Apply for a certificate of residence or letter of confirmation

Use this form if you are a sole trader, company or organisation to get a certificate of residence or letter of confirmation so you do not pay tax twice on foreign income.

You can apply for a certificate of residence to claim tax relief in another country if you pay tax on your foreign income in the UK.

A certificate helps to confirm to a foreign tax authority that you are a UK tax resident.

You can apply for a certificate if:

If you are not entitled to treaty benefits under the double taxation agreement, HMRC will not issue a certificate.

If you’ve already paid the tax, you may be able to get a refund.

The relevant overseas authority decides if relief from foreign taxes can be granted.

You may need a letter of confirmation of residence instead of a certificate if:

there is no double taxation agreement
you need proof of UK tax residence for another purpose

Who can apply

You can use the online service to apply if you are:

an individual or sole trader
a company
a partnership
a trust
a charity
a public body
a pension scheme
a collective investment scheme or unit trust

If you have authorised an agent to act for you, they can apply on your behalf.

For bulk requests (for example, multiple countries or entities), you may be asked to complete and upload a spreadsheet within the service.

The Large Business Service accepts requests for certificates of residence before the end of a company’s accounting period. This is known as a pre-order.

Pre-orders are only available for accounting periods ending in December.

For example, a request made in November for an accounting period that ends in December will mean the certificate is created in January.

If you need a pre-order, email your request to your usual Large Business contact mailbox.

Registered pension scheme

If someone is applying on your behalf, you’ll also need to fill in form APSS146C and form APSS146D.

Send the completed forms to the address on the form. You only need to send them once.

You do not need to send these forms if:

If there are any changes to the people authorised to handle requests for certificate of residence, you’ll still need to send forms APSS146C and APSS146D.

What you’ll need

When you apply for a certificate of residence, you must tell HMRC:

if you need a certificate to claim under a double taxation agreement between the UK and another country
the double taxation agreement you are claiming under
the country you need the certificate for
the type of income involved
the period you need the certificate for — you cannot request a future date

You may also need to confirm, where the treaty requires, that you are:

the beneficial owner of the income
subject to UK tax on all the income you are claiming for

If you have not yet filed a tax return

If you need a certificate of residence for a period on or after 6 April 2013 and you have not yet filed a Self Assessment tax return for that period, you must also tell HMRC:

If you are applying for a newly incorporated company

If your company has not yet filed a Corporation Tax Self Assessment return, you must provide:

If the other country gives you a form to certify residence

Upload or send this and any required supporting documents with your application.