BusinessWorld April 14, 2021 | 8:30 pm By Donabel M. Villegas Through the years, countries have developed a network of tax treaty agreements which provide tax residents of treaty countries income tax exemption or preferential tax treatment on foreign-sourced income. As a minimum requirement to avail of tax treaty benefits, an income earner must prove that it is a tax resident of the treaty country. This is done by presenting a tax residency certificate (TRC) issued by the tax authority of the home country. In 2019, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 51-2019 providing guidelines and procedures for Philippine taxpayers who wish to secure a TRC. Among the objectives of the RMO is to monitor the reporting and declaration of foreign-sourced income in the tax returns of the applicant-taxpayers since they are taxable on their worldwide income. In 2020, the BIR issued RMO No. 43-2020 to further streamline the process of securing TRCs. Under these rules, domestic corporations or resident citizens requesting a TRC must submit their annual income tax return (ITR) for the immediately preceding year. In practice, Audited Financial Statements (AFS) and VAT returns are also requested by the tax authority.