18 SEPTEMBRE 2008. - Loi portant assentiment à la Convention entre le Royaume de Belgique et la République du Ghana tendant à éviter la double imposition et à prévenir l'évasion fiscale en matière d'impôts sur le revenu et sur les gains en capitale, signée à Bruxelles le 22 juin 2005 (1) (2)

ALBERT II, Roi des Belges,

A tous, présents et à venir, Salut.

Les Chambres ont adopté et Nous sanctionnons ce qui suit :

Article 1er. La présente loi règle une matière visée à l'article 77 de la Constitution.

Art. 2. La Convention entre le Royaume de Belgique et la République du Ghana tendant à éviter la double imposition et à prévenir l'évasion fiscale en matière d'impôts sur le revenu et sur les gains en capital, signée à Bruxelles le 22 juin 2005, sortira son plein et entier effet.

Promulguons la présente loi, ordonnons qu'elle soi revêtue du sceau de l'Etat et publiée par le Moniteur belge.

Donné à Bruxelles, le 18 septembre 2008.

ALBERT

Par le Roi :

Le Ministre des Affaires étrangères,

K. DE GUCHT

Le Ministre des Finances,

D. REYNDERS

Scellé du sceau de l'Etat :

Le Ministre de la Justice,

J. VANDEURZEN

_______

Notes

(1) Session 2007-2008.

Sénat.

Documents. - Projet de loi déposé le 10 avril 2008, 4-682/1. - Rapport, 4-682/2.

Annales parlementaires. - Discussion et vote. Séance du 3 juillet 2008.

Chambre des représentants.

Documents. - Projet transmis par le Sénat, n° 52-1322/1. - Texte adopté en séance plénière et soumis à la sanction royale, n° 52-1322/2.

Annales parlementaires. - Discussion et vote. Séance du 10 juillet 2008.

(2) Conformément à son article 29, cette Convention entre en vigueur le 17 octobre 2008.

Convention between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Republic of Ghana for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and on capital gains

The Government of the Kingdom Of Belgium

and

The Government of the Republic of Ghana,

Desiring to conclude a Convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and on capital gains, have agreed as follows :

CHAPTER I. - Scope of the convention

Article 1

Persons 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 and on capital gains imposed on behalf of a 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 and on capital gains all taxes imposed on total income or on elements of income, including taxes on gains from the alienation of movable or immovable property, taxes on the total amounts of wages or salaries paid by enterprises, as well as taxes on capital appreciation.

  3. The existing taxes to which the Convention shall apply are in particular :

    1. in the case of Belgium :

      1. the individual income tax;

      2. the corporate income tax;

      3. the income tax on legal entities;

      4. the income tax on non-residents;

      5. the supplementary crisis contribution,

      including the prepayments, the surcharges on these taxes and prepayments, and the supplements to the individual income tax,

      (hereinafter referred to as « Belgian tax »);

    2. in the case of Ghana :

      1. the income tax;

      2. the capital gains tax;

      3. the petroleum income tax;

      4. the minerals and mining tax,

      (hereinafter referred to as « Ghana tax »).

  4. The Convention shall apply also to any identical or substantially similar taxes which are imposed after the date of signature of the Convention in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of any significant change which has been made in their respective taxation laws.

    CHAPTER II. - Definitions

    Article 3

    General definitions

  5. For the purposes of this Convention, unless the context otherwise requires :

    1. 1° the term « Belgium » means the Kingdom of Belgium; used in a geographical sense, it means the territory of the Kingdom of Belgium, including the territorial sea and any other area in the sea and in the air within which the Kingdom of Belgium, in accordance with international law, exercises sovereign rights or its jurisdiction;

      1. the term « Ghana » means the Republic of Ghana; used in a geographical sense, it means the territory of the Republic of Ghana, including the territorial sea and any area outside the territorial sea within which, in accordance with international law, the Republic of Ghana has sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting the natural resources of the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters;

    2. the terms « a Contracting State » and « the other Contracting State » mean Belgium or Ghana as the context requires;

    3. the term « person » includes an individual, a company and any other body of persons;

    4. the term « company » means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;

    5. 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;

    6. the term « international traffic » means any transport by a ship or aircraft operated by an enterprise which has its place of effective management in a Contracting State, except when the ship or aircraft is operated solely between places in the other Contracting State;

    7. the term « competent authority » means :

      1. in the case of Belgium, the Minister of Finance or his authorised representative, and

      2. in the case of Ghana, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue or his authorised representative;

    8. the term « national » means :

      1. any individual possessing the nationality of a Contracting State;

      2. any legal person, partnership and association deriving its status as such from the laws in force in a Contracting State.

  6. As regards the application of the Convention at any time by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has at that time under the law of that State concerning the taxes to which the Convention applies, any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that State prevailing over a meaning given to the term under other laws of that State.

    Article 4

    Resident

  7. 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 tax therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of management or any other criterion of a similar nature, and also includes that State and any political subdivision or local authority thereof. This term, however, does not include any person who is liable to tax in that State in respect only of income or capital gains from sources in that State.

  8. 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 :

    1. he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests);

    2. if the 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 State, he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State in which he has an habitual abode;

    3. if he has an habitual abode in both States or in neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State of which he is a national;

    4. if he is a national of both States or of neither of them, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement.

  9. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 a person other than an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then it shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State in which its place of effective management is situated.

    Article 5

    Permanent establishment

  10. 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.

  11. The term « permanent establishment » includes especially :

    1. a place of management;

    2. a branch;

    3. an office;

    4. a factory;

    5. a workshop, and

    6. a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of extraction of natural resources.

  12. a) A building site or a construction project constitutes a permanent establishment only if such site or project lasts more than 6 months;

    1. an assembly or installation project or a supervisory activity in connection with a building site, a construction, assembly or installation project constitutes a permanent establishment only if such project or activity lasts more than 6 months; where such project or activity is incidental to the sale of machinery or equipment, such project or activity constitutes a permanent establishment only if it lasts more than 6 months.

  13. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Article, the term « permanent establishment » shall be deemed not to include :

    1. the use of facilities solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise;

    2. the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery;

    3. the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of processing by another enterprise;

    4. the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of purchasing goods or merchandise or of collecting information, for the enterprise;

    5. the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of carrying on, for the enterprise, any other activity of a preparatory or auxiliary character;

    6. 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...

Pour continuer la lecture

SOLLICITEZ VOTRE ESSAI

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT