What is a Certificate of Residence (COR) in Singapore?

Singapore’s COR is an indicator to tax authorities – in Singapore and abroad – that a given company has established operations within the state of Singapore. Within Singapore, a COR is used to establish a company’s eligibility for exemption on taxation of profits remitted from foreign operations in the form of dividends, foreign branch profits, and foreign sourced service income. Outside of Singapore, a COR is used as a means of satisfying requirements under the various DTAs that Singapore has established with partner states.