RSU double taxation: how the Form 67 foreign tax credit actually works

This is one of the most expensive small mistakes an MNC employee makes: the US withholds tax on your dividends, India taxes the same dividends, and because one online form was never filed, you simply pay both. The relief exists. It just isn't automatic.

Why the income is taxed in India at all

As an Indian resident, your global income is taxable in India. A dividend paid by a US company into your US brokerage account is Indian-taxable income the moment it arises — whether or not you bring a rupee of it home.

Meanwhile, the US taxes it at source. On dividends paid to an Indian resident, US withholding under the India-US tax treaty is commonly 25% — you will see it deducted on your dividend statement and reported on Form 1042-S.

So the same dividend is taxed twice, in two countries. That is precisely the situation the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement exists to fix.

How the treaty fixes it

The DTAA does not make the income tax-free in India. It gives you a credit: your Indian tax on that dividend is reduced by the tax already paid in the US on the same income.

In outline:

1. The gross dividend (before US withholding) is included in your Indian income and taxed at your slab rate.
2. The US tax withheld is computed as a foreign tax credit.
3. That credit is set off against your Indian tax on the same income.

The credit is generally limited to the Indian tax attributable to that foreign income — you cannot get back more than India was going to charge on it. So if your Indian slab rate on the dividend is lower than the 25% withheld, the credit does not become a refund of the excess US tax; that is a US-side question.

A common error here is including only the net dividend that hit your account. The gross figure is the one that goes in — and the withheld portion is what you claim credit for. Report the net, and you have understated the income and forfeited the credit.

Form 67 — the step that decides everything

The credit is only allowed if you file Form 67. It is:

• filed online, on the income-tax portal, separately from the return itself;
• due on or before the end of the assessment year under the foreign-tax-credit rules (Rule 128);
• a reconciliation — the foreign income, the foreign tax paid, the country, and the treaty article relied on.

Miss it, and the credit is at risk even though the underlying facts are perfectly in order. This is why "my CA filed my return" and "my foreign tax credit was claimed" are not the same statement — Form 67 is a distinct filing.

What you need to hand over

• Form 1042-S (the US statement of income paid and tax withheld)
• Your broker's dividend statement showing gross dividend and tax withheld
• Details of the country and the income type

From those, the gross income, the credit and the Form 67 are prepared together with the return, so the numbers reconcile.

The bigger picture

Form 67 is one of three moving parts on an MNC employee's return — the vesting perquisite taxed as salary, the dividends with their treaty credit, and the capital gain when you sell (foreign shares are treated as unlisted: more than 24 months is long-term, taxed at 12.5% without indexation; 24 months or less is short-term at your slab rate).

And running alongside all of it is Schedule FA, the disclosure of the holdings themselves — see Schedule FA from your broker statement, line by line. If the holdings were never disclosed in an earlier year, that is a separate and larger exposure, and FAST-DS 2026 is the window for settling it — it closes on 31 December.

For how the whole return fits together, see RSU, ESOP and foreign stock taxation for resident employees.