Different countries have different tax laws relating to personal and business income.  If you have earnings in one country but are resident or a citizen in another it may be requested that you have tax residency documents legalised to avoid double taxation.

A certificate of residency for tax purpose is a formal document. Residency certificates are issued by HMRC and were introduced when the UK government established agreements with other countries to avoid people being taxed twice on their earnings.

If you are a UK Resident and are paying taxes here in the UK then you are able to obtain a ‘certificate of residence’ from the UK tax authority HMRC. You can either contact them online or by telephone and can arrange to be issued with a certificate once they have made the relevant checks. The certificate of residency, or tax certificate, will show that you are a resident in the UK and are paying the relevant taxes which apply in the UK. It is likely that once you have had this document issued that the requesting authorities overseas will also ask you to place an apostille on this document to prove that it is an official UK Document.

Without presenting a tax residency document to a foreign government it is likely that you will be taxed twice on your earnings. To avoid double taxation you may also be asked to provide them with other documents in addition to instead of the Certificate of Residency. This could be the HMRC Statement of Earnings or alternatively we have seen that P60’s may be requested.

If you need assistance obtaining the apostille for your HMRC letters, tax documents or proof of income from an employer do not hesitate to contact us. We will make sure your documents are correctly certified and assist with solicitor certification when required. We can also provide embassy attesation of documents and advise when this may be required.