Form 44: How to Claim Foreign Tax Credit in India

Form 44 is the form you file to claim credit in India for tax you paid abroad, such as the 25% US tax withheld on dividends. It replaces Form 67 for foreign income earned from 1 April 2026, that is, Tax Year 2026-27 onward. Only residents file it, online only. A chartered accountant must verify it if your foreign tax for the year is ₹1 lakh or more. File it before your return; the legal deadline is 12 months from the end of the tax year.

Note: Form 44 was earlier Form 67. If you are claiming credit for FY 2025-26 or an earlier year, including through a revised or updated return for those years, you still use Form 67. See the Form 67 guide. For a side-by-side of what changed, see Form 67 is now Form 44.

Table of contents

• What is Form 44?
• Who needs to file Form 44?
• When is Form 44 due?
• What documents do you need for Form 44?
• When does Form 44 need an accountant?
• How to file Form 44 on the e-filing portal
• Can you claim full credit for all foreign tax paid?
• Do you need Form 44 if you paid no tax abroad?
• What is Form 45?
• Common mistakes with Form 44

What is Form 44?

Form 44 is the "Statement of income from a country or specified territory outside India and Foreign Tax Credit", filed under Rule 76 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 (CBDT Form 44 and 45 FAQs). It is how you tell the Income Tax Department what you earned abroad, how much tax was taken there, and how much credit you are claiming in India.

India taxes residents on their worldwide income, and its tax treaties (DTAAs) let you set foreign tax against your Indian tax on the same income. Without Form 44, that credit is not allowed. For how treaty relief works, see the DTAA guide.

Who needs to file Form 44?

A resident taxpayer who has foreign income and wants credit for foreign tax paid on it must file Form 44 (FAQ Q2 and Q3). Common cases for Indian investors:

• US dividends on shares or US-listed ETFs, with 25% withheld under the India-US treaty
• Dividends from other countries' shares, with that country's withholding
• Salary taxed abroad while you were resident in India, for example on a short assignment
• Interest on foreign bank deposits, where tax was withheld

You also file Form 44 if foreign tax you already claimed as credit is later refunded to you, for example after a loss is carried back abroad or a foreign return is revised. That goes in Part C.

Note: Non-residents do not file Form 44. If you were NRI for the year, foreign income is not taxed in India, so there is no credit to claim.

When is Form 44 due?

Form 44 must be filed within 12 months from the end of the tax year in which the foreign income was offered to tax in India, as long as your return for that year was filed by the original or belated due date (FAQ Q4). For Tax Year 2026-27, that is 31 March 2028.

If you report the income in an updated return, the part of Form 44 that relates to it must be filed on or before the date you file the updated return.

In practice, file Form 44 before your income tax return. The return asks for the credit you are claiming, and a return processed before Form 44 is on record can come back with the credit denied, which then takes a rectification or an updated return to fix.

What documents do you need for Form 44?

Form 44 must have a certificate or statement attached that shows the nature of the income and the tax deducted or paid on it (FAQ Q8). It can come from any one of three sources:

1. The tax authority of the foreign country
2. The person who deducted the tax, such as your broker or employer
3. You, as a statement you sign yourself

A statement you sign yourself is valid only with proof: an acknowledgement of online payment, a bank counterfoil or a challan where you paid the tax, or proof of deduction where it was withheld.

For a resident with US investments, that usually means:

• Form 1042-S from your US broker, which shows US-source dividends and the tax withheld for non-US account holders
• Your broker's dividend or cash transactions report, to split the calendar-year 1042-S into India's April to March year
• Exchange rates used to convert the income and tax to rupees (see the SBI TTBR explained)

Also keep the treaty you are relying on, details of any dispute about the foreign tax, and details of any refund of foreign tax already credited, because the form asks for them (FAQ Q10).

Note: Foreign tax statements follow the foreign country's year. The US year runs January to December, so dividends from January to March belong to the previous Indian tax year. Use monthly statements to split them.

When does Form 44 need an accountant?

This is the main change from Form 67. Form 44 must be verified by an accountant in two cases (FAQ Q9):

1. The taxpayer is a company.
2. In every other case, the foreign tax paid outside India for the tax year is ₹1 lakh or more.

"Accountant" here means a chartered accountant who holds a valid certificate of practice. It cannot be you, a relative, your employee or someone with financial ties to you (section 515 of the Income-tax Act, 2025). Form 67 had no such requirement; you verified it yourself.

Example. Suppose you hold US shares that paid $5,000 of dividends in Tax Year 2026-27, with $1,250 withheld. At about ₹88 to the dollar, the US tax is roughly ₹1.1 lakh, which is over ₹1 lakh, so a chartered accountant must verify your Form 44. If the dividends were $4,000 and the tax $1,000 (about ₹88,000), you could verify it yourself.

Note: The ₹1 lakh test is on foreign tax paid, not on foreign income. Count tax from every country for the year together.

