When a resident taxpayer receives income from a foreign state, the tax will be deducted from the income by the foreign state and the resident state. In such cases, residents can claim credit for the amount of tax deducted in the foreign state by filing Form 67 with the income tax department.
Residents must submit Form 67 before the due date of Income Tax Returns (ITR) filing to claim credit for such taxes. Form 67 is also required to be furnished in case the carry backward of losses of the current year results in the refund of foreign tax for which credit has been claimed in any previous years.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) revised Rule 128 to provide that Form 67 can be filed on or before the end of an assessment year if the return of income for that year was filed within the time stipulated in Section 139(1) or Section 139(4).
If the assessee has filed an updated return under Section 139(8A), Form 67 (related to income included in the updated return) must be filed on or before the date of filing of the updated return.
The modification takes effect on April 1, 2022, and so applies to all FTC claims submitted during the fiscal year 2022-2023.
Assume a scenario where a taxpayer is a tax resident of Country A (Residence State) and he is in receipt of income from Country B (Source State). The Source State withholds a portion of taxes on the income received by the taxpayer in that country. Further, the Residence State, according to its tax laws, would tax the taxpayer on his worldwide income which would include income from the Source State too.
This would result in the taxpayer getting taxed on his income twice i.e. once in the Source State and once in the Residence State. To address this, the tax laws in various countries provide for a mechanism whereby the Residence State allows a deduction of taxes paid in the Source State from the total tax liability in the Residence State.
The concept of claiming a deduction or credit of taxes paid in the Source State against tax liability in the Residence State is called Foreign Tax Credit (FTC).
As per the tax laws of India, sections 90 and 91 of the Income Tax Act deal with the concept of FTC. Section 90 discusses claiming of FTC in a case where India has entered into a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with another country and such DTAA provides for claiming of such FTC while Section 91 deals with claiming of FTC in scenarios where India has not entered into a DTAA with the country where the income arises for a taxpayer. Under these sections, if the taxpayer is a resident of India, and he has paid taxes outside India, he can claim a credit of such foreign taxes paid against his tax payable in India.
Rules for claiming FTC have been notified under Rule 128 w.e.f 1.4.2017 which have helped clear out ambiguity around claiming of FTC, some of which have been briefly captured here under:
Form 67, as mentioned above, is a crucial document that has to be furnished in order to claim FTC by a taxpayer. It is also essential that it be furnished on or before the due date of filing return of income under section 139(1) i.e. the original return of income.
Form 67 contains the below four sections:
The CBDT, vide notification no. 9/2017 dated 19 September 2017 has prescribed the procedure for filing Form 67 which has been enumerated here:
In accordance with Rule 128, in order to claim FTC, the taxpayer is required to file the following documents on or before due date of filing of return:
1. A statement of :
2. Certificate or statement specifying the nature of income and the amount of tax deducted therefrom or paid by the taxpayer :
3. Proof of payment of taxes outside India.
Step 1: Log in to the Income Tax e-Filing portal using your user ID and password.
Step 2: On the ‘Dashboard’, click ‘e-File’, click ‘Income Tax Forms’ and select ‘File Income Tax Forms’.
Step 3: On the next page, select ‘Form 67’.
Step 4: Select the ‘Assessment Year (AY)’ and click ‘Continue’.
Step 5: On the instructions page, click ‘Let's Get Started’.
Step 6: Form 67 will be displayed. Fill the required details and click ‘Preview’.
Step 7: Verify the details and click ‘Proceed to e-Verify’.
Step 8: Click ‘Yes’ on the confirmation message to submit the form.
Step 9: It will be redirected to the e-verify page. After successful e-verification, a success message will be displayed along with a transaction ID and acknowledgement number.
Note the transaction ID and acknowledgement for future reference. You will also receive a confirmation message to the email ID registered on the e-Filing portal.