CONVENTION BETWEEN THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND AND THE SWISS CONFEDERATION FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION WITH RESPECT TO TAXES ON INCOME The Royal Government of Thailand and the Swiss Federal Council, Desiring to conclude a Convention for the avoidance of double taxation 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. This Convention shall apply to taxes on income imposed on behalf of a Contracting State or of its political subdivisions or local authorities, irrespective of the manner in which they are levied. 2. There shall be regarded as taxes on income all taxes imposed on total income, or on elements of income including taxes on gains from the alienation of movable or immovable property, taxes on the total amounts of wages or salaries paid by enterprises, as well as taxes on capital appreciation. 3. The existing taxes to which the Convention shall apply are in particular: a) in the case of Switzerland: the federal, cantonal and communal, taxes on income (total income, earned income, income from capital, industrial and commercial profits, capital gains, and other items of income) (hereinafter referred to as "Swiss tax"); b) In the case of Thailand: - the income tax; and - the petroleum income tax (hereinafter referred to as "Thai tax"). 4. The Convention shall apply also to any identical or substantially similar taxes which are imposed after the date of signature of the Convention in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of significant changes which have been made in their respective taxation laws. ARTICLE 3 General Definitions 1. For the purposes of this Convention, unless the context otherwise requires: a) the term "Switzerland" means the Swiss Confederation; b) the term "Thailand" means the Kingdom of Thailand and includes any area adjacent to the territorial sea of the Kingdom of Thailand including the seabed and subsoil over which the Kingdom of Thailand may exercise jurisdiction by virtue of its legislation and in accordance with international law; c) the terms "a Contracting State" and "the other Contracting State" mean Thailand or Switzerland as the context requires; d) the term "person" includes an individual, a company and any other body of persons and, in the case of Thailand, the term shall also cover any entity treated as taxable unit; e) the term "company" means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes; f) 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; g) the term "tax" means Thai tax or Swiss tax as the context requires; h) the term "national" means: (i) any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State; (ii) any legal person, partnership, association and any other entity deriving its status as such from the laws in force in a Contracting State; i) 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; and j) the term "competent authority" means: (i) in the case of Switzerland, the Director of the Federal Tax Administration or his authorised representative; and (ii) in the case of Thailand, the Minister of Finance or his authorized representative. 2. As regards the application of the Convention by a Contracting State any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the law of that State concerning the taxes to which the Convention applies. ARTICLE 4 Resident 1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "resident of a Contracting State" means any person who, under the laws of that State, is liable to tax therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of incorporation, place of management or any other criterion of a similar nature. But this term does not include any person who is liable to tax in that State in respect only of income from sources in that State. 2. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then his status shall be determined as follows: a) he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests); b) if the 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 State, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has an habitual abode; c) if he has an habitual abode in both States or in neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State of which he is a national; d) if he is a national of both States or of neither of them, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement. 3. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 a person other than an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then the question shall be settled by the competent authorities of the Contracting States. 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; f) a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of extraction of natural resources; g) a farm or plantation; h) a warehouse, in relation to a person providing storage facilities for others; i) a building site, a construction, installation or assembly project or supervisory activities in connection therewith, where such site, project or activities continue for a period of more than six months; j) the furnishing of services including consultancy services by a resident of a Contracting State through employees or other personnel, where activities of that nature continue for the same or a connected project within the other Contracting State for a period or periods aggregating more than six months within any twelve month period. 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 or display 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 or display; 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 advertising, for the supply of information, for scientific research or for similar activities which have a preparatory or auxiliary character, for the enterprise. 4. 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 in a Contracting State on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State, the enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned Contracting State, if such a person: a) 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; b) has no such authority, but 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) has no such authority, but habitually secures orders in the first-mentioned State wholly or almost wholly for the enterprise or for the enterprise and other enterprises which are controlled by it or have a controlling interest in it. 5. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Article, an insurance enterprise of a Contracting State shall, except in regard to reinsurance, be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the other State if it collects premiums in the territory of that other State or insures risks situated therein through an employee or through a representative who is not an agent of an independent status within the meaning of paragraph 6 of this Article. 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, when the activities of such an agent are devoted wholly or almost wholly on behalf of that enterprise or on behalf of that enterprise and other enterprises, which are controlled by it or have a controlling interest in it, he will not be considered an agent of independent status within the meaning of this paragraph. 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. |