AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND
AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SULTANATE OF OMAN
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 Sultanate of Oman,
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
PERSONS COVERED
This Agreement shall apply to persons who are residents of one or both of the Contracting States.
Article 2
TAXES COVERED
1. This Agreement shall apply to taxes on income imposed on behalf of each 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 Agreement shall apply are in particular:
a) in the case of the Sultanate of Oman:
(i) the company income tax; and
(ii) the profit tax on commercial and industrial establishments;
(hereinafter referred to as "Omani tax") ;
b) in the case of Thailand:
(i) the income tax; and
(ii) the petroleum income tax;
(hereinafter referred to as "Thai tax") .
4. This Agreement shall also apply to any identical or substantially similar taxes which are imposed after the date of signature of this Agreement in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of any significant changes which have been made in their respective taxation laws within 6 months from the date of such change unless there is a force majeure.
Article 3
GENERAL DEFINITIONS
1. For the purposes of this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires:
a) the term "Sultanate of Oman" means the territory of the Sultanate of Oman
and the islands belonging thereto, including the territorial waters and
any area outside the territorial waters over which the Sultanate of Oman
may, by the laws of the Sultanate of Oman and in accordance with
international law, exercise sovereign rights with respect to the exploration
and exploitation of the natural resources of the sea-bed and the sub-soil
and the above-lying waters;
b) the term "Thailand" means the Kingdom of Thailand and includes 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 sea-bed and sub-soil and their natural
resources may be exercised;
c) the terms "a Contracting State" and "the other Contracting State" mean the
Sultanate of Oman or Thailand, as the context requires;
d) 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;
e) the term "company" means any body corporate or any entity that 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 "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;
h) the term "national" means:
(i) any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State;
(ii) any legal person, partnership, association or any other entity deriving
its status as such from the laws in force in a Contracting State;
i) the term "competent authority" means:
(i) in the case of Thailand, the Minister of Finance or his authorised
representative; and
(ii) in the case of the Sultanate of Oman, the Minister of National
Economy and Supervisor of the Ministry of Finance or his
authorised representative;
j) the term "tax" means Omani tax or Thai 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 application of the Agreement at any time by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning that it has at that time under the law of that State for the purposes of the taxes to which the Agreement applies, any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that State prevailing over a meaning given to the term under other laws of that State.
Article 4
RESIDENT
1. For the purpose of this Agreement, the term "resident of a Contracting State" means any person who, under the law 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, and also includes that State and any political subdivision or local authority thereof.
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 only 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 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 State, he shall be deemed to be a resident only 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 only 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, it shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State in which it is incorporated; if the person other than an individual has a place of incorporation in both States, then it shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which it has a place of effective management. If its place of effective management cannot be determined, then the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement.
Article 5
PERMANENT ESTABLISHMENT
1. For the purposes of this Agreement, the term "permanent establishment" means a fixed place of business through which the business of the 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, quarry or any other place of extraction of
natural resources; and
g) a building site, a construction, or assembly or installation project only
if it lasts more than six (6) 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 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
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.
4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, where a person -other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 5 applies- is acting in a Contracting State on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State, that enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned Contracting State in respect of any activities which that person undertakes for the enterprise, if such a person:
a) has, and habitually exercises in that State an authority to conclude contracts
on behalf of the enterprise, unless the activities of such person are limited to
those mentioned in paragraph 3 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;
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. An enterprise of a Contracting State 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, 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, he will not be considered an agent of an independent status within the meaning of this paragraph.
6. 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.
