Article 10 Dividends

Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of a Contracting State to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.

However, such dividends may also be taxed in the Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident and according to the laws of that State, but if the beneficial owner of the dividends is a resident of the other Contracting State, the tax so charged shall not exceed 15 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends.

Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, the Contracting State of which the company is a resident shall exempt the dividends paid by that company if:

The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall by mutual agreement settle the mode of application of paragraphs 2 and 3.

The provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 shall not affect the taxation of the company in respect of the profits out of which the dividends are paid.

The term ‘dividends’ as used in this Article means income from shares, ‘jouissance’ shares or ‘jouissance’ rights, mining shares, founders' shares or other rights, not being debt-claims, participating in profits, as well as income from other corporate rights which is subjected to the same taxation treatment as income from shares by the laws of the State of which the company making the distribution is a resident.

The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 9 shall not apply if the beneficial owner of the dividends, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other Contracting State, of which the company paying the dividends is a resident, through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein, and the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such case the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.

Where a company which is a resident of a Contracting State derives profits or income from the other Contracting State, that other State may not impose any tax on the dividends paid by the company, except insofar as such dividends are paid to a resident of that other State or insofar as the holding in respect of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with a permanent establishment or a fixed base situated in that other State, nor subject the company's undistributed profits to a tax on the company's undistributed profits, even if the dividends paid or the undistributed profits consist wholly or partly of profits or income arising in such other State.

Paragraphs 1, 2 and 8 shall not prevent the Netherlands from applying its domestic tax law to an individual in respect of the so-called ‘preservative tax assessment’ (‘conserverende aanslag’) that has been issued to that individual, before that person ceased to be a resident of the Netherlands, with respect to a substantial interest in a company. The preceding sentence shall only apply insofar the assessment or a part thereof is still outstanding.