Getting a Cyprus tax residence certificate

You need this if

• Another country’s authority asks you to prove that you are a tax resident of Cyprus — usually the country where you are declaring that you are not resident.
• You spent more than 183 days in Cyprus in the tax year and need that year certified.
• You rely on the 60-day rule. The department’s declaration form for individuals is written for exactly that case.
• The other country hands you its own template to be completed and stamped: the department follows the same procedure for it.

You do not need this if

• Cyprus has no double tax treaty with the country asking. The department states that it prepares the certificate only where a treaty has been signed.
• What you actually need is proof of non-dom status for the defence contribution. That is form T.D.38 and a different procedure.
• You are asking for a company: that is form T.F.98 with its questionnaires, not the individual route.
• You need a tax clearance — a certificate that nothing is owed. That is another certificate again.

• A copy of your passport or identity card. A foreign national also attaches the Registration Certificate — the “yellow slip”.
• The title deed of your home, or the rental contract.
• A recent utility bill, less than six months old: water, electricity, telephone.
• Your employment contract, and a statement of your social insurance account from the Social Insurance Services.
• Proof of school attendance if your children study in Cyprus, and the car registration document if you own one.
• Your Cyprus tax identification code, and any foreign tax numbers with the country that issued them — form T.F.126 has room for three.
• For the 60-day route, what the form’s own footnotes ask for: passport pages with the entry and exit stamps, boarding passes or e-tickets, the title or rental contract of the permanent home, and an employment contract in force on 31 December of that year.

1. 1

   Check that there is a treaty with the country asking

   The Tax Department prepares a tax residence certificate only where a double tax treaty has been signed between Cyprus and the other country. The list of treaties is published on the department’s site. Without one, the certificate is not issued, whatever your days.

2. 2

   Work out which rule your year rests on

   Under the 183-day rule you must have spent more than 183 days in Cyprus during the tax year. The department counts the day of arrival as a day in Cyprus and the day of departure as a day outside it; an arrival and a departure on the same day count as a day in Cyprus, and a departure followed by an arrival on the same day counts as a day outside. Under the 60-day rule you need all of: at least 60 days in Cyprus, no more than 183 days in any one other state, not being a tax resident of another state for that year, carrying on business, being employed or holding an office in a company that is a Cyprus tax resident, and maintaining a permanent home in Cyprus that you own or rent.

3. 3

   Fill in form T.F.126 if you rely on the 60-day rule

   The form is headed as a declaration “under the 60-day rule”. It takes your identity and passport details, your Cyprus tax code and any foreign tax numbers, your permanent address here and abroad, and then the ticks: the days here and elsewhere, that you are not and do not intend to become a tax resident of another state, the permanent home you own or rent — with the landlord’s name and tax number — and which of business, employment or an office you have, with the trade name, employer or company, their tax numbers and addresses, and your social insurance number.

4. 4

   Read the undertaking before you sign it

   The same form binds you: if your stated intentions are not fulfilled, or the business, the employment or the office ends within that tax year, you undertake to tell the Tax Department and to return any certificate issued so that it can be cancelled. It is signed under the Assessment and Collection of Taxes Law, which makes an incorrect or false statement a criminal offence.

5. 5

   Send the request to your district office

   The completed form goes with the supporting documents to the Tax Department office of your district, by email or by letter. The addresses are on the department’s contact page. There is no counter queue and no appointment in this description of the procedure.

6. 6

   Wait for the officer to come back to you

   The request is assigned to an officer of the department, who prepares the certificate and gets in touch if anything needs clarifying or if more material is needed.

   PracticeThe department publishes no service time for this. Anything you read about “about a week” is somebody’s experience, not a commitment.

7. 7

   Pay the €80 in stamps, then collect

   When the certificate is ready the officer tells you. You first go to the cash desks to pay for the stamp, then hand the stamp to that officer, who gives you the certificate. The cost of issuing the certificate is €80 in stamps.

8. 8

   If the other country insists on its own form

   Some countries require their own template to be completed and stamped by the Cyprus authorities. The department follows the same procedure for stamping it, so send that template along with the rest.

9. 9

   Tell the department if the year turns out differently

   A certificate covers one tax year. On the 60-day route, if the business, employment or office that supported the claim ends inside the year, the department’s own page says the person stops being treated as a Cyprus tax resident for that year — and the form obliges you to report it and return the certificate.

Cost

€80 in stampsPaid at the cash desks once the officer says the certificate is ready, then handed to that officer.

Where the request goes

district office, by email or letterWith the supporting documents. The addresses are on the department’s contact page.

Precondition

a double tax treatyThe certificate is prepared only towards countries Cyprus has signed one with.

Form for individuals

T.F.126 (2022)Its own heading names the 60-day rule; the department lists it as the individuals’ form and publishes no separate one for the 183-day case.

Form for companies

T.F.98 (2015)Application plus questionnaires for legal persons.

183-day rule

more than 183 daysArrival day counts as in Cyprus, departure day as outside; both on one day counts as in, the reverse as outside.

60-day rule

five conditions, all at once60 days here, no more than 183 in another state, not resident elsewhere, business, employment or an office here, and a permanent home owned or rented.

Processing time

not publishedThe department names none on the page describing the procedure.

• Asking for a certificate towards a country with no treaty. The department’s page makes the treaty a precondition, not a formality.
• Looking for a separate 183-day application form. The department publishes one form for individuals and one for companies; forms circulating under other names are not on its list.
• Buying the stamp in advance. The order is fixed: the officer says the certificate is ready, you pay at the cash desks, you hand over the stamp, you get the certificate.
• Sending a request with a utility bill older than six months, or without the social insurance statement. Both are in the department’s list, and an incomplete file is what turns a week into a month.
• Treating the certificate as open-ended. It certifies one tax year, and the next year is a fresh request.
• On the 60-day route, ending the job or closing the business in November. The department’s page says the person then stops being treated as resident for that year; circular 1/2022 reads the condition as the activity not terminating before the end of the tax year.
• Assuming that being taxed somewhere else for part of the year is harmless. Being a tax resident of another state for the same year defeats the 60-day route; circular 1/2022 makes one narrow allowance, for countries whose tax year is not the calendar year, and it needs the Commissioner’s prior agreement.
• Confusing this certificate with the non-dom declaration. Residence and domicile are different questions and different forms.

Anything marked “practice” is what the department does in the office, not a rule you can hold it to. Rules carry a source.

• Tax residence certificate — the procedure, the cost and the document listThe department’s own page for this certificate.
• Form T.F.126 (2022) — declaration for the issue of a tax residence certificateFor individuals; published in Greek only.
• Form T.F.98 (2015) — application and questionnaires for legal persons
• Double tax treaties Cyprus has signedCheck the country before you apply.
• Tax residence and domicile — the department’s explanation of both rulesWhere the day counting and the 60-day conditions are set out.
• Tax Department district officesThe email addresses and postal addresses the request goes to.

• Tax Department, “Πιστοποιητικό Φορολογικής Κατοικίας”: the treaty precondition, the €80 in stamps, the submission and collection procedure, and the documents by category
• Form T.F.126 (2022): the fields, the declarations, the undertaking to report a change and return the certificate, and the evidence named in its footnotes2022
• Tax Department, “Φορολογική Κατοικία (Residency) / Κατοικία Καταγωγής (Domicility)”: the day counting and the five conditions of the 60-day rule
• Circular 1/2022: the 60-day conditions read closely — the activity must not terminate before the end of the tax year, an office counts only if held personally and by name, and the allowance for states whose tax year is not the calendar year2022
• Income Tax Law 118(I)/2002, art. 2, definition of a resident of the Republic