Obsah (5)

Article 7Article 14Article 15Article 17Article 25

Loi portant assentiment à la Convention entre le Gouvernement du Royaume de Belgique et le Gouvernement des Etats-Unis d'Amérique tendant à éviter la double imposition et à prévenir l'évasion fiscale

Article 7

(Business Profits) It is understood that the business profits to be attributed to a permanent establishment shall include only the profits derived from the assets used, risks assumed and activities performed by the permanent establishment.The principles of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines will apply for purposes of determining the profits attributable to a permanent establishment, taking into account the different economic and legal circumstances of a single entity. Accordingly, any of the methods described therein as acceptable methods for determining an arm's length result may be used to determine the income of a permanent establishment so long as those methods are applied in accordance with the Guidelines. In particular, in determining the amount of attributable profits, the permanent establishment shall be treated as having the same amount of capital that it would need to support its activities if it were a distinct and separate enterprise engaged in the same or similar activities. With respect to financial institutions other than insurance companies, a Contracting State may determine the amount of capital to be attributed to a permanent establishment by allocating the institution's total equity between its various offices on the basis of the proportion of the financial institution's risk-weighted assets attributable to each of them. In the case of an insurance company, there shall be attributed to a permanent establishment not only premiums earned through the permanent establishment, but that portion of the insurance company's overall investment income from reserves and surplus that supports the risks assumed by the permanent establishment. 2.

Article 14

(Income from Employment) With respect to paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 14 (Income from Employment), where remuneration is derived by a resident of one of the States in respect of an employment, employment is exercised in the place where the employee is physically present when performing the activities for which the remuneration is paid, irrespective of the residence of the payer, the place in which the contract of employment was made, the residence of the employer, the place or time of payment, or the place where the results of the work were exploited.3.

Article 15

(Directors' Fees)

1. a)Article 15 (Directors' Fees) also shall apply to fees received by a "gerant"/"zaakvoerder" of a company, other than a company with share capital, in his capacity as such.
2. b)
3. i)Remuneration derived by a person referred to in Article 15 from a company which is a resident of a Contracting State in respect of the discharge of day-to-day functions of a managerial or technical, commercial or financial nature shall be taxable in accordance with the provisions of Article 14 (Income from Employment), and not Article 15; to the extent that the company is a Belgian company, Article 14 shall be applied as if such remuneration were remuneration derived by an employee in respect of an employment and as if references to the "employer" were references to the company.
4. ii)Remuneration received by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of his day-to-day activity as a partner of a company that is a resident of Belgium, other than a company with share capital, shall be taxable in accordance with the provisions of Article 14, as if such remuneration were remuneration derived by an employee in respect of an employment and as if references to the "employer" were references to the company. iii) Article 7 (Business Profits), and not Article 14 or 15, shall apply to a partner's distributive share of the income of an entity that is treated as fiscally transparent, such as a U.S. partnership. 4.

Article 17

(Pensions, Social Security, Annuities, Alimony, and Child Support) The term "similar legislation » is intended to refer to United States tier 1 Railroad Retirement benefits.5.

paragraph 1 of Article 24 (Mutual Agreement Procedure) The term "first notification of the action resulting in taxation not in accordance with the provisions of the Convention" shall mean :

1. a)in the case of Belgium, the date on which the notice of assessment containing an assessment or supplementary assessment is sent to the person who considers that the taxation provided for in such assessment or supplementary assessment is contrary to the provisions of the Convention;and
2. b)in the case of the United States, the date on which the taxpayer receives a notice of proposed adjustment or of assessment, whichever is earlier.6.

paragraphs 7 and 8 of Article 24 (Mutual Agreement Procedure) In respect of any case where the competent authorities have endeavored but are unable to reach an agreement under Article 24 regarding the application of the Convention, binding arbitration shall be used to determine such application, unless the competent authorities agree that the particular case is not suitable for determination by arbitration.If an arbitration proceeding (the Proceeding) under paragraph 7 of Article 24 commences, the following rules and procedures will apply.

