Title 26

SECTION 514.1

514.1 Introductory.

§ 514.1 Introductory.

(a) Applicable provisions of convention. The income tax convention between the United States and France, signed on July 25, 1939, and October 18, 1946, as modified by the supplemental convention, signed June 22, 1956 (the instruments of ratification of which were exchanged on June 13, 1957), referred to in this part as the convention, provides in part as follows, the quoted articles being effective as indicated:

Article I(a) of the Supplemental Convention of 1956, on June 13, 1957.

Article I(d) of the Supplemental Convention of 1956, on January 1, 1952.

Article 7 and the Protocol of the Convention of 1939, on January 1, 1945.

The supplemental convention signed June 22, 1956, provides in part as follows:

Article I

The provisions of the Convention and Protocol between the United States and the French Republic signed at Paris on July 25, 1939 are hereby modified and supplemented as follows:

(a) By striking out Article 1(a) and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

“(a) In the case of the United States: The Federal income taxes (including surtaxes and excess profits taxes) and the documentary taxes on sales or transfers of shares or certificates of stock or bonds.”

(d) By adding immediately after Article 6 the following new articles:

“Article 6A

Dividends and interest derived, on or after January 1, 1952, from sources within one of the contracting States by a resident or corporation or other entity of the other State, not having a permanent establishment in the former State shall be subject to tax by such former State at a rate not in excess of 15 percent of the gross amount of such dividends or interest. Such reduced rate of tax shall not apply to dividends or interest paid prior to the calendar year in which are exchanged the instruments of ratification of the present Convention if, for the taxable year in which such dividends or interest is received, penalty for fraud with respect to the taxes which are the subject of the present Convention has been imposed against the recipient of such dividends or interest.”

Article III

(a) The present Convention shall be ratified and the instruments of ratification shall be exchanged at Paris as soon as possible.

(b) Its provisions shall come into force and shall become effective as of the date of the exchange of the instruments of ratification subject both to the provisions of Article I (d) and (e) and to the provisions set forth herein below.

(c) If refund of any overpayment resulting from the application of Article I(d) of the present Convention is prevented on the date of exchange of instruments of ratification or within two years from such date by the operation of any law, refund of such overpayment (without interest) shall nevertheless be made provided that claim for refund is filed within two years after the date of the exchange of instruments of ratification of the present Convention with the contracting State to which such overpayment was made.

(d) The present Convention shall remain effective so long as the Conventions signed July 25, 1939 and October 18, 1946, remain effective.

The convention of July 25, 1939, provides, in part, as follows:

Article 7

Royalties derived from within one of the contracting States by a resident, or by a corporation or other entity of the other contracting State as consideration for the right to use copyrights, patents, secret processes and formulae, trademarks and other analogous rights shall be exempt from taxation in the former State, provided such resident, corporation or other entity does not have a permanent establishment there.

Article 8

Private pensions and life annuities derived from within one of the contracting States and paid to individuals residing in the other contracting State shall be exempt from taxation in the former State.

Protocol:

III. As used in this Convention:

(a) The term “permanent establishment” includes branches, mines and oil wells, plantations, factories, workshops, stores, purchasing and selling and other offices, agencies, warehouses, and other fixed places of business but does not include a subsidiary corporation.

When an enterprise of one of the contracting States carries on business in the other State through an employee or agent, established there, who has general authority to negotiate and conclude contracts or has a stock of merchandise from which he regularly fills orders which he receives, this enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the latter State. But the fact that an enterprise of one of the contracting States has business dealings in the other State through a bona fide commission agent or broker shall not be held to mean that such enterprise has a permanent establishment in the latter State.

Insurance enterprises shall be considered as having a permanent establishment in one of the States as soon as they receive premiums from or insure risks in the territory of that State.

IV. The term “life annuities” referred to in Article 8 of this Convention means a stated sum payable periodically at stated times during life, or during a specified number of years to the person who has paid the premium or a gross sum for such an obligation.

The convention of October 18, 1946, provides, in part, as follows:

Title III Administrative Assistance Article 13

(1) The competent authorities of the two Contracting States may prescribe regulations necessary to interpret and carry out the provisions of the present Convention and the Convention of July 25, 1939.

(b) Definitions - (1) In general. Any term defined in the convention or §§ 514.1 to 514.10 shall have the meaning so assigned to it; any term not so defined shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which such term has under the internal revenue laws of the United States.

(2) France. As used in §§ 514.1 to 514.10, the term “France”, when used in a geographical sense, means continental France, exclusive of Algeria and the Colonies.

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