Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and Government of Republic of India the Government of Australia for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes
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....Central Government hereby directs that all the provisions of the said Agreement shall be given effect to in the Union of India. AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA AND THE ANNEXURE GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION AND THE PREVENTION OF FISCAL EVASION WITH RESPECT TO TAXES ON INCOME The Government of the Republic of India and the Government of Australia, Desiring to conclude an Agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, Have agreed as follows: ARTICLE 1 PERSONAL SCOPE This Agreement shall apply to persons who are residents of one or both of the Contracting States. ARTICLE 2 TAXES COVERED 1. The existing taxes to which this Agreement shall apply are: (a) in Australia: the income-tax, and the resource rent tax in respect of offshore projects relating to exploration for or exploitation of petroleum resources, imposed under the federal law of the Commonwealth of Australia; (b) in India: (i) the income-tax including any surcharge thereon; and (ii) the surtax imposed....
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....er Contracting State" mean an enterprise carried on by a resident of Australia or an enterprise carried on by a resident of India, as the context requires; (g) the term "tax" means Australian tax or Indian tax, as the context requires; (h) the term: (i) "Australian tax" means tax imposed by Australia; and (ii) "Indian tax" means tax imposed by India, being tax to which this Agreement applies by virtue of Article 2, but neither term includes any amount which represents a penalty or fine or interest imposed under the law of either Contracting State relating to its tax; (i) the term "competent authority" means, in the case of Australia, the Commissioner of Taxation or an authorised representative of the Commissioner and, in the case of India, the Central Government in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) or their authorised representative; and (j) the term "year of income", in relation to Indian tax, means "previous year" as defined in the Income-tax Act, 1961. (2) In the application of this Agreement by a Contracting State, any term not defined in this Agreement shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the ....
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....tivities are carried on; (i) premises used as a sales outlet or for receiving or soliciting orders; (j) an installation or structure, or plant or equipment, used for the exploration for or exploitation of natural resources; (k) a building site or construction, installation or assembly project, or supervisory activities in connection with such a site or project, where that site or project exists or those activities are carried on (whether separately or together with other sites, projects or activities) for more than 6 months. (3) An enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in one of the Contracting States and to carry on business through that permanent establishment if: (a) substantial equipment is being used in that State by, for or under contract with the enterprise; (b) it carries on activities in that State in connection with the exploration for or exploitation of natural resources in that State; or (c) it furnishes services, including managerial services and those mentioned in subparagraphs (3)(h) to (k) of Article 12 but not those services in respect of which payments or credits that are royalties as ....
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....hat State, wholly or principally for the enterprise itself or for the enterprise and other enterprises controlling, or controlled by or subject to the same common control as, that enterprise; or (d) in so acting, the person manufactures or processes in that State for the enterprise goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise. (6) An enterprise of one of the Contracting States shall not be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the other Contracting State merely because it carries on business in that other State through a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of an independent status, where that person is acting in the ordinary course of the person's business as such a broker or agent. However, when the activities of such a broker or agent are carried on wholly or principally on behalf of that enterprise itself or on behalf of that enterprise and other enterprises controlling, or controlled by or subject to the same common control as, that enterprises, the person will not be considered a broker or agent of an independent status within the meaning of this paragraph. (7) That fact that a company which is a resident of one of the Contracting S....
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....r where the exploration may take place. 4. The provisions of paragraph (1) shall apply to income-derived from the direct use, letting or use in any other form of real property. 5. The provisions of paragraphs (1), (3) and (4) shall also apply to the income from real property of an enterprise and to income from real property used for the performance of independent personal services. ARTICLE 7 BUSINESS PROFITS (1) The profits of an enterprise of one of the Contracting States shall be taxable only in that State unless the enterprise carries on business in the other Contracting State through a permanent establishment situated therein. If the enterprise carries on business as aforesaid, the profits of the enterprise may be taxed in the other State but only so much of them as is attributable to: (a) that permanent establishment; or (b) sales within that other Contracting State of goods or merchandise of the same or a similar kind as those sold, or other business activities of the same or a similar kind as those carried on, through that permanent establishment. 2. Subject to the provisions of paragraph (3), where an enterprise of one of the Contracting ....
