An overseas customer is asking for a 'Certificate of Residence' from HMRC, prior to then paying for our goods.
We have previously provided VAT certificate, certs of incorporation,.
Any ideas what other types of form we could acquire and then provide?
Thanks in advance,
Replies (8)
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Cerfiticate of Fiscal Residence
It sounds like you need to write to HMRC to request a "Certificate of Fiscal Residence" which can then be sent on to the client's customer.
(When I last did it, it was very straightforward - I wrote to the office that dealt with the company's corporation tax. It took about 10 days to arrive.)
You might need to do this on an annual basis.
You may find
they ask a list of questions as who the cert is for, what the payment is for and the amount, but it is pretty straightforward and normally returned quite quickly
Follow the link for individuals
for Companies LLPs and partnerships you will need to write in to the CT/SA relevant office for this
Residency confirmation
We’ve applied for a few of these recently and liaise with HMRC by email usually after an initial telephone call.
HMRC seem to have a standard information request template and this is what they usually ask:
1. The name and address of the payer of the income, in respect of which the certificate is required.
2. The amount of the payment or reason for which the certificate is required.
3. Confirmation that COMPANY LIMITED is the beneficial owner of the income.
4. Confirmation that the full amounts of payments will be subject to UK tax.
5. The names of the countries in which COMPANY LIMITED has a permanent establishment.
6. If the company is part of a group, details of Structure.
7. Details of where the trade is carried on.
8. The name of the country in which COMPANY LIMITED is centrally managed and controlled.
9. The names and addresses of the company directors and
10. The names and addresses of the beneficial owners of the company.
HMRC have proved responsive to our requests for these.
Best of luck.
I've just encountered this CertOfRes issue in connection with an Indian customer. I'm a tiny company selling specialised, inexpensive, s/w through a website. I'm waiting for HMRC and my accountant to call me back with advice, but talking to 2 people at HMRC my understanding (which I hope is wrong) is that for every sale I have to apply in writing to HMRC for a CertOfRes, which they will process in 15 working days and post back to me. I then have to get this physically to the foreign customer in order that they do not deduct withholding tax. If this is correct then I'm out of business. It would mean I could not fulfil an order in less than a month. When was the last time you ordered some s/w off the internet and were prepared to wait a month for it? A reasonable system would be for my company to have to get a CertOfRes and make it available on the website.
Can anyone clarify the situation for me please - it will be a couple of days before HMRC/acct get back to me I think.
Ltd Company Certificate of Residence
Hi,
Is there a list of countries which require a specific form completing for CertOfRes ? I know a special form from experience is required for Greece, Portugal and Bulgaria. But is there a list laid down anywhere so that we can try and apply for these without delays in receiving income. Is there also a list of countries which only require the standard certificate from HMRC.
Trying to find this info on HMRC is not easy. Any help would be most appreciated.
We are in the position of dealing with Chile and India with regard to withholding tax and are having to go through many hoops before we can invoice the companies.
India require:
A PAN (permanent account number)
Tax Residency Certificate
No PE Declaration
We have had to pay £500 to an agent in India (as supplied by the DTI) to manage the process which also requires notarised and apostilled documentation (a further £275).
Our notary recommended:
https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised
www.hmrc.gov.uk/certificate is the site quoted online by HMRC
Chile was similar - we also had to arrange for the documents to be processed at the embassy.
* * *
The address to apply for the certificate is
HMRC
CT Services
BX9 1AX