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AGREEMENT
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND
AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
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 Socialist Republic of Vietnam,

 

                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
Personal Scope

 

                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 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 Agreement shall apply are:

                (a)            In Thailand:

                                (1)            the income tax;

                                (2)            the petroleum income tax; (hereinafter referred to as "Thai tax");

                (b)            In Vietnam:

                                (1)            the personal income tax;

                                (2)            the profit tax;

                                (3)            the profit remittance tax;

                                (4)            the foreign contractor tax; and

                                (5)            the petroleum foreign sub-contractor tax; (hereinafter referred to as
                                                "Vietnamese tax").

 

4.             The 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 compete authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of important changes which have been made in their respective taxation laws.

 

 

ARTICLE 3

General Definitions

 

1.             For the purposes of this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires:

                (a)            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 the international law, falls  under the
                                 jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Thailand;

                (b)            The term "Vietnam" means the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; when used in 
                                 a geographical sense, it means all its national territory, including its
                                 territorial sea and any area beyond its territorial sea, within which Vietnam,
                                 by Vietnamese legislation and in accordance with international law, has
                                 sovereign rights of exploration for and exploitation of natural resources of
                                 the seabed and its subsoil and superjacent water mass;

                (c)            The terms "a Contracting State" and "the other Contracting State" mean 
                                 Thailand or Vietnam as the context requires;

                (d)            The term “person” includes an individual, a company and any body of
                                 persons as well as any entity treated as a taxable unit under the taxation
                                 laws in force in either Contracting State; 

                (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 a enterprise carried on by a resident of the other
                                 Contracting State;   

                (g)            The term "national" means:

                                (1)           any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State;

                                (2)           any legal person, partnership, association and any other entity 
                                                deriving its status as such from the laws in force in a Contracting 
                                                State;

                (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;
                                 and

                (i)             The term "competent authority" means, in the case of Thailand, the Minister
                                 of Finance or his authorized representative, and in the case of Vietnam, the
                                 Minister of Finance or his authorized representative.

 

2.             As regards the application of the Agreement by a Contracting State, any term not defined there shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the law of that State concerning the taxes to which the Agreement applies.

 

ARTICLE 4

Resident

 

1.             For the purposes of this Agreement, 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 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 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 it shall be deemed to be a resident of the State where it was incorporated.

 

                                                       

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, a quarry or any other place of extraction of  natural
                                resources;

                (g)           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.

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 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 apreparatory or auxiliary character, for the enterprise;

                (f)             The maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for any combination of
                                 activities, mentioned in subparagraphs (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 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 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 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.

 

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 independent status, provided that such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business.

 

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.

 

Last updated: 04.02.2005