CBDT vide communication dated 12.12.2022 has granted exemption from mandatory e-filing of Form 10F to non-resident taxpayers who are not having PAN and are not required to obtain PAN under the extant provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘Act’) till 31st March, 2023.
However, manual filing of Form No. 10F till 31.03.2023 shall continue.
Earlier, on 16th July, 2022, the Director General of Income Tax (Systems) with the prior approval of CBDT mandated the e-filing of various forms including Form No. 10F on the income tax e-Filing Portal vide Notification No. 03/2022 dated 16.07.2022 which was made effective on immediate basis.
Form No. 10F: Form No. 10F is an important document to claim the benefit of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA or Tax Treaty). In order to claim the benefit of any DTAA in respect of any income earned in India, a non-resident payee is required to furnish certain details in Tax Residency Certificate (TRC) along with Form No. 10F, as per Section 90(5) of the Act read with Rule 21AB to the Indian payer at the time of withholding of taxes. The TRC must contain certain specified information such as non-resident’s status, nationality, tax identification number, period of residency, etc. If the specified information is not available or missing in the TRC, then Form No. 10F has to be furnished giving all such missing information in order to claim the benefits of DTAA.
Prior to 16.07.2022, such information in Form No. 10F was to be furnished in manual mode or in an offline manner. However, post 16.07.2022, this form has to be furnished online on the income tax e-Filing portal after logging into the e-filing account by the non-resident.
This has caused practical difficulty for non-residents since PAN is required to create an e-filing account on the income-tax portal as this requirement makes it compulsory for every non-resident to obtain PAN in India for filing Form No. 10F even if such a non-resident is not legally required to obtain PAN in India. Several representations have been made to the Board for providing exemption to non-residents from online e-filing of Form No. 10F.
With this communication, the Board has provided relaxation to non-residents by granting them exemption from online e-filing of Form No. 10F. This exemption from mandatory e-filing of Form No. 10F is granted to those non-residents who do not have any PAN in India and are not mandatory required to obtain PAN in India under the extant income-tax laws. Strangely, this exemption is granted till 31.03.2023 only.
Read the full text of CBDT’s Communication dated 12.12.2022 on Exemption from mandatory e-filing of Form No. 10F
F. No. DGIT(S)-ADG(S)-3/e-Filing Notification/Forms/2022/9227
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Central Board of Direct Taxes
Directorate of Income Tax (Systems), New Delhi
New Delhi, 12th December, 2022
Partial relaxation with respect to electronic submission of Form 10F by select category of taxpayers in accordance with the DGIT (Systems) Notification No. 3 of 2022.
Reference is invited to Notification No. 03/2022 dated 16th July 2022 issued by Directorate of Income Tax (Systems) New Delhi in exercise of powers conferred under Rule 131(1)/(2) of the Income-tax Rules mandating, inter alia, furnishing of Form 10F electronically.
2. On consideration of the practical challenge being faced by non-resident (NR) taxpayers not having PAN in making compliance as per the above notification, and with a view to mitigate genuine hardship to such taxpayers, it has been decided by the Competent Authority that such category of Non-resident taxpayers who are not having PAN and not required to have PAN as per relevant provisions of the Income-tax Act,1961 read with Income-tax Rules, 1962, are exempted from mandatory electronic filing of Form 10F till 31st March 2023. For the sake of clarity, it is reiterated that such category of taxpayers may make statutory compliance of filing Form 10F till 31st March 2023 in manual form as was being done prior to issuance of the DGIT(Systems) Notification No. 3 of 2022.
(Y K Singh)
DGIT (Systems)-1, CBDT
Download CBDT’s Communication dated 12.12.2022 on Exemption from mandatory e-filing of Form No. 10F in PDF format
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