Article 12 (4) and (7) were deleted and Article 12 (5), (6) and
(8) were renumbered (4), (5) and (6) respectively by SI 1996/3166
below. Prior to this, the former Article 12 (1), (2), (3), (6) were
substituted and Article 12 (8) was inserted by SI 1991/2878 below
with effect from 1 January 1992 for corporation tax and 6 April
1992 for income tax in the UK. The current Article 12 is as
follows:
(1) Interest arising in a Contracting State which is derived
and beneficially owned by a resident of the other Contracting State
shall be taxable only in that other State.
(2) The term 'interest' as used in this Article means income
from Government securities, bonds or debentures, whether or not
secured by mortgage and whether or not carrying a right to
participate in profits, and other debt-claims of every kind as well
as all other income assimilated to income from money lent by the
taxation law of the State in which the income arises. The term
'interest' shall not include any item which is treated as a
distribution under the provisions of Article 11.
(3) The provisions of paragraph (1) of this Article shall
not apply if the beneficial owner of the interest, being a resident
of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other
Contracting State in which the interest arises, through a permanent
establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State
independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein,
and the debt-claim in respect of which the interest is paid is
effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed
base. In such a case the provisions of Article 8 or Article 15, as
the case may be, shall apply.
(4) The exemption from tax provided for in paragraph (1) of
this Article shall not apply to interest on any form of debt-claim
dealt in on a stock exchange where the beneficial owner of the
interest:
(a) does not bear tax in respect thereof in the Contracting State of which it is a resident; and
(b) sells (or makes a contract to sell) the debt-claim from which such interest is derived within three months of the date on which such beneficial owner acquired such debt-claim.
(5) Where, owing to a special relationship between the payer and
the beneficial owner or between both of them and some other person,
the amount of the interest paid exceeds, for whatever reason, the
amount which would have been agreed upon by the payer and the
beneficial owner in the absence of such relationship, the
provisions of this Article shall apply only to the last-mentioned
amount. In that case, the excess part of the payments shall remain
taxable according to the law of each Contracting State, due regard
being had to the other provisions of this Convention.
(6) The provisions of this Article shall not apply if the
debt-claim in respect of which the interest is paid was created or
assigned mainly for the purpose of taking advantage of this Article
and not for bona fide commercial reasons.
