Form 27Q is the quarterly statement of TDS deducted on payments, other than salary, made to non-residents and foreign companies: fees to an overseas consultant, royalty to a foreign licensor, interest on a foreign loan, or dividend to a non-resident shareholder. It sits alongside Form 26Q, which covers residents. From 1 April 2026 the Income-tax Rules, 2026 replace it with Form 144.

How it differs from Form 26Q

• Rate source: TDS on payments to non-residents comes from section 195 (1961 Act) or section 393 (2025 Act) and the rates in force, or from a lower treaty rate if the payee qualifies for it.
• Treaty details: where a lower DTAA rate is applied, the statement records that, and the deductor should hold the payee’s tax residency certificate and Form 10F (Form 41 from April 2026) before paying.
• Payee identity: many foreign payees have no PAN. The 1961 rules let the deductor avoid the higher no-PAN rate if the payee gives specified details such as a tax identification number and address in their home country; the deductor captures these in the return.
• Remittance paperwork: before money leaves India, the payer usually also files Form 15CA (and often a CA’s certificate in Form 15CB). The ICAI mapping footnote shows the remittance information form under the 2025 Act as Form 145.

1961 Act versus 2025 Act

Quarters up to January to March 2026 are reported in Form 27Q, the last one due by 31 May 2026. From April 2026 the same data goes into Form 144, filed under section 397(3)(b) and Rule 219. The due dates are reported unchanged: 31 July, 31 October and 31 January for the first three quarters and 31 May for the last. Secondary sources say the TDS certificate to the non-resident becomes Form 131 in place of Form 16A.

Where HR gets involved

Salary to an expatriate or a returning employee is not a 27Q item. Salary TDS for anyone on your payroll, resident or not, goes in Form 24Q (Form 138 from April 2026). HR runs into 27Q mainly through overseas trainers, assessment vendors and recruitment partners paid from India, and through multi-country payroll setups where cross-charges are paid to a foreign group entity.

Frequently asked questions

Is Form 27Q needed if the treaty rate is nil?

Practitioners generally report the payment even where no tax was deducted because of a treaty, so that the claim is on record; keep the residency certificate and Form 10F on file for the year.

Can an NRI employee’s salary be shown in Form 27Q?

No, salary paid to an employee is reported in the salary statement and certified in Form 16, whatever the residential status.

What does a late Form 27Q cost?

The same daily late fee as other TDS statements (section 234E, now section 427), capped at the TDS amount, plus interest if the tax itself was deposited late.

For the TDS rules on salary itself, see TDS on salary.