Australian Tax Treaties

South African Agreement  

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION AND THE PREVENTION OF FISCAL EVASION WITH RESPECT TO TAXES ON INCOME  

ARTICLE 12   Royalties  

1    
Royalties arising in a Contracting State and beneficially owned by a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.

2    
However, those royalties may also be taxed in the Contracting State in which they arise, and according to the law of that State, but the tax so charged shall not exceed 5 per cent of the gross amount of the royalties.

3    
The term " royalties " in this Article means payments or credits, whether periodical or not, and however described or computed, to the extent to which they are made as consideration for:


(a) the use of, or the right to use, any copyright, patent, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, trademark or other like property or right;


(b) the supply of scientific, technical, industrial or commercial knowledge or information;


(c) the supply of any assistance that is ancillary and subsidiary to, and is furnished as a means of enabling the application or enjoyment of, any such property or right as is mentioned in subparagraph (a) or any such knowledge or information as is mentioned in subparagraph (b);


(d) the use of, or the right to use:


(i) motion picture films;

(ii) films or audio or video tapes or disks, or any other means of image or sound reproduction or transmission for use in connection with television, radio or other broadcasting;


(e) the use of, or the right to use, some or all of the part of the radiofrequency spectrum as specified in a spectrum licence of a Contracting State, where the payment or credit arises in that State; or


(f) total or partial forbearance in respect of the use or supply of any property or right referred to in this paragraph.

4    
The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if the beneficial owner of the royalties, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other Contracting State in which the royalties arise through a permanent establishment situated in the other State, or performs in that other State independent personal services from a fixed base situated in that other State, and the right or property in respect of which the royalties are paid or credited is effectively connected with that permanent establishment or fixed base. In such case the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14 , as the case may be, shall apply.

5    
Royalties shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the payer is a resident of that State for the purposes of its tax. Where, however, the person paying the royalties, whether the person is a resident of a Contracting State or not, has in a Contracting State or outside both Contracting States a permanent establishment or fixed base in connection with which the liability to pay the royalties was incurred, and the royalties are borne by the permanent establishment or fixed base, then the royalties shall be deemed to arise in the State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated.

6    
Where, owing to a special relationship between the payer and the beneficial owner of the royalties, or between both of them and some other person, the amount of the royalties paid or credited, having regard to what they are paid or credited for, exceeds the amount which might reasonably have been expected to have been agreed upon by the payer and the person so entitled in the absence of that relationship, the provisions of this Article shall apply only to the lastmentioned amount. In such case, the excess part of the amount of the royalties paid or credited shall remain taxable according to the law of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Agreement.

7    
No relief shall be available under this Article if it was the main purpose or one of the main purposes of any person concerned with assignment of the royalties, or the creation or assignment of the rights in respect of which the royalties are paid or credited, to take advantage of this Article by means of that creation or assignment.




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