Treaty notes also carry conditions. Article 12 of the US and UK treaties applies a "make available" test to fees for technical services; the Singapore treaty has a Limitation of Benefits clause requiring substantial economic presence; and the UAE treaty note in Oquilia's table states that a UAE TRC requires proof of UAE establishment. Article 4 of the UK treaty holds the tie-breaker rule for dual residents. Each of these is checked against the certificate and the particulars you furnish in Form 41.

Tax Treatment in India

Form 41 does not compute tax. It is the evidence file that lets the payer, and later the assessing officer, apply a treaty rate instead of the domestic rate. Under the 1961 Act, Section 195 required withholding on payments to non-residents at the DTAA rate or the rate in the Act, whichever is lower. The new Act carries the same choice into section 159, which is why the residency certificate and Form 41 particulars matter before a payment is made, not after.

The domestic numbers that a treaty rate is compared against come from the Finance Act and Oquilia's rate configuration for FY 2025-26:

A worked example shows why the paperwork pays for itself. Take an NRI resident in the UK who earns Rs 2,00,000 of interest on an NRO fixed deposit in tax year 2026-27. NRO interest is withheld at 30% plus cess under domestic rules before treaty relief, as Oquilia's NRO account glossary entry records. With 4% cess, that is 31.2%, or Rs 62,400. The UK treaty caps interest at 15%, which is Rs 30,000. The difference, Rs 32,400, is the amount at stake when the bank has no valid certificate and Form 41 particulars on record.

The same comparison for a UAE resident uses the 12.5% treaty interest rate, giving Rs 25,000 on the same Rs 2,00,000. For a US resident holding portfolio shares, the dividend cap is 25%, rising to the 15% rate only where the holder has at least 10% of the voting stock, under Article 10. You can run your own numbers on the NRI tax calculator and the DTAA benefit calculator.

Filing mechanics, per the user manual, run in 16 steps. The core sequence is:

1. Log in with your PAN, or with your NR ID if you registered as a "Non-Resident Taxpayer" without a PAN.
2. Go to e-File > Income Tax Forms > File Income Tax Forms.
3. Open the "Forms as per Income Tax Act 2025" tab, search for Form 41 and click File Now.
4. Select the Tax Year (T.Y), click Continue, then Let's Get Started.
5. Complete Part A (Particulars of the Applicant), Part B (Residential Information) and the Declaration and Verification panel; each must show "Completed".
6. Preview, click Proceed To E-Verify and confirm.
7. Verify by EVC or DSC (PAN login) or by OTPs sent to your registered email and mobile (NR ID login).

On success the portal shows a Transaction ID and an Acknowledgement Receipt Number (ARN), and sends confirmation to the registered email and mobile. The user manual gives no filing deadline, so the safe working assumption is to file for the relevant tax year before income is paid and keep the ARN with your TDS paperwork.

Tax Treatment Abroad

India's withholding is only half the picture. For several of the six treaties, Oquilia's treaty table records how the country of residence relieves Indian tax already paid, or the condition that must be met first:

The credit approach explains why a correctly documented Form 41 matters even where the home country would ultimately credit Indian tax. If India withholds Rs 62,400 at 31.2% instead of Rs 30,000 at 15% on the UK example above, the home country may credit only the tax India was entitled to under the treaty. The excess Rs 32,400 must then be recovered from India by filing a return and claiming a refund, which ties up cash until the return for tax year 2026-27 is processed.

On capital gains, the relief abroad does the heavy lifting. Because India retains taxing rights at 12.5% on long-term equity gains under all six treaties, a resident of Canada, the US or Australia who sells Indian shares pays Indian tax first and then claims credit at home, subject to that country's own limits. The foreign tax credit calculator models the offset for a given income and rate.

One practical point follows from the Form 41 prerequisites. The form asks for your Tax Identification Number in your country of residence, and the certificate under section 159(8) is issued by that country's tax authority. Both should match the residence you claim for the same tax year; a certificate covering a different period, or a TIN from a previous country of residence, is the kind of mismatch that can lead to the treaty rate being refused.

Repatriation Mechanics

Once tax is settled, the money still has to move under FEMA. The account the income lands in decides how freely it can leave India, which is why treaty planning and account choice go together. The repatriation calculator walks through the steps by source of funds.

The NRO row is where Form 41 and repatriation meet. Rent, dividends, pension and interest earned in India typically land in an NRO account, and the bank withholds tax on NRO interest before anything can be remitted. A valid certificate and Form 41 particulars bring that withholding down to the treaty rate, for example from 31.2% to 15% for a UK resident, which raises the amount that can move abroad within the USD 1 million annual limit set under the RBI's FEMA framework (rbi.org.in).

Remittance paperwork is separate from Form 41. Under the 1961 rules, NRO remittances were reported in Form 15CA, with a chartered accountant's certificate in Form 15CB where required; see Oquilia's Form 15CA / 15CB glossary entry. With the Income-tax Act, 2025 in force from 1 April 2026, confirm the current form names and numbers on the e-filing portal before you instruct your bank, as Form 41 itself shows that familiar 1961-era numbers have changed.

By contrast, NRE and FCNR balances are funded from foreign earnings and are fully repatriable, so treaty relief rarely arises on their interest at all. For transfers between the two types, Oquilia's June 2026 report on the NRO to NRE transfer rules explains what the FEMA Deposit (Sixth Amendment) Regulations changed.

FAQ

What is Form 41 under the Income-tax Act, 2025?

Form 41 is the e-filing form in which a non-resident furnishes the particulars needed to claim relief under a DTAA, as provided in section 159 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 and Rule 75, according to the Income Tax Department's user manual. It has three panels: Part A, Part B and Declaration and Verification.

Does Form 41 replace Form 10F?

Under the Income-tax Act, 1961, non-residents furnished such particulars in Form 10F alongside a TRC. The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from 1 April 2026 (tax year 2026-27), and Form 41 sits under the portal's "Forms as per Income Tax Act 2025" tab, so it is the form to use for claims under the new Act.

Can I file Form 41 without a PAN?

Yes. The user manual says non-residents who do not hold and are not required to hold a PAN can file through a separate login created for the "Non-Resident Taxpayer" category, using an NR ID. They verify the form by OTPs sent to their registered email and mobile, rather than by EVC or DSC.

What documents do I need before I start?

Per the user manual, you need a registered e-filing account, a completed "My Profile" including address, your Tax Identification Number in your country of residence, a copy of the certificate referred to in section 159(8), and, if you choose DSC verification on a PAN login, a valid, registered, unexpired DSC.

Is there a deadline for filing Form 41?

The Income Tax Department's Form 41 user manual gives no filing deadline. Because the form is selected by Tax Year, file it for the year in which the income is paid, ideally before the payer withholds tax, and keep the Transaction ID and Acknowledgement Receipt Number.

Does filing Form 41 make my capital gains tax-free in India?

No. On long-term gains from Indian shares, India retains taxing rights at 12.5% under the US, UK, UAE, Singapore, Canada and Australia treaties in Oquilia's table. Relief on such gains usually comes as a credit in your country of residence, and any treaty relief depends on the specific article and your documentation.

Can I still claim a refund if excess tax was withheld?

Where tax was withheld at the domestic rate, such as 31.2% on NRO interest, instead of a lower treaty rate, the excess can generally be claimed by filing a return for that tax year with the treaty claim and supporting documents. On Rs 2,00,000 of interest for a UK resident, that excess is Rs 32,400.

This explainer is for information only and is based on the Income Tax Department's Form 41 user manual and Oquilia's treaty and rate tables as of 2 November 2026. Treaty relief depends on the specific article, your residence and your documents.