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Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Republic of Malta for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income

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....REEMENT BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA AND MALTA 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 MALTA 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: CHAPTER I SCOPE OF THE AGREEMENT 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 India: the income tax including any surcharge thereon; (hereinafter referred to as "Indian tax"); (b) in Malta: the income tax; (hereinafter referred to as "Malta tax"). 2. This Agreement shall also apply to any identical or substantially similar taxes which are imposed by either Contracting State after the date of signature of the present Agreement in addition to, or in place of , the taxes referred to in paragraph (1).The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of any sign....

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....year" as defined in the Income Tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961) and in relation to Malta tax means the year immediately preceding the "year of assessment" as defined in the Income Tax Act (Cap.123); (h) the term "international traffic" means any transport by a ship or aircraft operated by an enterprise of a Contracting State, except when the ship or aircraft is operated solely between places in the other Contracting State; (i) the term "national" means any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State and any legal person, partnership or association deriving its status from the laws in force in the Contracting State; (j) the term "person" includes an individual a company, a body of persons and any other entity which is treated as a taxable unit under the taxation laws in force in the respective Contracting States; (k) the term "tax" means Indian tax or Malta tax, as the context requires, but shall not include any amount which is payable in respect of any default or omission in relation to the taxes to which this Agreement applies or which represents a penalty imposed relating to those taxes. 2. As regards the ....

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....onstruction or assembly project or supervisory activities in connection therewith, where such site, project or activities (together with other such sites, projects or activities, if any) continues for a period of more than six months; 3. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Article, the term "permanent establishment" shall be deemed not to include: (a) the use of facilities solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise; (b) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery; (c) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of processing by another enterprise; (d) the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of purchasing goods or merchandise, or for collecting information, for the enterprise; (e) the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of carrying on, for the enterprise any other activity of a preparatory or auxiliary character. 4. A person engaged in a Contracting State in exploration of the seabed a....

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....ther Contracting State may be taxed in that other State. 2. The term "immovable property" shall have the meaning which it has under the law of the Contracting State in which the property in question is situated. The term shall in any case include property accessory to immovable property, livestock and equipment used in agriculture and forestry, rights to which the provisions of general law respecting landed property apply, usufruct of immovable property and rights to variable or fixed payment as consideration for the working of, or the right to work or to explore for, mineral deposits, sources and other natural resources, Ships, boats and aircraft shall not be regarded as immovable property. 3. The provisions of paragraph (1) shall also apply to income derived from the direct use, letting, or use in any other form of immovable property. 4. The provisions of paragraphs (1) and (3) shall also apply to the income from immovable property of an enterprise and to Income from immovable property used for the performance of independent personal services. ARTICLE 7 BUSINESS PROFITS 1. The profits of an enterprise of a Contracting State shall be taxable only in that State unle....

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.... authority of that State in cases in which, from the information available to the competent authority of that State, it is not possible or not practicable to ascertain the profits to be attributed to a permanent establishment, provided that law shall be applied, so far as the information available to the competent authority permits, consistently with the principles of this Article. 5. No profits shall be attributed to a permanent establishment by reason of the mere purchase by that permanent establishment of goods or merchandise for the enterprise. 6. For the purposes of the preceding paragraphs, the profits to be attributed to the permanent establishment shall be determined by the same method year by year unless there is good and sufficient reason to the contrary. 7. The provisions of this Article shall not affect the provisions of the law of a Contracting State regarding the taxation of profits from the business of insurance. 8. Where profits include items of Income which are dealt with separately in other Articles of this Agreement, then the provisions of those Articles shall not be affected by the provisions of this Article. ARTICLE 8 SHIPPING AND AIR TRANSPORT 1. Profit....

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....dingly. 2. Nothing in this Article shall affect the application of any law of a Contracting State relating to the determination of such liability by the exercise of a discretion or the making of an estimate by the competent authority of that State in cases which from the information available to the competent authority of that State, it is not possible or not practicable to determine the income to be attributed to an enterprise, provided that law shall be applied, so far as the information available to the competent authority permits, consistently with the principles of this Article. 3. Where a Contracting State includes in the profits of an enterprise of that State, and taxes accordingly, profits on which an enterprise of the other Contracting State has been charged to tax in that other State and the profits so included are profits which would have accrued to that enterprise of the first-mentioned State if the conditions made between the two enterprises had been those which would have been made between independent enterprises, then that other State shall make an appropriate adjustment to the amount of the tax charged therein on those profits. In determining such adjustment, due ....

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....pply. 5. 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 or profits or income arising in such other State. ARTICLE 11 INTEREST 1. Interest arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State. 2. However, such interest may be taxed in the Contracting State in which it arises and according to the laws of that State, but if the recipient is the beneficial owner of the interest, the tax so charged shall not exceed 10 per cent of the gross amount of the interest. 3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2), interest arising in a Contractin....

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....ES AND FEES FOR INCLUDED SERVICES 1. Royalties and fees for included services arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State. 2. However, such royalties and fees for included services may also be taxed in the Contracting State in which they arise and according to the laws of that state, but if the recipient is the beneficial owner of the royalties or fees for included services the tax so charged shall not exceed 15 per cent of the gross amount of the royalties or fees for included services. 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, trademark 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 use of, or the right to use: (i) motion picture films; (ii) films or video tape....

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....ch permanent establishment or fixed base, then such royalties shall be deemed to arise, in the State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated. 7. Where, by reason of a special relationship between the payer and the beneficial owner or between both of them and some other person, the amount of the royalties or fees for included services having regard to the use, right or information for which they are paid, exceeds the amount which would have been agreed upon by the payer and the beneficial owner in the absence of such relationship, the provisions of this Article shall apply only to the last-mentioned amount. In such case, the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable according to the laws of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Agreement. ARTICLE 13 TECHNICAL FEES 1. Technical fees arising in a Contracting State which are derived by a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State. 2. However, such technical fees may also be taxed in the Contracting State in which they arise, and according to the laws of that State; but if the recipient is the beneficial owner of the technical fees, t....

