Tax treaty relief made easy

(Second of two parts)In last week’s article, we discussed the revised procedure to avail of tax treaty benefits for dividend, interest, and royalty payments under Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 8-2017. Under the amended rules, a tax treaty relief application (TTRA) is no longer required and withholding agents can automatically apply the preferential tax treatment — lower tax rate or exemption — on such payments upon receiving the Certificate of Residence for Tax Treaty Relief (CORTT) Form from the non-resident.