Refusal of letter of confirmation by Portuguese Tax Office as Certificate of Residence

To whom it may concern, I recently requested a Certificate of Residence to prove to the Portuguese Tax authorities that I was a resident in the UK and paid income tax to the HMRC. I was sent a letter of confirmation, which I forwarded to them but the Portuguese Tax authorities have rejected the letter provided, informing me that I need the actual Certificate of Residence. I now have a written letter requesting this Certificate of Residence, how should I proceed? Furthermore, I have never earned income in Portugal. Kind regards,

Hi,
 

If you have no income from Portugal then the letter of confirmation will be enough and they should be accepting this. If they refuse, please can you send a copy of their refusal and the reasons why so we can take it further. We are unable to issue a certificate of residence if there is no income arising from the other country and we are therefore not enforcing a double taxation agreement.  Thank you.

Thank you for your reply. I have a letter of refusal requesting an official certificate of residence. Where should I send this? What are the expected times of reply? They have given me 15 days to deliver the new certificate but I am unable to reach you by phone. Kind regards

Hi,
 

As mentioned we are unable to issue a certificate of residence unless we are enforcing a double taxation agreement which means there needs to be foreign income. The Portuguese athourities should know this, so yes please send us the refusal letter to HMRC, PAYE and Self Assessment, BX9 1AS. We deal with post in date order but I'm afraid we would not be able to produce this withing 10 working days.  Thank you.

I did not have foreign income during this period but they are refusing the letter of confirmation regardless, despite me informing them of this thread of conversation. Would I at least receive a letter denying the request for the certificate of residence and explaining why? Thank you, 

Hi,
 

Your letter would be sent to our specialist team who would then take this up with the Portuguese authorities.

Thank you.

I have a letter from the Portuguese Tax Office saying that they do not accept the letter of confirmation but they indeed do need the Certificate of Tax Residence issued by the HMRC. I have all the paperwork they sent me already translated into English and I understand that I need to send it by post to the above address. I just wanted to know whether I can send copies of these documents over to you or if I need to send the originals. Kind regards, 

Hi,
 

If you can send us the originals please to the address HMRC, PAYE and Self Assessment, BX9 1AS and we will take this further for you. Thank you.

To whom it may concern, I have written to the HMRC as indicated above, having sent the letter on the 10th of February 2022 and received confirmation of your receipt of the letter the following day. I have not received news since and the financial authorities in Portugal have not been contacted by the HMRC yet either. Could I please have an update on the process? The Portuguese financial authorities will close the request if no news are received in the meantime. Kind regards, Lara Oswald

Hi Lara Oswald,

You would need to contact us direct to check the status of this as we would need to access your record.
Please note though that post can take up to 6 weeks to be processed depending on how complex it may be.
Please contact us here for an update
Self Assessment: general enquiries

Thank you.

In 2017, I moved from Portugal to live and work in the UK. I paid income tax in the UK. I earned no money in Portugal that year (or any subsequent or previous year). In 2021, the Portuguese tax authorities required me to complete a tax return form and then pay income tax (again) on my earnings because income information was passed from the HMRC to the Portuguese tax authorities through an automatic system. I paid the tax but also appealed this decision, on the basis that I should not be taxed in two different countries on the same income. In support of my appeal, I provided the letter of confirmation of residence issued by the UK tax authorities. This was not accepted by the Portuguese authorities, who insisted that I needed to provide a certificate of tax residence, especially because the letter of confirmation specifically states that it cannot be used for relief under the Double Taxation Agreement. The UK tax authority told me they could not issue a certificate of residence unless I had earnings in both countries. I told the Portuguese tax authorities this in a subsequent appeal, but they still insist on the certificate of tax residence (to establish full tax liability in the UK) and have explicitly refused (in a formal letter) to accept the letter of confirmation of residence. According to the Portuguese Tax Office, the fact that the UK provided my income details to them is proof that the HMRC did not consider me a tax resident in the UK. They have given me only 15 days to provide the certificate of tax residence in order to appeal. I realise this is unrealistic, but they are now making the same demand for 2018. What can I do? I have written a formal letter to the HMRC (on the 17th of February 2022) and still have received no response. I then contacted the HMRC over the phone for an update and was told I would have to wait for an official response via letter. Can you please help?

Hi,
 

Unfortunatley the information previoulsy given was correct. We cannot issue a certificate of residence for this case. However, as you have paid tax in both countries, you may want to consider  a double taxation claim : How Double Taxation Treaties affect non-UK residents with UK income   . With regards to your letter, we do have a substantial backlog due to covid but you should expect a reply by 24/8/22 .  Thank you.

Thanks for your reply. One thing I am confused about is the following: For the same year, the UK both issued a letter of confirmation that I was resident in the UK AND informed the Portuguese tax authority that I had earned income in the UK. I have two questions about this: Why would the Portuguese tax authority have been informed if I am a British citizen living and working in the UK? Where does HMRC consider me to have been resident for the 2017 tax year?

Hi,
 

To answer this in full, your record would need to be looked at and as such personal information would ve required which cannot be given on the forum. Plese telephone 0300 200 3310   . Thank you.

Hi, I am having the same problem. Can anyone tell me how they solved this with the portuguese tax authority? Thank you.

Hi,

If you have no income from Portugal then the letter of confirmation will be enough and they should be accepting this. If they refuse, please can you send a copy of their refusal and the reasons why so we can take it further.

We are unable to issue a certificate of residence if there is no income arising from the other country and we are therefore not enforcing a double taxation agreement. 

Thank you.

Hi all, After reading this thread, I quickly realized that I'm in the same situation as some people here. I've moved to the UK during late 2016 and end of 2018 where I worked in two different UK based companies and was considered a resident in the UK during this period. After going back and forth with the Portuguese Tax Office, they asked me to state my foreign income in the year 2018, and so I did that. As I'm being double taxed, they are now asking me for a Certificate of Residence to prove that: - I've lived in the UK during that period I mentioned above. - Double Taxation Agreement is included between Portugal and the UK Going through the online form, as I don't have any foreign income for this period, I will be issued a letter of confirmation rather than a Certificate of Residence, correct? As mentioned above by other people, the Portuguese Tax Office will refuse the letter of confirmation as that will not include the Double Taxation Agreement. Is there a way of solving this issue? Thanks in advance.

Hi Pedro, Same problem as I posted above, same answer, no one is able to help clearly with this situation. Absolute lack of coordination and good faith between the two countries. Cumprimentos, João Figueiras

Hi Pedro Rebelo,

HMRC is unable to issue a certificate of residence, where no income has been declared in the UK for taxation.  
Instead, we issue a letter of confirmation of residence, in case you require proof of residence for the overseas tax authority, due to a local law.

Thank you.

Hi again, After filling this form on the 16th of October, the estimated delivery time was on the 7th of November, stated by the HMRC website. After two weeks past the estimated date, I still didn't get any mail from HMRC and I can see on the website that the process is now complete. How can I be sure that the Certificate was already sent? Is there a way of tracking this or a contact that I can use for this purpose? Thanks in advance.