Query regarding reporting of exempt foreign remuneration in ITR (AY 2026-27)

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This query is : Open

Suresh S. Tejwani (Querist)

29 July 2026

Respected Members,

I have a query regarding the reporting of Remuneration received as a Foreign Employee from a Foreign Enterprise, which is exempt under Section 10(6) of the Income-tax Act (subject to satisfaction of the prescribed conditions).

In the previous year, while using Spectrum software, we were manually entering this amount under exempt income, and the ITR was filed successfully.

However, after the latest software update for AY 2026-27, manual entry is no longer permitted. We have to select an item from the predefined list. Although the list contains **"Remuneration received as Foreign Employee"**, selecting this option results in a JSON validation error stating "Specify Category."

On contacting Spectrum support, their executive advised us to report this income under "Income Exempt as per CBDT Circular", after which the JSON is generated successfully.

My query is:

1. Is there any **CBDT Circular/Notification** under which remuneration received as a foreign employee from a foreign enterprise is treated as exempt?
2. Since the exemption is available under **Section 10(6)** and not by virtue of any CBDT Circular, is it technically and legally correct to report it under **"Income Exempt as per CBDT Circular"** merely to overcome the JSON validation issue?
3. Has anyone else faced this issue in Spectrum or any other ITR utility? If yes, what is the correct reporting approach?

Any guidance or reference to the relevant provision, schema validation, or CBDT instruction would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

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