1. a)The Proceeding will be conducted in the manner prescribed by, and subject to the requirements of, paragraphs 7 and 8 of Article 24 and these rules and procedures, as modified or supplemented by any other rules and procedures agreed upon by the competent authorities pursuant to subparagraph
2. q)below.
3. b)The determination reached by an arbitration board in the Proceeding shall be limited to a determination regarding the amount of income, expense or tax reportable to the Contracting States.
4. c)Notwithstanding the initiation of the Proceeding, the competent authorities may reach a mutual agreement to resolve a case and terminate the Proceeding.Correspondingly, a concerned person may withdraw a request for the competent authorities to engage in the Mutual Agreement Procedure (and thereby terminate the Proceeding) at any time.
5. d)The requirements of subparagraph
6. d)of paragraph 8 of Article 24 will be met when the competent authorities have each received from each concerned person a statement agreeing that the concerned person and each person acting on the concerned person's behalf will not disclose to any other person any information received during the course of the Proceeding from either Contracting State or the arbitration board, other than the determination of the Proceeding.A concerned person that has the legal authority to bind any other concerned person(
7. s)on this matter may do so in a comprehensive statement.
8. e)Each Contracting State will have 60 days from the date on which the Proceeding begins to send a written communication to the other Contracting State appointing one member of the arbitration board. Within 60 days of the date on which the second such communication is sent, the two members appointed by the Contracting States will appoint a third member, who will serve as Chair of the board. If either Contracting State fails to appoint a member, or if the members appointed by the Contracting States fail to agree upon the third member in the manner prescribed by this paragraph, the remaining member(
9. s)will be appointed by the highest-ranking member of the Secretariat at the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) who is not a citizen of either Contracting State, by written notice to both Contracting States within 60 days of the date of such failure. The competent authorities will develop a non-exclusive list of individuals with familiarity in international tax matters who may potentially serve as the Chair of the board. In any case, the Chair shall not be a citizen of either Contracting State.
10. f)The arbitration board may adopt any procedures necessary for the conduct of its business, provided that the procedures are not inconsistent with any provision of Article 24 or the Protocol to the Convention.
11. g)Each of the Contracting States will be permitted to submit, within 60 days of the appointment of the Chair of the arbitration board, a Proposed Resolution describing the proposed disposition of the specific monetary amounts of income, expense or taxation at issue in the case, and a supporting Position Paper, for consideration by the arbitration board.Copies of the Proposed Resolution and supporting Position Paper shall be provided by the board to the other Contracting State on the date on which the later of the submissions is submitted to the board. In the event that only one Contracting State submits a Proposed Resolution within the allotted time, then that Proposed Resolution shall be deemed to be the determination of the board in that case and the Proceeding shall be terminated. Each of the Contracting States may, if it so desires, submit a Reply Submission to the board within 120 days of the appointment of its Chair, to address any points raised by the Proposed Resolution or Position Paper submitted by the other Contracting State. Additional information may be submitted to the arbitration board only at its request, and copies of the board's request and the Contracting State's response shall be provided to the other Contracting State on the date on which the request or the response is submitted. Except for logistical matters such as those identified in subparagraphs l),
12. n)and
13. o)below, all communications from the Contracting States to the arbitration board, and vice versa, shall take place only through written communications between the designated competent authorities and the Chair of the board.
14. h)The arbitration board will deliver a determination in writing to the Contracting States within six months of the appointment of its Chair.The board will adopt as its determination one of the Proposed Resolutions submitted by the Contracting States.
15. i)In making its determination, the arbitration board will apply, as necessary and in descending order of priority :
16. i)the provisions of the Convention;
17. ii)any agreed commentaries or explanations of the Contracting States concerning the Convention; iii) the laws of the Contracting States to the extent they are not inconsistent with each other; and
