CONVENTION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLEC OF INDIA 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 Republic of India, Desiring to conclude a Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income, Have agreed as follows: CHAPTER I SCOPE OF THE CONVENTION
ARTICLE 1 TAXES COVERED 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 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, as well as taxes on the total amounts of wages or salaries paid by enterprises. 3. The existing taxes to which this Convention shall apply are: (a) In the case of India: (i). the income tax including any surcharge thereon imposed under the Income Tax Act, 1961, (43 of 1961); and (ii). the surtax imposed under the Companines (Profits) Surtax Act, 1964, (7 of 1964); (hereinafter referred to as a "Indian tax"); (b) In the case of Thailand; (i) the income tax; and (ii) the petroleum income tax, (hereinafter referred to as "Thai tax"). 4. The Convention shall also apply to any identical or substantially similar taxes which are imposed by either Contracting State after the date of signature of this Convention in addition to, or in place of, the taxes referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of significant changes which have been made in their respective taxation laws. CHAPTER II DEFINITIONS
ARTICLE 3 GENERAL DEFINITIONS 1. For the purposes of this Convention, unless the context otherwise requires; (a) the term "India" means the territory of India and includes the territorial sea and airspace above it as well as any other maritime zone referred to in the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and other Maritime Zones Act, 1976 (Act No.80 of 1976), in which India has sovereign rights and to the extent that these rights can be exercised therein accordance with international law, as if such maritime zone is a part of the territory of India; (b) the term "Thailand" means the Kingdom of Thailand and includes any maritime 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 may be exercised; (c). the terms a Contracting State and the other Contracting State mean India or Thailand as the context requires; (d) the term tax means Indian tax or Thai tax, as the context requires; (e). the term person includes an individual, a company and any other entity which is treated as a taxable unit under the taxation laws in force in the respective Contracting States; (f) the term company means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a company or a body corporate under the taxation laws in force in the respective Contracting State; (g) 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; (h) the term competent authority means in the case of India, the Central Government in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) or their authorised representative; and in the case of Thailand, the Minister of Finance or his authorised representative; the term national means any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State and any legal person, partnership, association and any other entity deriving its status as such from the laws in force in a Contracting State;the term internation traffic means any transport by a ship or aircraft operated by an enterprise of a Contracting State, except where the ship or aircraft is operated solely between places in the other Contracting State. 2. In the application of the provisions of this Convention by one of the Contracting States, any term not defined herein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has for the purposes of the laws in force in that State relating to the taxes which are the subject of this Convention. 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 taxation therein by reason of his domicile, residence, palce of incorporation, place of management 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 State, then his resident status for the purposes of this Convention shall be determined in accordance with the following rules: (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 (hereinafter referred to as his "centre of vital interests"); (b). If the Contracting State in which he has his centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he does not have a permanent home available to him in either Contracting State, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State in which he has an habitual abode; (c). If he has an habitual abode in both Contracting States 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 both Contracting 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 competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement. 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 shall include; (a) a place of management: (b) a branch; (c) an office; (d) a factory; (e) a workshop; (f) a mine, a quarry, an oil or gas well or other place of extraction of natural resources; (g) a farm, plantation or other place where agricultural, forestry, plantation or related activities are carried on; (h) a building site or construction or assembly project or supervisory activities in connection therewith, where such site, project or activity continues for the same or a connected project for a period or periods aggregating more than 183 days; (i) a warehouse, in relation to a person providing storage facilities for other; (j) the furnishing of services, including consultancy services,by a resident of one of the Contracting State throguh employees or other personnel, provided 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 183 days. 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 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 the preceding paragraphs, a person (other than a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 5 applies) acting in a Contracting State on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting state shall be deemed to be a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned Contracting State, if; (a) he has and habitually exercises in the first-mentioned Contracting State, an authority to conclude contracts for or on behalf of the enterprise, unless his activities are limited to the purchase of goods or merchandise for the enterprise; (b) he habitually maintains in the first-mentioned Contracting State a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to that enterprise from which he regularly delivers goods or merchandise on behalf of the enterprise; or (c) he 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, where such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business. This shall not apply if such broker or agent carries on in that other State an activity described in paragraph 4 wholly or almost wholly fore the enterprise itself or for the enterprise and other enterprise which are controlled by or have a controlling interest in it. 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 Contracting State (whether through a pemanent establishment or otherwise), shall not, of itself, constitute either company a permenent establishment of the other. 7. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Aticle, an insurance enterprise of a Contracting State shall, except in regard to insurance, be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the other State if it collects premiums in the territory of that 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 5 of this Article. |