Australian Tax Treaties
As amended by the Indian Protocol (No 1)
The Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the MLI) has modified the application of this tax treaty. A synthesised text of the MLI and this tax treaty is available to facilitate the understanding of how the MLI modifies this tax treaty.
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 especially:
(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 warehouse in relation to a person providing storage facilities for others;
(h) a farm, plantation or other place where agricultural, pastoral, forestry or plantation activities are carried on;
(i) premises used as a sales outlet or for receiving or soliciting orders;
(j) an installation or structure, or plant or equipment, used for the exploration for or exploitation of natural resources;
(k) a building site or construction, installation or assembly project, or supervisory activities in connection with such a site or project, where that site or project exists or those activities are carried on (whether separately or together with other sites, projects or activities) for more than 6 months.
(3)
Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, where an enterprise of a Contracting State:
(a) furnishes services, including consultancy services, through employees or other personnel engaged by the enterprise for such purpose, but only where activities of that nature continue (for the same or connected project) within that other State for a period or periods aggregating more than 183 days in any 12 month period;
(b) carries on activities (including the operation of substantial equipment) in the other State in the exploration for or exploitation of natural resources situated in that other State for a period or periods exceeding in the aggregate 90 days in any 12 month period; or
(c) operates substantial equipment in the other State (including as provided in subparagraph b)) for a period or periods exceeding in the aggregate 183 days in any 12 month period;
such activities shall be deemed to be carried on through a permanent establishment of the enterprise situated in that other State, unless the activities are limited to those mentioned in paragraph 4 which, if exercised through a fixed place of business, would not make this place of business a permanent establishment under the provisions of that paragraph.
(4)
An enterprise shall not be deemed to have a permanent establishment merely by reason of:
(a) the use of facilities solely for the purpose of storage or display of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise;
(b) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging 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 of collecting information, for the enterprise; or
(e) the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of advertising, for the supply of information, for scientific research, or for similar activities which have a preparatory or auxiliary character, for the enterprise.
However, the preceding provisions of this paragraph shall not apply where an enterprise of one of the Contracting States maintains in the other Contracting State a fixed place of business for any purpose other than those specified in this paragraph.
(5)
A person acting in one of the Contracting States on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State - other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph (6) applies - shall be deemed to be a permanent establishment of that enterprise in the firstmentioned State if:
(a) the person has, and habitually exercises in that State, an authority to conclude contracts on behalf of the enterprise, unless the person ' s activities are limited to the purchase of goods or merchandise for the enterprise;
(b) the person has no such authority, but habitually maintains in that State a stock of goods or merchandise from which the person regularly delivers goods or merchandise on behalf of the enterprise;
(c) the person habitually secures orders in that State, wholly or principally for the enterprise itself or for the enterprise and other enterprises controlling, or controlled by or subject to the same common control as, that enterprise; or
(d) in so acting, the person manufactures or processes in that State for the enterprise goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise.
(6)
An enterprise of one of the Contracting States 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, where that person is acting in the ordinary course of the person ' s business as such a broker or agent. However, when the activities of such a broker or agent are carried on wholly or principally on behalf of that enterprise itself or on behalf of that enterprise and other enterprises controlling, or controlled by or subject to the same common control as, that enterprise, the person will not be considered a broker or agent of an independent status within the meaning of this paragraph.
(7)
The fact that a company which is a resident of one of the Contracting States 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 make either company a permanent establishment of the other.
(8)
The principles set forth in the preceding paragraphs of this Article shall be applied in determining for the purposes of paragraph (5) of Article 11 and paragraph (5) of Article 12 of this Agreement whether there is a permanent establishment outside both Contracting States, and whether an enterprise, not being an enterprise of one of the Contracting States, has a permanent establishment in one of the Contracting States.
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