Certificate of Residence

Hello, I need a Certificate of Residence to avoid double taxation for freelance work provided remotely (from home in the UK) to a company headquartered in Spain. I’ve tried to complete the forms both through the “online service” and the “email a form” options, but there are several questions which are unclear: A. Online service option 1) Are you employed by a UK employer? I’m self-employed; do I answer “No”? 2) Why are you requesting a Certificate of Residence? I answered “Fees or self-employment income” Which then asks: Name of the payer Amount of income received from fees or self employment Is the payer's address in the UK? International address I haven’t received any income yet; I want to provide the Spanish company with the Certificate of Residence so they process my invoices without applying the withholding tax; do I answer £0 income received? (I cannot estimate how much the invoices will be, it is freelance work with variable work volumes per month). B. Email a form option 1) Date of arrival: Option: “If you were born in the UK and have not left the UK for employment abroad or been absent from the UK for more than 183 days in any UK tax year, please enter your date of birth below.” I have not left the UK for employment abroad, but I wasn’t born in the UK. I’m a resident with a settled status. What date should I add here? 2) Enter below the number of days you spent outside of the UK during the period for which you are requesting the certificate(s). Does this mean “number of days you spent outside of the UK *working*”? Does this include holidays? Should I enter 0 days or something else, such as “NONE”? 3) UK employer's name and address I am self-employed; do I add my own name and address in this section? 4) Enter the period (from dd/mm/yyyy to dd/mm/yyyy) for which you need a certificate below. A certificate of residence/letter of confirmation of residence cannot be issued for any future period as HMRC cannot certify that a customer will continue to be a UK resident. Can it just be the current date (i.e. the date in which you issue the certificate)? If so, can I just write in the form “date the certificate is issued”? What are the options? 5) Type(s) and amount(s) of income for the period The type is self-employment income; however, I will invoice monthly and cannot be sure of the amount (it is not a set amount). What should I enter here? 6) Article of the Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) From the website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spain-tax-treaties I cannot see which is the article. Could you please advise? 7) Are you the beneficial owner of this foreign income? The help icons are not clear and point to links which are also unclear; in my case it is for self-employment income which I’ll add in my self assessment; do I answer yes? 8) Subject to Tax provisions The help icons are not clear and point to links which are also unclear, in my case it is for self-employment income which I’ll add in my self assessment; do I answer yes? My apologies for so many questions. Thank you for your help.

Hi
HMRC cannot reply to specifics like you have asked and you will need to contact us direct on 0300 200 3310 to give definitive answers.

Hi, Specifics were provided on a similar query: "RE: Requesting a certificate of residence to prevent double taxation - confusing form". Could you please answer the same questions but related to Spain? With the amount of queries asking the same questions in the forum, it is apparent there is a need for a clearer Certificate of Residence form; perhaps one dedicated to freelancers working from home where questions such as "date of arrival" are irrelevant. In the meantime, could you please advise on some of the questions? These are all related to the questions asked in your forms. Thank you!

Hi is2024

You need to answer yes as you work for yourself so it is still a UK employer. the name of the PAYER is the name of the Spanish Company, that date would be when you originally came to the UK.
Periods of absence relate to employment only and for the period that the certificate covers. You would provide your own business name and address.
If there is no specific period required for the certificate, leave blank. You can estimate the income, it is article 4. If you are the beneficial owner of the income to be received, answer 'yes'.
There are no subject to tax conditions.

Thank you