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Art. 5 - 8

Article 5
PERMANENT ESTABLISHMENT
(1)
For the purposes of this Convention, the term ``permanent establishment'' means a fixed place of business through which the business of an enterprise is wholly or partly carried on.
(2)
The term ``permanent establishment'' includes especially:
(a)
a place of management;
(b)
a branch;
(c)
an office;
(d)
a factory;
(e)
a workshop, and
(f)
a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of extraction of natural resources.
(3)
A building site, a construction, assembly or installation project or a supervisory activity connected therewith constitutes a permanent establishment only if such site, project or activity lasts for a period of more than nine months.
(4)
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 of 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;
(f)
the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for any combination of activities mentioned in sub--paragraphs (a) to (e), provided that the overall activity of the fixed place of business resulting from this combination is of a preparatory or auxiliary character.
(5)
Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, where a person other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 6 applies is acting on behalf of an enterprise and has, and habitually exercises, in a Contracting State an authority to conclude contracts in the name of the enterprise, that enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in that State in respect of any activities which that person undertakes for the enterprise, unless the activities of such person are limited to those mentioned in paragraph 4 which, if exercised through a fixed place of business, would not make this fixed place of business a permanent establishment under the provisions of that paragraph.
(6)
An enterprise shall not be deemed to have a permanent establishment in a Contracting State merely because it carries on business in that State through a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of an independent status, provided that such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business. However, where the activities of such an agent are devoted wholly or almost wholly on behalf of that enterprise and where the conditions between the agent and the enterprise differ from those which would be made between independent persons, such agent shall not be considered an agent of an independent status within the meaning of this paragraph. In such case the provisions of paragraph 5 shall apply.
(7)
The fact that a company which is a resident of a Contracting State controls or is controlled by a company which is a resident of the other Contracting State, or which carries on business in that other State (whether through a permanent establishment or otherwise), shall not of itself constitute either company a permanent establishment of the other.
Article 6
INCOME FROM IMMOVABLE PROPERTY
(1)
Income derived by a resident of a Contracting State from immovable property (including income from agriculture or forestry) situated in the other 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, any option or similar right to acquire immovable property, usufruct of immovable property and rights to variable or fixed payments as consideration for the working of, or the right to work, 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 apply to income derived from the direct use, letting, or use in any other form of immovable property, as well as income from the alienation of immovable property.
(4)
Where the ownership of shares or other corporate rights in a company entitles the owner of such shares or corporate rights to the enjoyment of immovable property held by the company, the income from direct use, letting, or use in any other form of such right to enjoyment may be taxed in the Contracting State in which the immovable property is situated.
(5)
The provisions of paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 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 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 that permanent establishment.
(2)
Subject to the provisions of paragraph 3, where an enterprise of a Contracting State carries on business in the other Contracting State through a permanent establishment situated therein, there shall in each Contracting State be attributed to that permanent establishment the profits which it might be expected to make if it were a distinct and separate enterprise engaged in the same or similar activities under the same or similar conditions and dealing wholly independently with the enterprise of which it is a permanent establishment.
(3)
In determining the profits of a permanent establishment, there shall be allowed as deductions expenses which are incurred for the purposes of the permanent establishment, including executive and general administrative expenses so incurred, whether in the State in which the permanent establishment is situated or elsewhere.
(4)
Insofar as it has been customary in a Contracting State to determine the profits to be attributed to a permanent establishment on the basis of an apportionment of the total profits of the enterprise to its various parts, nothing in paragraph 2 shall preclude that Contracting State from determining the profits to be taxed by such an apportionment as may be customary; the method of apportionment adopted shall, however, be such that the result shall be in accordance with the principles contained in 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)
Where profits include items of income which are dealt with separately in other Articles of this Convention, then the provisions of those Articles shall not be affected by the provisions of this Article.
(8)
Nothing in this Article shall prevent a Contracting State from applying its law relating to the taxation of any person who carries on the business of insurance. However, the tax so charged shall not exceed 5.4 per cent of the gross amount of premiums of the business of insurance.
(9)
The term ``profits'' as used in this Article includes the profits derived by any partner from his participation in a partnership and, in the case of Austria, from a participation in a sleeping partnership (Stille Gesellschaft) created under Austrian law.
Article 8
SHIPPING AND AIR TRANSPORT
(1)
Profits of an enterprise of a Contracting State from the operation of ships or aircraft in international traffic shall be taxable only in that State.
(2)
The provisions of paragraph 1 shall also apply to profits from the participation in a pool, a joint business or an international operating agency.
Last modified: 2002-08-07
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