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Form 10F, now Form 41: claiming a treaty rate as a non-resident

A declaration of particulars that supplements a residency certificate. It is not relief in itself, and it does nothing about a payment already made.

Reviewed by Deepak Middha, Chartered Accountant (ICAI membership no. 125458) · September 2026Editorial policy
Quick answer

It is a self-declaration a non-resident files to claim relief under a double taxation treaty. From 1 April 2026 it is Form 41, under section 159; before that it was Form 10F under sections 90 and 90A. It supplements a tax residency certificate — it does not replace one — and it is filed electronically on the e-filing portal.

Your deadline
Before payment— the payer decides what to withhold on the documents in front of them that day

If you miss it: Filing afterwards affects the next payment, not the one already made. Tax withheld at the domestic rate is recovered only by filing an Indian return for the year and claiming the refund.

Form 10F under ss. 90/90A up to 2025-26 · Form 41 under s. 159(8) from 2026-27 · checked 10 September 2026

Key takeaways

  • Form 10F became Form 41 from tax year 2026-27. Form 10FA became Form 42 and Form 10FB became Form 43.
  • It is a supplement, not a substitute: without a tax residency certificate from your own country, the declaration does nothing.
  • It is filed electronically, and a non-resident without a PAN can register on the portal specifically to file it.
  • It is annual. A residency certificate covers a period, and the declaration is tied to it.
  • Filing it late does not recover tax already withheld at the higher rate — that is a refund claim in your return.
Which Act governs your notice

The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaced the Income-tax Act, 1961 on 1 April 2026 and renumbered almost everything. It did not renumber your notice. Under the repeal-and-savings provision, an assessment, reassessment, appeal or penalty for a tax year before 1 April 2026 stays under the 1961 Act — even where the notice itself arrives after that date. So the number that governs the letter in your hand is decided by the year the letter is about, not by the date it was posted. Both numbers are given on every page here, with the governing one first.

“The provisions of the repealed Income-tax Act shall continue to apply to any proceeding pending on the date of commencement of this Act and to any proceedings initiated on or after the 1st April, 2026 (including notices, assessment, reassessment, recomputation, rectification, penalty, reference, revision and appeals) in respect of any tax year beginning before the 1st April, 2026.”
Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 536 — repeal and savings. The words that decide this are “or any proceedings initiated on or after the 1st April, 2026”: a new notice about an old year is still an old-Act notice.
Notice about 2025-26 or earlier
The Income-tax Act, 1961 numbering is the one that governs it — s. 143(2), s. 156, s. 220, Form 26AS, Form 16. That is most letters arriving in 2026.
Notice about 2026-27 or later
The Income-tax Act, 2025 numbering governs — s. 270(8), s. 289, s. 411, Form 168, Form 130. In practice, letters from 2027 onward.

What the declaration is actually for

A double taxation treaty between India and your country of residence may tax a particular kind of income at a lower rate than Indian domestic law would, or not at all. To get that treatment at source, the payer has to be satisfied you are entitled to it — and the evidence of entitlement is a tax residency certificate issued by the authority in your country of residence.

The problem is that residency certificates are issued in whatever form each country uses, and they frequently do not contain everything Indian law requires to be established. The declaration fills the gap: it states the particulars the certificate omits — your status, nationality, the period of residential status claimed, your address in that country, and your tax identification number there.

So the two documents work together. The certificate proves residence; the declaration supplies the particulars. Neither works alone, and a payer who accepts one without the other is taking a risk that is ultimately theirs rather than yours.

ℹ️
Form 10F, Form 41 — and which is yours

From tax year 2026-27 the declaration is Form 41, made under section 159(8) of the Income-tax Act, 2025. Until then it was Form 10F under sections 90 and 90A of the 1961 Act. Form 10FA, the application for a residency certificate where India is your country of residence, became Form 42, and Form 10FB, the certificate itself, became Form 43. The substance is unchanged. Every page currently ranking for this subject still says Form 10F.

What it does not do, which is most of what people expect

That last point is worth dwelling on if the amounts are significant. A treaty rate is not available merely because a certificate exists — questions about who beneficially owns the income, and whether the recipient has genuine substance in the treaty country, sit behind every treaty claim and are not answered by any of these forms.

  • It does not itself grant treaty relief. It is a declaration of particulars, and the relief comes from the treaty read with the residency certificate.
  • It does not replace a residency certificate. Filing the declaration with no certificate behind it achieves nothing, and a payer relying on it alone is exposed.
  • It does not bind the department. A payer applying a treaty rate on the strength of these documents can still be examined on whether the treaty applied at all.
  • It does not operate retrospectively. Tax already deducted at the higher rate is not recovered by filing the declaration afterwards.
  • It does not settle beneficial ownership or substance questions, which are where treaty claims are most often challenged.

How it is filed, including without a PAN

It is filed electronically through the e-filing portal, and the useful thing most pages omit is that a non-resident who has no PAN and is not required to have one can still file it.

