Spanish requirement for Certificate of Residence instead of Letter of Residence.

Dear Advisers, I'm writing this on behalf of my Spanish partner who isn't fluent in this sort of correspondence. She has been living in the UK since 2009, has right of abode, is 66, has a UK pension and still working part time. She has a small workplace pension from a previous employer in Spain of approx €4500, which she wants to take as a lump sum. To release this, she's been told that she must supply a Certificate of Residence. I checked the requirements for this on the HMRC website and it appears to me that her situation doesn't fulfil its needs - she hasn't even got the payment yet, so can't claim a refund under a DTA. Also, as far as I can see, this would come under Article 17/Other pensions/Taxable only in the UK. She applied for a Letter of Residence, which arrived, dated 17th December 2023. The intention is to supply this to the Spanish pension company and see if they accept it. However, the Spanish fiscal year starts on January 1st, rather than April 1st, so that would probably be an issue to them. Can you suggest a solution to these problems as the transfer process won't start until the company has the correct documentation (in their view)? Thank you for any advice you can offer,

Hi,

As your partner is resident in the UK, the lump sum form her previous employer in Spain, is taxable in the UK and not Spain.  

If any tax is deducted from the pension payment in Spain, your partner would need to submit a repayment claim to the Spanish Tax authorities. HMRC can issue a certificate of residence for the foreign penions, to support the repayment claim. You can see more information here:

How to apply for a certificate of residence to claim tax relief abroad

Thank you.