- 1
- Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.
- 2
- However, such dividends may also be taxed in the Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident and according to the laws of that State, but if the beneficial owner of the dividends is a resident of the other Contracting State, the tax so charged shall not exceed:
-
- a)5 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends if the beneficial owner is a company (other than a partnership) which holds directly at least 25 per cent of the capital of the company paying the dividends;
- b)10 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends in all other cases.
- The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall by mutual agreement settle the mode of application of these limitations.
- This paragraph shall not affect the taxation of the company in respect of the profits out of which the dividends are paid.
- 3
- Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, dividends paid by a company which is a resident of a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State shall be taxable only in that other Contracting State if the beneficial owner of the dividends is the Government of that other Contracting State, any of its institutions or any other entity the capital of which is wholly owned directly or indirectly by that other Contracting State.
- 4
- The term “dividends” as used in this Article means income from shares or other rights, not being debt-claims, participating in profits, as well as income from other corporate rights which is subjected to the same taxation treatment as income from shares by the laws of the State of which the company making the distribution is a resident.
- 5
- The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if the beneficial owner of the dividends, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein, and the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such case the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.
- 6
- Where a company which is a resident of a Contracting State derives profits or income from the other Contracting State, that other State may not impose any tax on the dividends paid by the company, except insofar as such dividends are paid to a resident of that other State or insofar as the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with a permanent establishment or a fixed base situated in that other State, nor subject the company’s undistributed profits to a tax on the company’s undistributed profits, even if the dividends paid or the undistributed profits consist wholly or partly of profits or income arising in such other State.
- 7
- The provisions of this Article shall not apply if it was the main purpose or one of the main purposes of any person concerned with the creation or assignment of the shares or other rights in respect of which the dividends are paid to take advantage of this Article by means of that creation or assignment.