  1. 1Obtain the tax residency certificate from the tax authority in your country of residence, for the period concerned. This is the part that takes time, and in several countries it takes weeks.
  2. 2Register on the e-filing portal. Where you hold a PAN, register against it. Where you do not, there is a registration category for non-residents who neither hold nor are required to hold a PAN, which takes basic details plus identity proof, address proof and a copy of the residency certificate.
  3. 3File the declaration under the income tax forms section of the portal, attaching the residency certificate.
  4. 4Verify it. Where you registered without a PAN, verification is by digital signature certificate — which is also what makes the whole process workable from outside India.
  5. 5Give the filed declaration and the residency certificate to the payer, before the payment is made.
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The timing point that actually costs money

None of this helps a payment that has already been made. The payer decides what to withhold at the moment of payment, on the documents in front of them then. A declaration filed the week after is a declaration for the next payment. Where income is recurring — dividends, interest, royalties — that means getting the documents in place before the first payment date of the year, not after the first deduction has surprised you.

If tax has already been withheld at the higher rate

This is the question the ranking pages do not answer, and it is the one people arrive with. The declaration cannot fix it. What can is a return.

Where tax has been withheld at the domestic rate and the treaty entitled you to less, the excess is recoverable by filing an Indian return for that year, claiming the treaty rate in it, and claiming credit for the tax withheld. The refund follows processing. It is slower and more troublesome than getting it right at source, but it is not lost.

Two things routinely stop that refund arriving, and both are worth checking before you file. The withholding has to appear against your PAN in your tax credit statement — which requires the payer to have both deposited it and reported it correctly, and a payer handling a non-resident deduction for the first time often gets one or both wrong. And the refund has to reach a pre-validated bank account, which is where non-resident refunds most commonly stall.

Filing a return in India purely to claim a refund is a real cost in time and fees. On a small over-deduction it may not be worth it; on a significant one it plainly is. That calculation is worth doing before you decide, rather than discovering it after.

It is an annual exercise, not a one-off

A residency certificate is issued for a period, and the declaration is tied to that period. When the period ends, both have to be renewed — a fresh certificate from your own authority, and a fresh declaration filed here.

That produces a predictable annual failure: income continues, the certificate lapses quietly, the payer notices before you do, and withholding reverts to the domestic rate on the next payment. Where the income is recurring, the renewal belongs in a calendar rather than in memory, and it should start well before the certificate expires because the foreign authority sets its own timetable.

The documents, under both numbering systems
What it isUp to 2025-26From 2026-27
Self-declaration of particulars by a non-residentForm 10FForm 41
Application for a residency certificate, where India is your country of residenceForm 10FAForm 42
The residency certificate issued by the Indian authorityForm 10FBForm 43
The provision behind themss. 90 and 90A, Income-tax Act, 1961s. 159, Income-tax Act, 2025

A residency certificate from your own country's authority is what the declaration supplements. Forms 42 and 43 are the Indian equivalents, used when India is the country certifying residence.

Worked examples

Example 1: A first dividend, withheld at the domestic rate

Resident of
A treaty country
Dividend
₹6,00,000
Treaty rate
Lower than the domestic rate
Documents in place at payment
None
  1. 1.The company withheld at the domestic rate, because on the payment date it had no certificate and no declaration in front of it. That was the correct thing for it to do.
  2. 2.Filing the declaration now does not recover the difference. It affects the next payment.
  3. 3.The excess is recovered by filing an Indian return for the year, claiming the treaty rate and credit for the tax withheld.
  4. 4.Before filing, confirm the withholding appears against the PAN in the tax credit statement, and that a bank account is pre-validated for the refund.
Result

Recoverable, but through a return rather than a form — and at the cost of a filing that would not have been needed had the documents been in place before the first payment date.

Example 2: A certificate that lapsed without anybody noticing

Income
Recurring royalties, quarterly
Residency certificate
Expired at the end of the calendar year
Noticed
When the next payment arrived short
  1. 1.The certificate covers a period. When it expired, the payer no longer had evidence of treaty entitlement and reverted to the domestic rate.
  2. 2.The payer was right to do so — relying on an expired certificate would leave the exposure with them.
  3. 3.A fresh certificate has to come from the foreign authority, on its timetable, and a fresh declaration filed here afterwards.
  4. 4.Meanwhile every payment in the gap is withheld at the domestic rate, and each one is a refund claim later.
Result

The commonest failure in this area is not a wrong form, it is an expired one. Where income recurs, the renewal belongs in a calendar and should begin well before expiry.

Example 3: A non-resident with no PAN, filing anyway

Status
Non-resident, no PAN, not required to hold one
Income
A one-off payment from an Indian company
Obstacle assumed
That a PAN was required first
  1. 1.A PAN is not a precondition. The portal has a registration category for non-residents who neither hold nor are required to hold a PAN.
  2. 2.Registration takes basic details with identity proof, address proof and the residency certificate.
  3. 3.The declaration is then filed and verified with a digital signature certificate, which does not depend on an Indian mobile number.
  4. 4.The filed declaration and the certificate go to the payer before payment.
Result

Worth stating because the assumption that a PAN is needed first causes people to give up on the treaty rate entirely and accept the domestic deduction. It is not.