How to file Form 44 on the e-filing portal

Form 44 can be filed only online, on the e-filing portal, with your own login (FAQ Q5 and Q6). It has three parts (FAQ Q7):

The steps:

1. Log in to the e-filing portal and go to e-File, then Income Tax Forms, then File Income Tax Forms.
2. Choose Form 44 and select the tax year.
3. Check Part A, which carries your details.
4. In Part B, add a row for each country and each type of income: the income offered to tax in India, the foreign tax paid, the Indian tax on that income, the treaty article you rely on, and the credit you claim.
5. Fill Part C only if foreign tax you already claimed was refunded.
6. Attach the certificate or statement and the proof of payment or deduction.
7. If your foreign tax is ₹1 lakh or more, send the form to your chartered accountant on the portal to verify. Otherwise, verify it yourself with a digital signature or an electronic verification code.
8. Submit, download the acknowledgement, and then file your return with the same figures in its foreign income and tax relief schedules.

Example. Suppose you are resident and in the 30% slab, and in Tax Year 2026-27 you received US dividends worth ₹84,000 gross, with 25% (₹21,000) withheld in the US.

The result: you pay ₹5,208 in India on the dividends instead of ₹26,208

The ₹21,000 of US tax is under ₹1 lakh, so you can verify this Form 44 yourself. In Part B, this is one row: country USA, nature of income dividends, income ₹84,000, foreign tax ₹21,000, Indian tax ₹26,208, credit claimed ₹21,000. For how foreign dividends are taxed in the first place, see dividend tax on foreign stocks and ETFs.

Can you claim full credit for all foreign tax paid?

Not always. The credit is the lower of the foreign tax paid on an item of income and the Indian tax on that same income. It is set against the tax on that income, not your whole tax bill, and any foreign tax above the Indian tax is not refunded.

Example. Suppose the same ₹84,000 of US dividends from the example above, but your income puts you in the 10% slab.

The result: you owe no Indian tax on the dividends, but ₹12,264 of US tax is lost

So the credit is worth most to people in higher slabs. For how US dividend tax works inside Irish UCITS ETFs instead, see dividend withholding tax on Irish UCITS.

Do you need Form 44 if you paid no tax abroad?

No. Form 44 is only for claiming credit, so if no foreign tax was paid, there is nothing to file. That is common for:

• Selling US shares or ETFs. The US generally does not tax capital gains of non-resident investors, so there is no US tax to credit.
• Accumulating funds. If a fund paid you nothing during the year, there was no income and no withholding.
• Irish UCITS ETFs. Ireland does not withhold tax on payments to non-resident investors. The 15% US tax inside the fund is paid by the fund, not by you, so you cannot claim it.

Note: Skipping Form 44 does not mean skipping Schedule FA. Every foreign asset you held as a resident and ordinarily resident still goes in Schedule FA, whether or not you paid any foreign tax. See the Schedule FA guide.

What is Form 45?

Form 45 is a new form for claiming credit for foreign tax that was under dispute when you filed Form 44, once the dispute is settled (CBDT Form 44 and 45 FAQs).

• When: within six months from the end of the month in which the dispute is finally settled.
• Condition: Form 44 for that tax year must already be filed. Part B of Form 45 is filled in from it and cannot be edited.
• Attach: evidence of the settlement and of payment of the foreign tax, an undertaking that no refund has been or will be claimed, and an undertaking that no credit has been or will be claimed in any other year.
• Accountant: needed if the related Form 44 needed one.

Most individual investors never need Form 45. It applies only when the foreign tax itself was in dispute.

Common mistakes with Form 44

• Filing it after your return. Credit can be denied if the return is processed first. File Form 44 before the return.
• Missing the accountant requirement. If your foreign tax for the year is ₹1 lakh or more, a self-verified Form 44 is not enough.
• Using the wrong form for the year. Form 44 is for Tax Year 2026-27 onward. A revised or updated return for FY 2025-26 or earlier still uses Form 67.
• Mixing up the years. Foreign statements follow the foreign year. Split them into India's April to March year before you fill Part B.
• No W-8BEN with your US broker. Without it, the US withholds 30% instead of the treaty rate of 25%. The extra 5% is generally not creditable in India, so it has to be reclaimed from the US.
• Figures that do not match the return. The income and tax in Form 44 must match the foreign income and tax relief schedules in your return.

About Paasa

Paasa is a global investing platform built for Indian and Asian investors. It gives anyone direct access to stocks, ETFs and UCITS funds on their home exchanges across the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

• W-8BEN handled for you: Paasa files the W-8BEN form for its users, so US dividends are withheld at the treaty rate of 25% rather than 30%.
• Year-end tax documents: dividend and withholding figures come in one set of reports across every market, ready for Form 44 and your return.
• A dedicated relationship manager: one point of contact for questions about your foreign income at filing time.