Certificates of residence for tax purposes – for companies

Tue 13 Mar 2018

A foreign tax authority may require a company to obtain certification from HMRC that the company is UK resident in order to obtain relief from certain taxes. There may also be a requirement for HMRC to certify that other conditions are met.  Some summary points on the procedures for obtaining such certifications from HMRC are noted below.

Introduction

The certification of residence may need to be made on a specific form produced by the overseas fiscal authority or in a general letter produced by HMRC. For the purpose of this note, a Certificate of Residence (CoR) refers to certification on a specific form or in a general letter.

Some countries (for example, Kazakhstan) require a CoR provided under a Double Taxation Agreement to be supported by an “apostille”. An apostille is a document prepared by the Legalisation Office of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that confirms that a UK public official who has signed a document is who they claim to be. The signature must be an original.

Points to note

• Certificates of residence (CoR) cannot be granted for future dates.
• Scanned forms and scanned CoR letters that are sent to the foreign state by HMRC are legally acceptable.
• HMRC requires specific information to issue a CoR.  These requirements can be found at INTM162020.
• Apostilles: Responsibility for obtaining the apostille rests with the customer making the claim. A small fee is payable to the FCO. This can be done through the .GOV website here.
• CoR are issued solely for the purpose of claiming benefits under double tax treaties.  A certificate of residence is different to a letter of confirmation.  A letter of confirmation is a letter from HMRC confirming that HMRC regards the company as UK resident.  The online form for requesting letters of confirmation are found here.
• Confirmation of duties (for example VAT) other than Corporation Tax may be required by a foreign authority.  HMRC requests that the relevant Government department be contacted for this rather than including the request with the CT request.
• CoR requests should be sent to:
  • The CRM, nominated person or dedicated email address for those business dealt with by HMRC’s large business unit;
  • All other companies should send their requests to: Corporation Tax Services, HMRC, BX9 1AX
• All CoR forms and letter requests should be sent separately for each company and each country.  Multiple forms for the same company and same country can be sent together.  The company UTR must be included on every form and letter.

For a further discussion or assistance with international tax matters, please get in touch with a member of the Mazars international tax team.