AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE's REPUBLIC OF CHINA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION AND THE PREVENTION OF FISCAL EVASION WITH RESPECT
颁布时间:1995-01-17
The government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of
the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as "Contracting State "
for the purpose of the Agreement).
Desiring to conclude and Agreement for the avoidance of double
taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on
income and on property,
Have agreed as follows:
Article l 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 existing taxes to which the Agreement shall apply are:
(a) in the People's Republic of China:
(i) the individual income tax;
(ii) the income tax for enterprises with foreign investment and
foreign enterprises;
(iii) the local income tax;
(hereinafter referred to as "Chinese tax")
(b) in the Republic of Belarus:
(i) the tax on income and profits of legal persons;
(ii) the income tax on individuals; and
(iii) the tax on immovable property
(hereinafter referred to as "Belarus tax").
2. 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 referred to
in paragraph 1. The competent authorities of the Contraction States shall
notify each other of any substantial 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 terms "China " means the People's Republic of China; when
used in geographical sense, means all the territory of the People's
Republic of China, including its territorial sea, in which the Chinese
laws relating to taxation apply, and any area beyond its territorial sea,
within which the People's Republic of China has sovereign rights of
exploration for and exploitation of resources of the sea-bed and its
sub-soil and its superjacent water resources in accordance with
international law.
(b) the term "Belarus", means the Republic of Belarus and, when
used in a geographical sense, means the territory within which the
Republic of Belarus exercises under the laws of Belarus and in accordance
with international law sovereign rights and jurisdiction;
(c)the terms "a Contracting State" and "the other Contracting State"
mean China or Belarus, as the context requires;
(d)) the term "tax" means Chinese tax or Belarus tax, as the context
requires;
(e)the term "person " includes an individual, a company, any other
body of persons;
(f) the term "company " means any legal person or any entity which is
treated as a legal person for tax purposes;
(g) the terms "enterprise of a Contracting States " and "enterprise
of the other Contracting States " mean respectively an enterprise carried
on by a resident of a Contracting States and an enterprise carried on by a
resident of the other Contracting States;
(h) the term "nationals " means any individual possessing the
nationality of a Contracting States and any legal person created or
organized under the laws of that Contracting States, as well as
organizations without juridical personality treated for tax purposes as
juridical persons created or organized under the laws of that Contracting
States;
(i) the term "international traffic" means any transport by a ship or
aircraft operated by an enterprise which is a resident of a Contracting
State, except when the ship or aircraft is operated solely between
places in the other Contracting State;
(j) the term "competent authority" means, in the case of China, the
State Administration of Taxation or its authorized representative, and in
the case of Mauritius, the Commissioner of Income Tax or his authorized
representative.
2. As regards the application this Agreement by a Contracting State,
any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise
requires, have the meaning which it has under the laws of that
Contracting State concerning the taxes to which this 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
Contracting State, is liable to tax therein by reason of his domicile,
residence, place of incorporation, place of head office or any other
criterion of a similar nature.
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 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 the State in which he has a habitual abode;
(c) If he has a habitual abode in both Contracting State or in
neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting
State of which he is a national;
(d) If he is a national of neither of the Contracting State, the
competent authorities of the Contracting State 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 State, the
Contracting State 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 an enterprise in 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; and
(f) a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other of extraction
of natural resources.
3. The term "permanent establishment" likewise encompasses:
(a) a building site, a construction, assembly or installation
project or supervisory activities in connection therewith, but only where
such site, project or activities continue for a period of more than 18
months;
(b) the furnishing of services, including consultancy, by an
enterprise of a Contracting State through employees or other engaged
personnel in the other Contracting State, provided that such activities
continue for the same project or a connected project for a period or
periods aggregating more than 18 months.
4.Notwithstanding the preceding provisions 1 to 3, 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 stock of goods or merchandise belonging to
the enterprise solely for the purpose of processing by another enterprise;
(d) the maintenance of a fixed palace 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 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 form this combination is of a preparatory or auxiliary
character.
5. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, where a
person-other than an agent of an independent status to whom the provisions
of paragraph 6 apply-is acting in a Contracting State on behalf of an
enterprise of the other Contracting State, has and habitually exercises
an authority to conclude contracts in the name of the enterprise, 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, unless the activities of such
person are limited to those mentioned in paragraph 4 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.
6.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 Contracting 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.
7.The fact that a company which is a resident of a Contracting State
controls or is controlled by a company which is 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.
Article 6 Income from Immovable Property
1.Income derived by a resident of a Contracting State from immovable
property situated in the other Contracting State may be taxed in that
other Contracting State.
2. The term "immovable property" shall have the meaning which it has
under the law of the Contracting State in which the property in question
is situated. Ships and aircraft shall not be regarded as immovable
property.
3. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall apply to income derived from
the direct use, letting, or use in any other form of immovable property.
4. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 3 shall also apply to the income
from immovable property of an enterprise and to income from immovable
property used for the performance of independent personal services.
Article 7 Business Profits
1. The profits of an enterprise of a Contracting State shall be
taxable only in that Contracting State unless the enterprise carries on
business in the other Contracting State through a permanent establishment
situated therein. If the enterprise carries on business as aforesaid,
the profits of the enterprise may be taxed in the other Contracting State
but only so much of them as is attributable to that permanent
establishment.
2. Subject to the provisions of paragraph 3, where an enterprise of
a Contracting State carries on business in the other Contracting State
through a permanent establishment situated therein, there shall in each
Contracting State be attributed to that permanent establishment the
profits which it might be expected to make if it were a distinct and
separate enterprise engaged in the same or similar activities under the
same or similar conditions and dealing wholly independently with the
enterprise of which it is a permanent establishment.
3. In determining the profits of a permanent establishment, there
shall be allowed as deductions expenses which are incurred for the
purposes of the business of the permanent establishment, including
executive and general administrative expenses so incurred, whether in the
State in which the permanent establishment is situated or elsewhere.
4. Insofar as it has been customary in a Contracting State to
determine the profits to be attributed to a permanent establishment on the
basis of an apportionment of the total profits of the enterprise to its
various parts, nothing in paragraph 2 shall preclude that Contracting
State from determining the profits to be taxed by such an applying as may
be customary. The method of apportionment adopted shall, however, be
such that the result shall be in accordance with the principles contained
in this Article.
5. No profits shall be attributed to a permanent establishment by
reason of the mere purchase by that permanent establishment of goods or
merchandise for the enterprise.
6.For the purposes of paragraphs 1 to 5, the profits to be attributed
to the permanent establishment shall be determined by the same method year
by year unless there is good and sufficient reason to the contrary.
7.Where profits include items of income which are dealt with
separately in other Articles of this Agreement, then the provisions of
those Articles shall not be affected by the provisions of this Article.
Article 8 Shipping and Air Transport
1. Profits of an enterprise which is a resident of a Contracting State
from the operation of ships or aircraft in international traffic shall be
taxable only in that Contracting State.
2. the provisions of paragraph 1 shall also apply to profits from the
participation in a pool, a joint business or an international operating
agency.
Article 9 Associated Enterprises
1. Where
(a) an enterprise of a Contracting State participates directly or
indirectly in the management, control or capital of an enterprise of the
other Contracting State, or
(b) the same persons participate directly or indirectly in the
management, control or capital of an enterprise of a Contracting State
and an enterprise of the other Contracting State,
and in either case conditions are made or imposed between the two
enterprises in their commercial or financial relations which differ from
those which would be made between independent enterprises, then any
profits which would, but for those conditions, have accrued to one of
the enterprises, but, by reason of those conditions, have not so
accrued, may be included in the profits of that enterprise and taxed
accordingly.
