- 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 Contracting 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 Contracting State, but if the beneficial owner of the dividends is a resident of the other Contracting State, the tax so charged shall not exceed:
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- a)5 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends if the beneficial owner is a company that has owned, directly or indirectly, shares representing at least 10 per cent of the voting power of the company paying the dividends for the period of six months ending on the date on which entitlement to the dividends is determined; or
- b)10 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends in all other cases.
- 3
- Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, such dividends shall not be taxed in the Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident if the beneficial owner of the dividends is a resident of the other Contracting State and is either:
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- a)a company that has owned, directly or indirectly, shares representing at least 50 per cent of the voting power of the company paying the dividends for the period of six months ending on the date on which entitlement to the dividends is determined; or
- b)a pension fund, provided that such dividends are not derived from the carrying on of a business, directly or indirectly, by such pension fund.
- 4
- The provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 shall not affect the taxation of the company in respect of the profits out of which the dividends are paid.
- 5
- The provisions of subparagraph a) of paragraph 2 and subparagraph a) of paragraph 3 shall not apply in the case of dividends paid by a company which is entitled to a deduction for dividends paid to its beneficiaries in computing its taxable income in Japan.
- 6
- The term “dividends” as used in this Article means income from shares, “jouissance” shares or “jouissance” rights, mining shares, founders’ shares or other rights, not being debt-claims, participating in profits, as well as income which is subjected to the same taxation treatment as income from shares by the tax laws of the Contracting State of which the company making the distribution is a resident.
- 7
- The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 10 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 and the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment. In such case the provisions of Article 7 shall apply.
- 8
- Where a company which is a resident of a Contracting State derives profits or income from the other Contracting State, that other Contracting 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 Contracting State or insofar as the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with a permanent establishment situated in that other Contracting 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 Contracting State.
- 9
- A resident of a Contracting State shall not be considered the beneficial owner of dividends paid by a resident of the other Contracting State in respect of preferred shares or other similar interests if such preferred shares or other similar interests would not have been established or acquired unless a person:
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- a)that is not entitled to benefits with respect to dividends paid by a resident of that other Contracting State which are equivalent to, or more favourable than, those available under this Convention to a resident of the first-mentioned Contracting State; and
- b)that is not a resident of either Contracting State;
- owned equivalent preferred shares or other similar interests in the first-mentioned resident.
- 10
- Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 8, dividends paid by a company whose capital is divided into shares and which, under the laws of a Contracting State, is a resident of that Contracting State, to an individual who is a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in the first-mentioned Contracting State in accordance with the laws of the first-mentioned Contracting State, if that individual – either alone or with his or her spouse or one of their relatives by blood or marriage in the direct line – directly or indirectly, owns at least 5 per cent of a particular class of shares in that company. This provision shall apply only if the individual to whom the dividends are paid was a resident of the first-mentioned Contracting State at any time or the entire time during the last ten years preceding the year in which the dividends are paid and provided that, at the time he or she became a resident of the other Contracting State, the above-mentioned conditions regarding share ownership in the said company were satisfied and only insofar as part of the assessment that has been issued in connection with the above-mentioned share ownership and with his or her emigration is still outstanding under the laws of the first-mentioned Contracting State.
