AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND
AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
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 United Arab Emirates,
desiring to promote and strengthen the economic relations by concluding 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 its political subdivisions, local authorities or local governments 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 alienation of movable or immovable property as well as taxes on capital appreciation.
3. The existing taxes to which the Agreement shall apply are :
(a) In the case of the United Arab Emirates:
(i) Income Tax
(ii) Corporation Tax
(hereinafter referred to as “U.A.E tax”)
(b) In the case of the Kingdom of Thailand:
(i) Income tax
(ii) 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 the Agreement in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes referred to in paragraph 3. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of any substantial changes which are made in their respective taxation laws within a reasonable period of time after such changes.
ARTICLE 3
GENERAL DEFINITIONS
1. For the purpose of this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires :
(a) the terms “a Contracting State ” and “the other Contracting
State” mean the United Arab Emirates or the Kingdom of
Thailand as the context requires;
(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 legislations
and in accordance with the 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 seabed and subsoil and their natural resources may
be exercised;
(c) the term “United Arab Emirates” means the territory of the
United Arab Emirates including its territorial waters, islands,
airspace, seabed, subsoil and their natural resources over
which the United Arab Emirates exercises its sovereign
rights in accordance with the United Arab Emirates
legislations and the international law.
(d) the term “tax” means U.A.E. tax or THAI tax as the context
requires;
(e) the term “person” includes an individual, a company and any
other body of persons as well as any entity treated as a
taxable unit under the taxation laws in force in either
Contracting State;
(f) the term “company” means any body corporate or any entity
which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;
(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 “national” means all individuals possessing the
nationality of a Contracting State and all legal persons,
partnerships, associations and any other entity deriving
their status as such from the laws in force in a Contracting
State.
2. 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.
3. The term “competent authority” means:
(a) in the case of the United Arab Emirates, the Minister of
Finance and Industry or his authorized representative; and
(b) in the case of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Minister of
Finance or his authorized representative.
4. In the application of this Agreement by either of the Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the laws 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 a person who is 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 deemed to be 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 Contracting States,
he shall be deemed to be a resident of the Contracting State
with which his personal and economic relations are closer
(center of vital interests) ;
(b) if the Contracting State in which he has his center 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 endeavor 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 Agreement, 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 specifically:
(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 farm or plantation ;
(h) a permanent warehouse, in relation to a person providing
storage facilities for others.
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 6 months.
(b) the furnishing of services, including consultancy services, by
an enterprise of a Contracting State through employees or
other 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
6 months.
4. 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
ordisplay of goods or merchandise belonging to the
enterprise ;
(b) the maintenance of a stock of goods or
merchandisebelonging 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 for
collecting information for the enterprise ;
(e) the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for
thepurpose of advertising, for the supply of information,
for scientific research or for similar activities which have a
preparatory or auxiliary character, for the enterprise.
5. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, where a person - other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 6 applies - is acting in a Contracting State, on behalf of the enterprise of the other Contracting State, the enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned Contracting State, if such a person :
(a) has and habitually exercises in the first-mention State, an
authority to conclude contracts on behalf of the a enterprise
unless his activities are limited to the purchase of goods
or merchandise for the enterprise ;
(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.
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 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 or on behalf of that enterprise and other enterprises, which are controlled by it or have a controlling interest in it, he will not be considered an agent of independent status within the meaning of this paragraph.
7. 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.
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