2. Where a Contracting State includes in the profits of an enterprise
of that Contracting State and taxes accordingly-profits on which an
enterprise of the other Contracting State has been charged to tax in that
other Contracting State , and the profits so included are profits which
would have accrued to the enterprise of the first-mentioned Contracting
State if the conditions made between the two enterprises had been those
which would have been made between independent enterprises, then that
other State shall make an appropriate adjustment to the amount of tax
charged therein on those profits. In determining such adjustment, due
regard shall be had to the other provisions of this Agreement and the
competent authorities of the Contracting State shall, if necessary,
consult each other.
Article 10 Dividends
1. Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of a Contracting
State to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in tat
other Contracting State.
2. However, such dividends may also be taxed in the Contracting State
of which the company paying the dividends is a resident and according to
the laws of that Contracting State, but if the recipient is the
beneficial owner of the dividends the tax so charged shall not exceed 10
per cent of the gross amount of the dividends. The provisions of this
paragraph shall not affect the taxation of the company in respect of the
profits out of which the dividends are paid.
3. The term "dividends" as used in this Article means income from
shares, or other rights, not being debt-claims, participating in
profits, as well as income from other rights which is subjected to the
same taxation treatment as income from shares by the laws of the State of
which the company making the distribution is a resident.
4. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if the
beneficial owner of the dividends, being a resident of a Contracting
State, carries on business in the other Contracting State of which the
company paying the dividends is a resident, through a permanent
establishment situated therein, or performs in that other Contracting
State independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein,
and the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively
connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such case
the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall
apply.
5. Where a company which is a resident of a Contracting State derives
profits or income from the other Contracting State, that other
Contracting State may not impose any tax on the dividends paid by the
company, except insofar as such dividends are paid to a resident of that
other Contracting State or insofar as the holding in respect of which the
dividends are paid is effectively connected with a permanent establishment
or fixed base situated in that other Contracting State, nor subject the
company's undistributed profits to a tax on the company's undistributed
profits, even if the dividends paid or the undistributed profits consist
wholly or partly of profits or income arising in such other State.
Article 11 Interest
1. Interest arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of
the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other Contracting State.
2. However, such interest may also be taxed in the Contracting State
in which it arises and according to the laws of that State, but if the
recipient is the beneficial owner of the interest the tax so charged shall
not exceed 10 per cent of the gross amount of the interest.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, interest arising in
a Contracting State and derived by the Government of the other
Contracting State, a local authorities and the Central Bank thereof or any
financial institution wholly owned by that Government, shall be exempt
from tax in the first-mentioned Contracting State.
4. The term "interest "as used in this Article means income from
debt-claims of every kind, whether or not secured by mortgage and whether
or not carrying a right to participate in the debtor's profits, and in
particular, income from government securities and income from bonds or
debentures, including premiums and prizes attaching to such securities,
bonds or debentures. Penalty charges for late payment shall not be
regarded as interest for the purpose of this Article.
5. The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall not apply if the
beneficial owner of the interest, being a resident of a Contracting State,
carries on business in the other Contracting State in which the interest
arises, through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs
in that other Contracting State independent personal services from a fixed
base situated therein, and the debt-claim in respect of which the interest
is paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or
fixed base. In such case the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as
the case may be, shall apply.
6. Interest shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the
payer is the Government of that Contracting State, a local authority
thereof or a resident of that Contracting State. Where, however, the
person paying the interest, whether he is a resident of a Contracting
State or not, has in a Contracting State a permanent establishment or a
fixed base in connection which the indebtedness on which the interest is
paid was incurred, and such interest is borne by such permanent
establishment or fixed base, then such interest shall be deemed to arise
in the Contracting State in which the permanent establishment or fixed
base is situated.
7.Where, by reason of a special relationship between the payer and
the beneficial owner or between both of them and some other person, the
amount of the interest, having regard to the debt-claim for which it is
paid, exceeds the amount which would have been agreed upon by the payer
and the beneficial owner in the absence of such relationship, the
provisions of this Article shall apply only to the last-mentioned amount..
In such case, the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable
according to the laws of each Contracting State, due regard being bad to
the other provisions of this Agreement.