Irish Citizenship Application - Tax Clearance (HMRC/UK)

Hi,

I am an Irish Citizen living in Northern Ireland, my wife is a non-EU citizen and we are applying for Irish Citizenship for her based on three years residence on the island of Ireland.

Has anyone in a similar position successfully obtained a letter from HMRC for the purposes of meeting the Tax Clearance Certificate requirement? The UK doesn't have an equivalent certificate, i contacted the HMRC PAYE department who said they would send us a letter but have been waiting for 6 months now....

Would anyone have contact details for a different HMRC department which has given them such a letter?

chriswickstead wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 27, 2021 8:13 am

Hi,

I am an Irish Citizen living in Northern Ireland, my wife is a non-EU citizen and we are applying for Irish Citizenship for her based on three years residence on the island of Ireland.

Has anyone in a similar position successfully obtained a letter from HMRC for the purposes of meeting the Tax Clearance Certificate requirement? The UK doesn't have an equivalent certificate, i contacted the HMRC PAYE department who said they would send us a letter but have been waiting for 6 months now....

Would anyone have contact details for a different HMRC department which has given them such a letter?

I had same problem when applying myself.
I sent my tax statements which showed tax due and payments made. I am self employed.

chriswickstead wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 27, 2021 8:13 am

Hi,

I am an Irish Citizen living in Northern Ireland, my wife is a non-EU citizen and we are applying for Irish Citizenship for her based on three years residence on the island of Ireland.

Has anyone in a similar position successfully obtained a letter from HMRC for the purposes of meeting the Tax Clearance Certificate requirement? The UK doesn't have an equivalent certificate, i contacted the HMRC PAYE department who said they would send us a letter but have been waiting for 6 months now....

Would anyone have contact details for a different HMRC department which has given them such a letter?

6 months and they they haven't come back asking for anything yet at least.

Wow! That is crazy! I am in the same position. Applying for Irish citizenship through Irish spouse, living in NI. Couldn't find anything on tax clearance certificates on HMRC website so I camevon here to see if anyone had had a similar experience. Have you gone ahead and applied without the certificate, Chris? I think I will send in whatever we have from HMRC and hope that will do.

Hi Aotearoa,

I called HMRC end of Aug/start of Sep, they said they would send us it by the end of September. I asked them to send me a letter to that effect (knowing full well that they wouldn't send the actual tax confirmation by then - still waiting). We did send in my wife's application in Sep (not even acknowledged yet). I included that letter from HMRC saying they would send something in with my wife's application together with an explanation in the cover note.

I just sent a letter this week to HMRC complaints office saying that nearly 8 months now is ridiculous, and can they send it ASAP.

the Irish Immigration office should really have arranged a process with HMRC for NI residents...they had no idea what I was talking about when I called them.

I will post an update when/if i get a reply to my HMRC complaint letter. (or something back from Irish Immigration)

Many people had applied for and got clearance in the last two years since it became a requirement. There was even a discussion page on one of the HMRC website on how to request for it.

It’s just my guess, but I believe either there’s a systemic issue that started in the last year or so (e.g. understaffing due to COVID), or the UK government is deliberately making this harder for Irish citizenship applicants (e.g. Brexit/Northern Ireland Protocol).

hI littler,

From what i can see the submission of a tax clearance certificate upfront with an Irish citizenship application is a new requirement since November 2020. HMRC are blaming COVID from phone calls I had with them, but it certainly doesn't help that there isn't a specific form/named contact dept. arranged between the Irish Immigration dept and HMRC.

The discussion I saw on HMRC website just had people (including HMRC staff!) asking where this should be sent to.

Have you seen any info on people who have successfully got something from HMRC? I sent my request to HMRC PAYE/Self assessment department.

Yeah my friend’s firm’s branch in the north had helped applying for 2 or 3 applicants from the north last year and all got theirs in no time.

I think I’ve also seen people calling into their local tax office and asking the staff there to issue a letter right away.

Many other businesses require a foreign tax clearance letter if the applicant needs to conduct business with Ireland.

As I said, there was a page on HMRC on how to apply for it. The fact that I couldn’t seem to find it now seems to suggest that they have deliberately taken it down.

Maybe try walking into your local tax office to have a try, or send a few quick emails to your local councillor or senator to complain. I’m sure nationalist parties’ senators would be more than happy to jump in to help.