18. iv)any OECD Commentary, Guidelines or Reports regarding relevant analogous portions of the OECD Model Tax Convention.
19. j)The determination of the arbitration board in a particular case shall be binding on the Contracting States.The determination of the board will not state a rationale. It will have no precedential value.
20. k)As provided in subparagraph
21. e)of paragraph 8 of Article 24, the determination of an arbitration board shall constitute a resolution by mutual agreement under Article 24.Each concerned person must, within 30 days of receiving the determination of the board from the competent authority to which the case was first presented, advise that competent authority whether that concerned person accepts the determination of the board. In the event the case is in litigation, each concerned person who is a party to the litigation must also advise, within the same time frame, the relevant court of its acceptance of the determination of the board as the resolution by mutual agreement and withdraw from the consideration of the court the issues resolved through the Proceeding. If any concerned person fails to so advise the relevant competent authority and relevant court within this time frame, the determination of the board will be considered not to have been accepted in that case. Where the determination of the board is not accepted, the case may not subsequently be the subject of a Proceeding.
22. l)Any meeting(
23. s)of the arbitration board shall be in facilities provided by the Contracting State whose competent authority initiated the mutual agreement proceedings in the case.
24. m)The treatment of any associated interest or penalties will be determined by applicable domestic law of the Contracting State(
25. s)concerned.
26. n)No information relating to the Proceeding (including the board's determination) may be disclosed by the members of the arbitration board or their staffs or by either competent authority, except as permitted by the Convention and the domestic laws of the Contracting States.In addition, all material prepared in the course of, or relating to, the Proceeding shall be considered to be information exchanged between the Contracting States. All members of the arbitration board and their staffs must agree in statements sent to each of the Contracting States in confirmation of their appointment to the arbitration board to abide by and be subject to the confidentiality and nondisclosure provisions of Article 25 (Exchange of Information and Administrative Assistance) of the Convention and the applicable domestic laws of the Contracting States. In the event those provisions conflict, the most restrictive condition shall apply.
27. o)The fees and expenses will be borne equally by the Contracting States.In general, the fees of members of the arbitration board will be set at the fixed amount of $2,000 (two thousand United States dollars) per day or the equivalent amount in euro, subject to modification by the competent authorities. In general, the expenses of members of the arbitration board will be set in accordance with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Schedule of Fees for arbitrators (as in effect on the date on which the arbitration proceedings begin), subject to modification by the competent authorities. Any fees for language translation will also be borne equally by the Contracting States. Meeting facilities, related resources, financial management, other logistical support, and general administrative coordination of the Proceeding will be provided, at its own cost, by the Contracting State whose competent authority initiated the mutual agreement proceedings in the case. Any other costs shall be borne by the Contracting State that incurs them.
28. p)For purposes of paragraphs 7 and 8 of Article 24 and this paragraph, each competent authority will confirm in writing to the other competent authority and to the concerned person(
29. s)the date of its receipt of the information necessary to undertake substantive consideration for a mutual agreement.Such information will be :
30. i)in the United States, the information required to be submitted to the United States competent authority under Revenue Procedure 2002-52, section 4.05 (or any applicable successor provisions) and, for cases initially submitted as a request for an Advance Pricing Agreement, the information required to be submitted to the Internal Revenue Service under Revenue Procedure 2006-9, section 4 (or any applicable successor provisions), and
31. ii)in Belgium, any information that would be required under instructions or commentaries published by the Federal Public Service Finance. However, this information shall not be considered received until both competent authorities have received copies of all materials submitted to either Contracting State by the concerned person(
32. s)in connection with the mutual agreement procedure.
33. q)The competent authorities of the Contracting States may modify or supplement the above rules and procedures as necessary to more effectively implement the intent of paragraph 7 of Article 24 to eliminate double taxation.7.