More questions about this page

Is Form 10F now Form 41?▼
Yes, from tax year 2026-27. The self-declaration by a non-resident claiming treaty relief is Form 41, made under section 159(8) of the Income-tax Act, 2025. Form 10FA, the application for a residency certificate where India certifies residence, became Form 42, and Form 10FB, that certificate, became Form 43. The substance did not change — and every page currently ranking for this subject still says Form 10F.
Do I need a tax residency certificate as well as Form 10F?▼
Yes. The declaration supplements a residency certificate; it does not replace one. The certificate, issued by the tax authority in your country of residence, is the evidence of residence. The declaration supplies the particulars Indian law requires that most foreign certificates do not contain — status, nationality, the period claimed, your address there and your tax identification number. Neither document works alone.
Can I file Form 10F without a PAN?▼
Yes. The e-filing portal has a registration category for non-residents who neither hold nor are required to hold a PAN. Registration takes basic details together with identity proof, address proof and a copy of your residency certificate, and the declaration is then filed and verified using a digital signature certificate — which is what makes the whole process workable from outside India without an Indian mobile number.
What if tax was already deducted at the higher rate?▼
The declaration does not recover it, because the payer decides what to withhold on the documents in front of them at the moment of payment. The excess is recovered by filing an Indian return for that year, claiming the treaty rate and credit for the tax withheld, with the refund following processing. Before filing, check that the withholding appears against your PAN in the tax credit statement and that a bank account is pre-validated, because those are the two things that most often stop a non-resident refund.
How long is Form 10F valid?▼
It is tied to the period of the residency certificate it supplements, so in practice it is an annual exercise. When the certificate expires, the payer no longer has evidence of treaty entitlement and correctly reverts to the domestic rate — which is the commonest failure in this area. Where income recurs, start the renewal well before expiry, because the foreign authority issuing the certificate works to its own timetable.
Does filing Form 10F guarantee the treaty rate?▼
No. It is a declaration of particulars, not a grant of relief. The relief comes from the treaty itself, and a treaty claim can still be examined on whether the treaty applied at all — questions of beneficial ownership and of genuine substance in the treaty country sit behind every claim and are not answered by any of these forms. Where the amounts are significant, that is worth advice rather than a form.
Who has to file it — me or the payer?▼
You do. It is your declaration about your own residence and particulars. What the payer does is rely on it, together with your residency certificate, when deciding what to withhold — and because the exposure for getting that wrong is ultimately theirs, a payer will generally want both documents in hand before the payment date rather than after it.
Which section applies — 90 or 159?▼
The year decides. For tax year 2025-26 and earlier, treaty relief runs under sections 90 and 90A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, with the declaration in Form 10F. From tax year 2026-27 it is section 159 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, with the declaration in Form 41 under section 159(8). The mechanism is identical under both.
Is Form 10F needed if my income is not taxable in India at all?▼
If a payment is genuinely outside Indian tax altogether, the treaty is not what is doing the work and the declaration is beside the point. But payers are cautious, and a payer uncertain whether a payment is chargeable will often withhold anyway. Where that is the position, the cleaner route is usually a certificate for nil deduction rather than a treaty declaration, because it gives the payer an instruction from the department rather than an assertion from you.
Do I need a Chartered Accountant to file it?▼
For the declaration itself, generally not — it is a statement of particulars you already know, and the filing is straightforward once you are registered. Where professional help earns its cost is the question behind it: whether the treaty applies to your income at all, at what rate, and whether the position would survive examination. That is advice, and the form is not a substitute for it.

Official sources checked

The statutes, rules and regulator pages the statements on this page were checked against.

You are here

Claiming a treaty rate on Indian income as a non-resident

What to do next

  1. 1

    If the payer is uncertain whether the payment is taxable at all

    A certificate from the department is a better answer than a declaration from you, because it instructs them rather than persuading them.

    Lower TDS certificate →
  2. 2

    If money now has to leave India

    A remittance abroad has its own two forms, and whether a Chartered Accountant's certificate is needed turns on a threshold.

    Form 15CA, now Form 145 →
  3. 3

    If you are moving back to India

    There is a window in which foreign income stays outside Indian tax, and it is worth knowing how long yours lasts.

    RNOR status →
  4. 4

    If the tax was withheld but is not showing against your PAN

    That stops the refund entirely, and three of the four causes can only be fixed by the payer.

    Form 26AS mismatch →

This page is general information about procedure and deadlines, checked against the provisions in force on the date shown. It is not advice on your own assessment, and a notice that looks routine can turn on facts a page cannot see. Where money or a limitation period is at stake, put the notice in front of a practising Chartered Accountant.

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