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....provided that if the relevant law in force in either Contracting State at the date of signature of this Agreement is varied (otherwise than in minor respects so as not to affect its general character) the Contracting States shall consult with each other with a view to agreeing to any amendment of this paragraph that may be appropriate. 9. Where: (a) a resident of one of the Contracting States is beneficially entitled, whether directly or through one or more interposed trust estates, to a share of the business profits of an enterprise carried on in the other Contracting State by the trustee of a trust estate other than a trust estate which is treated in that other State as a company for tax purposes; and (b) in relation to that enterprise, that trustee would, in accordance with the principles of Article 5, have a permanent establishment in that other Contracting State, the enterprise carried on by the trustee shall be deemed to be a business carried on in that other Contracting State by that resident through a permanent establishment situated therein and that share of business profits shall be attributed to that permanent establishment. ARTICLE 8 SHIPS ....
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...., so far as it is practicable to do so, consistently with the principles of this Article. 3. Where profits on which an enterprise of one of the Contracting States has been charged to tax in that State are also included, by virtue of paragraph (1) or (2), in the profits of an enterprise of the other Contracting State and charged to tax in that other State, and the profits so included are profits which might have been expected to have accrued to that enterprise of the other State if the conditions operative between the enterprises had been those which might have been expected to have operated between independent enterprises dealing wholly independently with one another, then the first-mentioned State shall make an appropriate adjustment to the amount of tax charged on those profits in the first-mentioned State. In determining such an adjustment, due regard shall be had to the other provisions of this Agreement and for this purpose the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall, if necessary, consult each other. ARTICLE 10 DIVIDENDS 1. Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of one of the Contracting States for the purposes of its tax, being dividends to....
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....The term "interest" in this Article includes interest from Government securities or from bonds or debentures, whether or not secured by mortgage and whether or not carrying a right to participate in profits, and interest from any other form of indebtedness as well as all other income assimilated to income from money lent by the law, relating to tax, of the Contracting State in which the income arises, but does not include interest referred to in paragraph (1) of Article 8. 4. The provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply if the person beneficiary entitled to the interest, being a resident of one of the Contracting States, carries on business in the other Contracting State, in which the interest arises, through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein, and the indebtedness in respect of which the interest is paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such a case, the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply. 5. Interest shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the payer is that State itse....
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.... (a) where the payer is the Government or a political sub-division of that State or a public sector company: 15 per cent of the gross amount of the royalties; and (b) in all other cases: 20 per cent of the gross amount of the royalties; and (ii) during all subsequent years of income: 15 per cent of the gross amount of the royalties. 3. The term "royalties" in this Article means payments or credits, whether periodical or not, and however described or computed, to the extent to which they are made as consideration for: (a) the use of, or the right to use, any copyright, patent, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, trade mark or other like property or right; (b) the use of, or the right to use, any industrial, commercial or scientific equipment; (c) the supply of scientific, technical, industrial or commercial knowledge or information; (d) the rendering of any technical or consultancy services (including those of technical or other personnel) which are ancillary and subsidiary to the application or enjoyment of any such property or right as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (a), or any such equipment as is mentione....
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....esident of that State for the purposes of its tax. Where, however, the person paying the royalties, whether the person is a resident of one of the Contracting States or not, has in one of the Contracting States or outside both Contracting States a permanent establishment or fixed base in connection with which the liability to pay the royalties was incurred, and the royalties are borne by the permanent establishment or fixed base, then the royalties shall be deemed to arise in the State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated. 6. Where, owing to a special relationship between the payer and the person beneficially entitled to the royalties, or between both of them, and some other person, the amount of the royalties paid or credited, having regard to what they are paid or credited for, exceeds the amount which might have been expected to have been agreed upon by the payer and the person so entitled in the absence of such relationship, the provisions of this Article shall apply only to the last-mentioned amount. In that case, the excess part of the amount of the royalties paid or credited shall remain taxable according to the law, relating to tax, of each Cont....
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....te unless: (a) the individual or firm has a fixed base regularly available to the individual or firm in the other Contracting State for the purpose of performing the individual's or the firm's activities, in which case the income may be taxed in that other State but only so much of it as is attributable to activities exercised from that fixed base; or (b) the stay by the individual or, in the case of a firm, by one or more members of the firm (alone or together) in the other Contracting State is for a period or periods amounting to or exceeding 183 days in a year of income, in which case only so much of the income as is derived from the activities of the individual, that member or those members, as the case may be, in that other State may be taxed in that other State. 2. The term "professional services" includes services performed in the exercise of independent scientific, literary, artistic, educational or teaching activities as well as in the exercise of the independent activities of physicians, surgeons, lawyers, engineers, architects, dentists and accountants. ARTICLE 15 DEPENDENT PERSONAL SERVICES 1. Subject to the provisions of Articles 1....