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....y, the assets of which consist wholly or principally of immovable property, may be taxed in the Contracting State in which the assets or the principal assets of the company are situated. 3. Income from gains from the alienation of movable property forming part of the business property of a permanent establishment which an enterprise of a Contracting State has in the other Contracting State or of movable property pertaining to a fixed base available to a resident of a Contracting State in the other Contracting State for the purpose of performing independent personal services, including such income or gains arising from the alienation of such a permanent establishment (alone or together with the whole enterprise) or of such fixed base, may be taxed in the other State. 4. Income from gains from the alienation of ships or aircraft operated in international traffic or movable property pertaining to the operation of such ships or aircraft shall be taxable only in the Contracting State of which the alienator is a resident. 5. Income from gains from the alienation of shares other than those mentioned in paragraph (2) in a company which is a resident of a Contracting State may be taxed i....

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....d a ship or aircraft operated in international traffic by an enterprise of a Contracting State may be taxed only in that State. ARTICLE 17 DIRECTORS' FEES Directors' fees and similar payments derived by a resident of one of the Contracting States in his capacity as a member of the board of directors, or other comparable body however described, of a company which is a resident of the other Contracting State, may be taxed in that other State. ARTICLE 18 INCOME EARNED BY ARTISTES 5 ATHLETES 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 15 and 16, Income derived by a resident of a Contracting State as an entertainer such as a theatre, motion picture, radio or television artiste or a musician or as an athlete from his personal activities as such exercised in the other Contracting State, may be taxed in that other Contracting State. 2. Where income in respect of personal activities exercised by an entertainer or an athlete in his capacity as such accrues not to the entertainer or athlete himself but to another person, that income, may, notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 7, 15 and 16, be taxed in the Contracting State in which the activities of the entertainer or at....

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....g State if the individual is a resident of, and a national of, that State. 3. The provisions of Articles 16, 17 and 19 shall apply to remuneration and pensions in respect of services rendered in connection with any business carried on by a Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof. ARTICLE 21 REMUNERATION RECEIVED BY TEACHERS 1. Remuneration which a professor or teacher who is or was immediately before visiting a Contracting State a resident of the other Contracting State and who is present in the first-mentioned State for a period not exceeding two years for the purpose of carrying out advanced study or research or for teaching at a university, college, school or other educational institution receives for such work shall not be taxed in that State, provided that such remuneration is derived by him from outside that State. 2. This Article shall not apply to income from research if such research is undertaken primarily for the private benefit of a specific person or persons. ARTICLE 22 PAYMENTS RECEIVED BY STUDENTS AND TRAINEES An individual who is a resident of a Contracting State immediately before making a visit to the other Contracting Sta....

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.... provision to the contrary is made in this Agreement. 2. In the case of India double taxation shall be eliminated as follows: Where a resident of India derives income which, in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, may be taxed in Malta, India shall allow as a deduction from the tax on the Income of that resident an amount equal to the income tax paid in Malta whether directly or by deduction. Such deduction in either case shall not, however, exceed that part of the income tax (as computed before the deduction is given) which is attributable, as the case may be, to the income which may be taxed in Malta. 3. For the purposes of paragraph (2), the term "income tax paid in Malta" shall be deemed to include the amount of Malta tax which would, under the laws of Malta and in accordance with this Agreement, have been payable on any income derived from sources in Malta had the income not been taxed at a reduced rate or exempted from Malta tax in accordance with: (a) the Aids to Industries Ordinance, 1959 and the Industrial Development Act, 1988 In so for as they were in force on, and have not been modified since, the date of signature of this Agreement or have ....

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....CHAPTER V SPECIAL PROVISIONS ARTICLE 25 NON-DISCRIMINATION 1. Nationals of a Contracting State shall not in subjected in the other Contracting State to any taxation or any requirement connected therewith which is other or more burdensome than the taxation and connected requirements to which nationals of that other State in the same circumstances are or may be subjected. This provision shall, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 1, also apply to persons who are not residents of one or both of the Contracting States. 2. The taxation on a permanent establishment which an enterprise of a Contracting State has in the other Contracting State shall not be less favourably levied in that other State than the taxation levied on enterprises of that other State carrying on the same activities in the same circumstances or under the same conditions. This provision shall not be construed as preventing a Contracting State from charging the profits of a permanent establishment which an enterprise of the other Contracting State has in the first-mentioned State at a rate of tax which is higher than that imposed on the profits of a similar enterprise of the first-mentioned Contracting State,....

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....reement with the competent authority of the other Contracting State, with a view to the avoidance of taxation not in accordance with the Agreement. Any agreement reached shall be implemented notwithstanding any time limits in the national laws of the Contracting state. 3. The competent authorities of the Contracting states shall endeavour to resolves by mutual agreement any difficulties or doubts arising as to the interpretation or application of the Agreement. They may also consult together for the elimination of double taxation in cases not provided for in the Agreement. 4. The competent authorities of the Contracting States may communicate with each other directly for the purpose of reaching an agreement in the sense of the preceding paragraphs. When it seems advisable in order to reach agreement to have an oral exchange of opinions, such exchange may take place through a commission consisting of representatives of the competent authorities of the Contracting states. ARTICLE 27 EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION 1. The competent authorities of the Contracting states shall exchange such information as is necessary for carrying out the provisions of this Agreement or of the domestic law....