CONVENTION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION AND THE PREVENTION OF FISCAL EVASION WITH RESPECT TO TAXES ON INCOME The Government of the Kingdom of Thailand, and The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Desiring to conclude a Convention 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 Convention shall apply to persons who are residents of one or both of the Contracting States. ARTICLE 2 TAXES COVERED 1 The existing taxes which are the subject of this Convention are: (a) in the United Kingdom: (i) the income tax; (ii) the corporation tax; (iii) the capital gains tax; (iv) the development land tax; and (v) the petroleum revenue tax; (hereinafter referred to as United Kingdom tax); (b) in Thailand: (i) the income tax; and (ii) the petroleum income tax; (hereinafter referred to as Thai tax) 2 The Convention shall also apply to any tax which is subsequently imposed by either Contracting State in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes provided that it is agreed by the competent authorities of the Contracting States to be identical or substantially similar to the taxes existing at the date of signature of the Convention. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of any changes which are made in their respective taxation laws. ARTICLE 3 GENERAL DEFINITIONS 1 In this Convention, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) the term United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including any area outside the territorial sea of the United Kingdom which in accordance with international law has been or may hereafter be designated, under the laws of the United Kingdom concerning the Continental Shelf, as an area within which the rights of the United Kingdom with respect to the sea bed and sub-soil and their natural resources may be exercised; (b) the term Thailand means the Kingdom of Thailand and any area adjacent to the territorial waters of the Kingdom of Thailand which by Thai legislation, and in accordance with international law, has been or may hereafter be designated as an area within which the rights of the Kingdom of Thailand with respect to the seabed and sub- soil and their natural resources may be exercised; (c) the term nationals means: (i) in relation to the United Kingdom, citizens of the United Kingdom and colonies and British subjects not possessing that citizenship or the citizenship of any other commonwealth country or territory, provided in all cases they are partial within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971, and all legal persons, partnerships, associations or other entities deriving their status as such from the law in force in the United Kingdom; (ii) in relation to Thailand, all individuals possessing the nationality of Thailand and all legal persons, partnerships and associations deriving their status as such from the law in force in Thailand; (d) the term tax means United Kingdom tax or Thai tax, as the context requires; (e) the terms a Contracting State and the other Contracting State mean the United Kingdom or Thailand, as the context requires; (f) the term person comprises an individual, a company and anybody of persons which is treated as an entity for tax purposes; (g) the term company means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes; (h) the terms enterprise of a Contracting State and enterprise of the other Contracting State mean respectively an enterprise carried on by a resident of a Contracting State and an enterprise carried on by a resident of the other Contracting State; (i) the term competent authority means, in the case of the United Kingdom the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or their authorized representative, and in the case of Thailand, the Minister of Finance or his authorized representative; (j) the term international traffic means any transport by a ship or aircraft operated by an enterprise which has its place of effective management in a Contracting State, exceptwhen the ship or air operated solely between places in the other Contracting State; (k) the term political subdivision, in relation to the United Kingdom, includes Northern Ireland. 2 As regards the application of this Convention by a Contracting State any term not otherwise defined shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the laws of that Contracting State relating to the taxes which are the subject of this Convention. ARTICLE 4 FISCAL DOMICILE 1 For the purposes of this Convention, the term resident of a Contracting State means, subject to the provisions of paragraphs (2) and (3) of this Article, any person who, under the law of that State, is liable to taxation therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of management, place of incorporation, or any other criterion of a similar nature. 2 Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph (1) of this Article an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then his status shall be determined in accordance with the following rules: (a) he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State in which he has a permanent home available to him. If he has a permanent home available to him in both Contracting States, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests); (b) if the Contracting State in which he has his centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either Contracting State, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State in which he has an habitual abode; (c) if he has an habitual abode in both Contracting States or in neither of them, he shall deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State of which he is a national; (d) if he is a national of both Contracting States or of neither of them, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall endeavour to settle the question by mutual agreement. 3 Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph (1) of this Article a person other than an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall endeavour to settle the question by mutual agreement. ARTICLE 5 PERMANENT ESTABLISHMENT 1 For the purposes of this Convention, the term permanent establishment means a fixed place of business in which the business in which the business of the enterprise is wholly or partly carried on. 2 The term "permanent establishment" shall include especially: (a) a place of management; (b) a branch; (c) an office; (d) a factory; (e) a workshop; (f) a warehouse, in relation to a person providing storage facilities for others; (g) a mine, oil well, quarry or other place of extraction of natural resources; (h) a building site or construction or assembly project which exists for more than six months. 3 The term "permanent establishment" shall not be deemed 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 thepurpose 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 advertising, for the supply of information, for scientific research or for similar activities which have a preparatory or auxiliary character, for the enterprise. 4 An enterprise of a Contracting State shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the other Contracting State if it carries on the activities of providing the services within that other Contracting State of public entertainers or athletes referred to in Article 18. 5 A person acting in a Contracting State on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State-other than a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of an independent status to whom paragraph (6) applies-shall be deemed to be a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned State, but only if: (a) he has and habitually exercises in the first- mentioned State, an authority to conclude contracts on behalf of the enterprise, unless his activities are limited to the purchase of goods or merchandise for the enterprise; or (b) he habitually maintains in the first-mentioned State a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise from which he regularly fills orders or makes deliveries on behalf of the enterprise; or (c) he habitually secures orders for the sale of goods or merchandise in the first-mentioned State exclusively or almost exclusively on behalf of the enterprise itself of or on behalf of the enterprise and other enterprises controlled by it or which have a controlling interest in it. 6 An enterprise of a Contracting State shall not be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the other Contracting State merely because it transacts business through a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of an independent status in the other Contracting State, where such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business. For this purpose, an agent shall not be considered to be an agent of an independent status if it acts as an agent exclusively or almost exclusively for the enterprise and carries on any of the activities described in paragraph (5) of this Article. 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. |