Notarising UK tax documents for Company with contracts in Russia

A communications company has contracts in Russia and needed to avoid paying taxes in both Russia and the UK.

They applied to HMRC for a certificate of residence for tax purposes and then needed the certificate notarised and apostilled for use in Russia. I contacted HMRC and spoke to the person who had signed the certificate to verify that it was a valid document. I then produced a notarial certificate verifying the authenticity of the HMRC certificate and that was then apostilled by the FCO; subsequently the documents were sent to Russia and accepted by the tax authorities there and no further tax had to be paid.

By Louise Radakin