Discussion Draft on the Application and Interpretation of Article 24 (Non-Discrimination)

3 May 2007, The prevention of discriminatory taxation is an important role of tax conventions.  Tax conventions, however, recognize that residents and non-residents are in a different situation and must often be treated differently for tax purposes.  For this reason, the principle of non-discrimination has been carefully incorporated in tax conventions through a set of provisions that are found in Article 24 of the OECD Model Tax Convention (which serves as the basis for the negotiation, application and interpretation of tax conventions).

 

A discussion draft on the application and interpretation of Article 24 has been prepared by a sub-group that was mandated by Working Party No. 1 on Tax Conventions and Related Questions  of the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs to examine the interpretation and application of that Article in light of practical cases.

 

The draft includes the proposals for changes to the Commentary on Article 24 that have been drafted by that sub-group. The Working Party has decided to seek the views of interested parties at an early stage of the discussion of these proposals and, for that reason, decided to release these proposals as a public discussion draft.

 

The draft focuses exclusively on issues related to the interpretation and application of the current provisions of Article 24.  The Working Party recognizes, however, that some issues, including primarily those listed in the Annex to the draft, require a more fundamental analysis of the issue of non-discrimination and taxation which could lead to changes to Article 24. It was agreed that such work would benefit from the input of experts with a different background and should constitute a subsequent project. The Working Party will start consultations on this second stage of its work in the next few months.

 

Comments on the Report and proposed changes included therein should be sent before 31 July 2007 to:

Jeffrey Owens
Director, CTPA
OECD
2, rue André Pascal
75775 Paris
FRANCE
e-mail: jeffrey.owens@oecd.org