NRI
DTAA, Form 67 and Schedule FA: Foreign Income After You Return to India
By Mrs. Manalee Verneker
4 November 2026 · 7 min read
For years abroad, your Indian tax return was simple: only Indian income mattered. After you come back, income and assets abroad start to count, at first partly and then fully. Three terms come up again and again: DTAA, the foreign tax credit form, and Schedule FA.
This guide explains each one in plain words so you know what your chartered accountant will ask for. It is general information, not tax guidance for your case.
Your status decides what India taxes
Most people who return after several years abroad are RNOR for two or three tax years first. Estimate yours with our RNOR calculator.
| Status | What India taxes | Foreign assets in your return |
|---|---|---|
| Non-resident | Income earned or received in India | Not reported |
| RNOR | Indian income; foreign income generally not, except from a business controlled or profession set up in India | Not reported |
| Ordinary resident | Income from anywhere in the world | Reported in Schedule FA |
What a DTAA does
A Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement is a treaty between India and another country. India has one with most of the countries Indians work in, including the US, the UK, the UAE, Singapore and Canada.
Each treaty sets out which country may tax which kind of income, such as salary, interest, dividends, pensions or capital gains, and how the other country gives relief when both tax it. In practice relief usually comes as a credit: tax paid abroad is set off against the Indian tax on the same income.
A treaty only matters where two countries both want to tax the same income. The UAE, for example, does not tax salaries, so a Gulf salary rarely raises a double tax question.
Claiming credit for tax paid abroad: Form 67, now Form 44
If you are taxed in India on income that was also taxed abroad, you can claim a foreign tax credit. To do so you file a statement of the foreign income and tax, with proof of the tax paid, alongside your return.
For income up to tax year 2025-26, the statement is Form 67, under the old Income-tax Rules. For income from 2026-27, the Income-tax Rules, 2026 replace it with Form 44. People still search for Form 67, but a returning NRI filing for 2026-27 onwards will meet the new form.
Keep the foreign tax statements, withholding certificates and payslips that prove what you paid. Without them, the credit is hard to claim.
Schedule FA: reporting foreign assets
Once you are an ordinary resident, your Indian return must list foreign assets in Schedule FA: bank accounts abroad, shares and RSUs, mutual funds and ETFs abroad, retirement accounts such as a 401(k) or UK pension, property, and accounts you can sign on.
Non-residents and RNORs do not fill Schedule FA. The first year you are an ordinary resident is the year to start, and to start carefully: penalties for leaving out a foreign asset can be heavy, even when the asset earned nothing.
Worked example
Back from the US, three years of RNOR, then Schedule FA
Ravi returns to Goa from the US in August 2026 after eleven years. He keeps a US bank account, a 401(k) and some RSUs from his employer.
2026-27 to 2028-29: our calculator shows him as RNOR. His US interest and dividends are generally outside Indian tax, and he does not fill Schedule FA. He uses these years to decide, with tax help in both countries, what to keep in the US and what to bring home.
2029-30: he becomes an ordinary resident. His return now lists the US bank account, the 401(k) and the shares in Schedule FA. US dividends are taxed in India, with credit for the US tax withheld, claimed on Form 44.
An illustration of how the rules fit together. Ravi's actual tax depends on his income and on US rules too.
Records to keep from the day you return
- Your passport, to count days in India each tax year.
- Statements for every account and investment abroad, by calendar year and by Indian tax year.
- Proof of foreign tax paid: returns, withholding certificates, payslips.
- A tax residency certificate from the country you left, if your chartered accountant needs one for a treaty claim.
- A note of the date you returned, and of each foreign asset's value on that date.
How we can help
Your chartered accountant files your return and handles the treaty and credit claims. We keep the investment side ready for them: consolidated statements, gains reports, and a clear record of what you hold in India. See the returning to India checklist for the order of everything else.
Frequently asked questions
A Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement is a tax treaty between India and another country. It decides which country may tax each kind of income and how the other gives relief, usually as a credit for tax already paid.
For income up to tax year 2025-26, yes. From tax year 2026-27, under the Income-tax Rules, 2026, the foreign tax credit statement is Form 44.
The part of the Indian return where an ordinary resident lists foreign assets: bank accounts, shares, retirement accounts, property and accounts they can sign on.
No. Schedule FA applies to ordinary residents. Non-residents and RNORs do not fill it.
Salary for work done in the UAE while you were a non-resident is not taxed in India. Once you live and work in India, your new salary is taxed here as usual.
You can usually claim a foreign tax credit in India under the tax treaty, by filing the foreign tax credit form with proof of the tax paid abroad. Your chartered accountant works out how much can be claimed.
Related solution
RNOR status calculator
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