Applying for a certificate

One of the means for avoiding the levy of withholding tax under the Directive and related agreements is to obtain a tax certificate from HMRC and present it to your paying agent. Your agent will then pay savings income to you without deducting the special withholding tax.

Do I need a certificate?

You only need to apply for a certificate if:

• You receive savings income paid by a paying agent established in a territory which will apply a withholding tax. These territories are Andorra, Austria, Belgium, British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands Antilles, San Marino, Switzerland and Turks & Caicos Islands.
• You wish to receive savings income without the deduction of withholding tax.
• The territory has adopted this option as a method of avoiding withholding tax - your paying agent will be able to advise you which options are open to you.

How to apply for a certificate

To apply for a certificate you should complete a form EUSD SWT (1) (PDF 32K). This form should only be used by individuals who live in the United Kingdom.

The purpose of the form EUSD SWT (1) is to enable individuals who live in the UK to make the application provided by section 113 of the Finance Act 2004 for such a certificate.

An application should be made for each account or source of relevant savings income. If you are making an application for more than one account with the same paying agent you may attach a list showing details of the additional accounts to the EUSD SWT(1). A separate form should however be completed for each paying agent if you have accounts with more than one. Where a paying agent acts for more than one account provider a separate form should be completed in respect of each of the account providers. You are required to provide all of the information asked for in this form for each account you wish to make an application for. Failure to do so may result in your application being delayed.

Once completed the form should be sent to your own tax office. That will normally be the office to which you send your Self Assessment tax return or the tax office responsible for your PAYE tax code if you are an employee.

If you do not have a normal tax office then send the form to:

CAR Residency
Band O Technical Team
St Johns House
Merton Road
Bootle
L75 1BB

Your tax office may ask you to provide documents to support the information you have given. If the tax office is satisfied with the information provided it will issue a certificate within two months of receiving the information and any documents requested.

The certificate will include the information you provided. It will state how long the certificate is valid for, which will be no more than three years. It will be your responsibility to apply for a further certificate before the first one expires.

In exceptional cases your tax office may refuse to issue a certificate if it is not satisfied with the information provided and any documents requested. If this happens you will be given written notice of the reasons for its refusal. If you do not agree with its decision, you may appeal in writing to the appropriate appeals Tribunal by giving notice of your appeal to your tax office within 30 days of the date of the written refusal.