S.I. No. 66/1973 - Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income) (Kingdom of Belgium) Order, 1973.

1. Convention shall be ratified and the instruments of ratification shall be exchanged at Dublin as soon as possible.

2. The Convention shall enter into force upon the exchange of instruments of ratification and its provisions shall have effect

(i) in Belgium

(

a

) as respects all tax due at source on income normally credited or payable after the 31st December of the calendar year in which the instruments of ratification are exchanged;

(

b

) as respects all tax other than tax due at source on income of any accounting period ending on or after the 31st December of the same year;

(ii) in Ireland

(

a

) as respects income tax (including sur-tax) for the year of assessment beginning on the 6th April of the calendar year in which the instruments of ratification are exchanged and for subsequent years of assessment;

(

b

) as respects corporation profits tax for any accounting period beginning on or after the 1st April of the calendar year in which the instruments of ratification are exchanged, and for the unexpired portion of any accounting period current at that date.

3. The Agreement, dated the 4th December, 1967, between Belgium and Ireland for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of income derived from the business of sea and air transport shall not have effect for any period for which Article 8 of the present Convention has effect.

ARTICLE 29

Termination

This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely, but either of the Contracting States may terminate the Convention, through diplomatic channels, by giving notice of termination not later than the 30th June of any calendar year after the fifth year following that in which the instruments of ratification were exchanged. In such event the Convention shall cease to have effect

(i) in Belgium

(

a

) as respects all tax due at source normally credited or payable after the 31st December of the calendar year next following that in which the notice is given;

(

b

) as respects all tax other than tax due at source on income of any accounting period ending on or after the 31st December of the calendar year next following that in which such notice is given;

(ii) in Ireland

(

a

) as respects income tax (including sur-tax) for the year of assessment beginning on the 6th April of the calendar year next following that in which such notice is given and for subsequent years of assessment;

(

b

) as respects corporation profits tax for any accounting period beginning on or after the 1st April of the calendar year next following that in which such notice is given and for the unexpired portion of any accounting period current at that date.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the above-mentioned Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention and have affixed thereto their seals.

DONE in duplicate at Brussels, this 24th June 1970, in the Irish, English, French and Netherlands languages, the four texts being equally authoritative.

For the President of Ireland

P. J. Hillery.

For His Majesty the King of the Belgians

Pierre Harmel.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Government, this 13th day of March, 1973.

SEÁN Ó LOINSIGH,

Taoiseach.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order gives the force of law to the Convention with Belgium which is set out in the Schedule.

Under the Convention certain classes of income derived from one country by a resident of the other country are (subject to certain conditions) to be exempt from tax in the former country. These classes include trading profits not arising through a " permanent establishment" [Article 7], shipping and air transport profits [Article 8] interest [Article 11], patent and copyright royalties [Article 12], profits from professional or other independent activities not attributable to a fixed base [Article 14], certain earnings of temporary residents [Articles 15, 20 and 21], pensions (other than Government pensions) [Article 18]. Government salaries and pensions are normally to be taxed by the paying Government only [Article 19].

In general, dividends paid by Irish companies to Belgian residents are to be exempt from Irish sur-tax and the rate of withholding tax on dividends paid by Belgian companies to Irish residents is not to exceed 15 per cent [Article 10].

In the matter of personal allowances and reliefs for tax purposes, each country is to treat the nationals of the other in the same way as it treats its own nationals under the same conditions [Article 24].

Where, under the Convention, income derived from one country by a person resident in the other country may be taken into account for tax purposes in both countries, a measure of double taxation relief is to be granted by the latter country. In Ireland, relief is to be given by allowing against the Irish tax payable on Belgian income, a credit in respect of the Belgian tax which the income has borne including generally, in the case of dividends, an appropriate proportion of the Belgian tax on the profits out of which the dividends are paid. In Belgium, relief is to be given by way of exemption of income (except dividends and, in certain circumstances, interest and royalties) from sources in Ireland but the income so exempted is to be taken into account for the purpose of determining the rate of Belgian tax to be imposed on the taxpayer's other income. In the case of Irish dividends, whether or not subject to Irish income tax by deduction, credit is given in Belgium to individuals to the extent of 15 per cent and to companies to the extent of 95 per cent (90 per cent in certain circumstances), of the net dividend [Article 23].

Provision is made for the exchange, between the competent authorities of the two countries, of information necessary to give effect to the Convention and for the prevention of fiscal fraud [Article 26].

The Convention shall enter into force on exchange of instruments of ratification [Article 28].

4. The Convention shall not apply to international organisations, to organs or officials thereof or to persons who are members of a diplomatic or consular mission of a third State, who are present on the territory of a Contracting State and who are not treated in either Contracting State as residents thereof for the purposes of taxes on income.

VI. FINAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 28

Entry into force and suspension of the operation of previous conventions

5. Save where Article 9, Article 11, paragraph 5, and Article 12, paragraph 4, apply, interest, royalties and other expenses paid by an enterprise of a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State shall, for the purpose of determining the taxable profits of that enterprise, be deductible to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as if they had been paid to a resident of the first-mentioned State.

6. Enterprises of a Contracting State, the capital of which is wholly or partly owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by one or more residents of the other Contracting State, shall not be subjected in the first-mentioned Contracting State to any taxation or any requirement connected therewith which is other or more burdensome than the taxation and connected requirements to which other similar enterprises of that first-mentioned State are or may be subjected.

7. The provisions of this Article shall not be construed as obliging Ireland to grant to any company other than a company incorporated in Ireland and resident therein for the purposes of income tax, any relief or exemption allowed in accordance with the provisions of

(i) the

Finance (Profits of Certain Mines) (Temporary Relief from Taxation) Act, 1956

(No. 8 of 1956), as subsequently amended, or

(ii) Part II of the

Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1956

(No. 47 of 1956), as subsequently amended, or

(iii) Chapter II or Chapter III of Part XXV of the

Income Tax Act, 1967

(No. 6 of 1967), as subsequently amended.

8. In this Article the term " taxation " means taxes of every kind and description.

ARTICLE 25

Mutual agreement procedure

S.I. No. 66 of 1973.

DOUBLE TAXATION RELIEF (TAXES ON INCOME) (KINGDOM OF BELGIUM) ORDER, 1973.

WHEREAS it is enacted by

section 361

(1) of the

Income Tax Act, 1967

(No. 6 of 1967), that if the Government by order declare that arrangements specified in the order have been made with the government of any territory outside the State in relation to affording relief from double taxation in respect of income tax, sur-tax or corporation profits tax and any taxes of a similar character, imposed by the laws of the State or by the laws of that territory, and that it is expedient that those arrangements should have the force of law, the arrangements shall, notwithstanding anything in any enactment, have the force of law

AND WHEREAS it is further enacted by section 361 (6) of that Act that where such an order is proposed to be made, a draft thereof shall be laid before Dáil Éireann and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by Dáil Éireann

AND WHEREAS a draft of this Order has been laid before Dáil Éireann and a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by Dáil Éireann

NOW, the Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by

section 361

of the

Income Tax Act, 1967

(No. 6 of 1967), hereby order as follows