Article 25

(Exchange of Information and Administrative Assistance) Banking records will be exchanged only upon request.If the request does not identify both a specific taxpayer and a specific bank or financial institution, the competent authority of the requested State may decline to obtain any information that it does not already possess. In witness whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Protocol.Done at Brussels in duplicate, in the English language, this 27th day of November, 2006. Convention entre le Gouvernement du Royaume de Belgique et le Gouvernement des Etats-Unis d'Amerique tendant à éviter la double imposition et à prévenir l'évasion fiscale en matière d'impôts sur le revenu Le Gouvernement du Royaume de Belgique et Le Gouvernement des Etats-Unis d'Amérique, Désireux de conclure une Convention tendant à éviter la double imposition et à prévenir l'évasion fiscale en matière d'impôts sur le revenu, sont convenus des dispositions suivantes : CHAMP D'APPLICATION GENERAL Article 1er 1. La présente Convention ne s'applique qu'aux personnes qui sont des résidents d'un Etat contractant ou des deux Etats contractants, sauf dispositions contraires de la Convention.2. Sous réserve de la disposition de l'article 22, paragraphe 4,

1. a)(Prévention de la double imposition), la Convention ne restreint en aucune manière les avantages qui sont ou pourront être accordés :
2. a)par la législation de l'un ou l'autre des Etats contractants;ou
3. b)par tout autre accord auquel les Etats contractants sont parties.3.
4. a)Nonobstant les dispositions du paragraphe 2,
5. b)du présent article :
6. i)aux fins du paragraphe 3 de l'article XXII (Consultations) de l'Accord général sur le Commerce des Services, les Etats contractants conviennent que toute question relative à l'interprétation ou l'application de la présente Convention et, notamment, la question de savoir si une mesure fiscale relève de la présente Convention, sera tranchée exclusivement conformément aux dispositions de l'article 24 (Procédure amiable) de la présente Convention;et
7. ii)les dispositions de l'article XVII de l'Accord général sur le Commerce des Services ne s'appliquent pas à une mesure fiscale sauf si les autorités compétentes conviennent que la mesure ne relève pas de l'article 23 (Non-discrimination) de la présente Convention.
8. b)Aux fins du présent paragraphe, le terme « mesure » désigne les lois, dispositions réglementaires, procédures, décisions, actes administratifs ainsi que toute autre disposition ou acte analogue.4. Sauf dans la mesure prévue au paragraphe 5, la présente Convention n'affecte pas l'imposition par un Etat contractant de ses résidents (tels que définis à l'article 4 (Résident)) et de ses citoyens. Nonobstant les autres dispositions de la présente Convention, un ancien citoyen ou un ancien résident de longue durée d'un Etat contractant est imposable conformément à la législation de cet Etat contractant pendant la période de dix ans qui suit la perte de ce statut. 5. Les dispositions du paragraphe 4 n'affectent pas :
9. a)les avantages accordés par un Etat contractant en vertu de l'article 9 (Entreprises associées), paragraphe 2, de l'article 17 (Pensions, sécurité sociale, rentes et rentes alimentaires), paragraphes 1er b), 2, 5, 6 et 9 et des articles 22 (Prévention de la double imposition), 23 (Non-discrimination) et 24 (Procédure amiable); et
10. b)les avantages accordés par un Etat contractant en vertu de l'article 17 (Pensions, sécurité sociale, rentes et rentes alimentaires), paragraphe 7, des articles 18 (Fonctions publiques), 19 (Etudiants, stagiaires, enseignants et chercheurs) et 27 (Membres des missions diplomatiques et postes consulaires), à des personnes physiques qui ne sont pas des citoyens de cet Etat et qui n'ont pas été admis à y résider de manière permanente.6. Un élément de revenu, bénéfice ou gain perçu par l'intermédiaire d'une entité qui est fiscalement transparente au regard de la législation de l'un ou l'autre des Etats contractants est considéré comme perçu par un résident d'un Etat dans la mesure où cet élément est traité, aux fins de la législation fiscale de cet Etat contractant, comme un revenu, bénéfice ou gain d'un résident. IMPOTS VISES Article 2 1. La présente Convention s'applique aux impôts sur le revenu perçus pour le compte d'un Etat contractant, quel que soit le système de perception.2. Sont considérés comme impôts sur le revenu les impôts perçus sur le revenu total ou sur des éléments du revenu, y compris les impôts sur les gains provenant de l'aliénation de biens.3. Les impôts actuels auxquels s'applique la présente Convention sont :
11. a)en ce qui concerne la Belgique :
12. i)l'impôt des personnes physiques;
13. ii)l'impôt des sociétés; iii) l'impôt des personnes morales; et
14. iv)l'impôt des non-résidents; y compris les précomptes et les additionnels auxdits impôts et précomptes;
15. b)en ce qui concerne les Etats-Unis :
16. i)les impôts fédéraux sur le revenu (Federal income taxes) prévus par l'Internal Revenue Code (à l'exclusion toutefois des prélèvements de sécurité sociale);et
17. ii)les droits d'accise fédéraux concernant les fondations privées. 4. La Convention s'applique aussi aux impôts de nature identique ou analogue qui seraient établis après la date de signature de la Convention et qui s'ajouteraient aux impôts actuels ou qui les remplaceraient.Les autorités compétentes des Etats contractants se communiquent les modifications apportées à leurs législations respectives, fiscales ou autres, qui affectent de manière significative les obligations qui leur incombent en vertu de la présente Convention. DEFINITIONS GENERALES Article 3 1. Au sens de la présente C