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....o is a resident of one of the Contracting States, from the entertainer's personal activities as such exercised in the other Contracting State, shall be taxable only in the first-mentioned Contracting State if the activities in the other Contracting State are supported wholly or substantially from the public funds of the first-mentioned Contracting State, including any of its political sub-divisions or local authorities. 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) and Articles 7, 14 and 15, where income in respect of personal activities exercised by an entertainer in the entertainer's capacity as such in one of the Contracting States accrues not to the entertainer but to another person, that income shall be taxable only in the other Contracting State if that other person is supported wholly or substantially from the public funds of that other State, including any of its political sub-divisions or local authorities. ARTICLE 18 PENSIONS AND ANNUITIES 1. Pensions (not including pensions referred to in Article 19) and annuities paid to a resident of one of the Contracting States shall be taxable only in that State. 2. The term "annuity" means a stated sum p....
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....ENTS AND TRAINEES Where a student or trainee, who is a resident of one of the Contracting States or who was a resident of that State immediately before visiting the other Contracting State and who is temporarily present in that other State solely for the purpose of the student's or trainee's education or training, receives payments from sources outside that other State for the purpose of the student's or trainee's maintenance, education or training, those payments shall be exempt from tax in that other State. ARTICLE 22 INCOME NOT EXPRESSLY MENTIONED 1. Items of income of a resident of one of the Contracting States which are not expressly mentioned in the foregoing Articles of this Agreement shall be taxable only in that State. 2. However, any such income derived by a resident of one of the Contracting States from sources in the other Contracting State may also be taxed in that other State. 3. The provisions of paragraph (1) shall not apply to income derived by a resident of one of the Contracting States where that income is effectively connected with a permanent establishment or fixed base situated in the other Contracting State. In such a case, t....
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.... 1961, insofar as those provisions were in force on, and have not been modified since, the date of signature of this Agreement, or have been modified only in minor respects so as not to affect their general character; or (ii) any other provision which may subsequently be made granting an exemption from or reduction of Indian tax which the Treasurer of Australia and the Ministry of Finance of India agree from time to time in letters exchanged for this purpose to be of a substantially similar character, if that provision has not been modified thereafter or has been modified only in minor respects so as not to affect its general character; and (b) in the case of interest derived by a resident of Australia which is exempted from Indian tax under the provisions referred to in sub-paragraph (a), the amount which would have been payable as Indian tax if the interest had not been so exempt and if the tax referred to in paragraph (2) of Article 11 did not exceed 10 per cent of the gross amount of the interest. 3. Paragraph (2) shall apply only in relation to income derived in any of the first 10 years of income in relation to which this Agreement has effect under sub-pa....
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..... The solution so reached shall be implemented notwithstanding any time limits in the national laws of the Contracting States. 3. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall jointly endeavour to resolve any difficulties or doubts arising as to the application of this Agreement. 4. The competent authorities of the Contracting States may communicate with each other directly for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Agreement. ARTICLE 26 EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION 1. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall exchange such information as is necessary for the carrying out of this Agreement or of the domestic laws of the Contracting States concerning the taxes to which this Agreement applies insofar as the taxation thereunder is not contrary to this Agreement, or for the prevention of evasion or avoidance of, or fraud in relation to, such taxes. The exchange of information is not restricted by Article 1. Any information received by the competent authority of a Contracting State shall be treated as secret in the same manner as information obtained under the domestic laws of that State and shall be disclosed only to persons or auth....
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....nters into force; and (ii) in respect of other Australian tax, in relation to income, profits or gains of any year of income beginning on or after 1 July in the calendar year next following that in which the Agreement enters into force; (b) in India, in respect of income, profits or gains arising in any year of income beginning on or after 1 April in the calendar year next following that in which the Agreement enters into force. 2. The Agreement made between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Republic of India for the Avoidance of Double Taxation of Income derived from International Air Transport signed at Canberra on 31 May, 1983 (in this Article called "the 1983 Agreement") shall cease to have effect with respect to taxes to which this Agreement applies when the provisions of this Agreement become effective in accordance with paragraph (1). 3. The 1983 Agreement shall terminate on the expiration of the last date on which it has effect in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Article. ARTICLE 29 TERMINATION This Agreement shall continue in effect indefinitely, but either of the Contracting States may, on or before 30 J....
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