Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Singapore for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income

Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Singapore for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income

29 July 1996

The Government of the People''s Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Singapore; Desiring to conclude an Agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income;Have agreed as follows:
　
Article 1 Personal Scope
This Agreement shall apply to persons who are residents of one or both of the Contracting States.
　
Article 2 Taxes Covered
1. This Agreement shall apply to taxes on income imposed on hehalf of a Contracting State or of its political subdivisions or local authorities, irrespective of the manner in which they are levied.
2. There shall be regarded as taxes on income all taxes imposed on total income or on elements of income, including taxes on gains from the alienation of movable or immovable property and taxes on capital appreciation.
3. The existing taxes to which the Agreement shall apply are:
(1) in the People''s Republic of China:
A. the individual income tax;
B. the income tax concerning joint ventures using Chinese and foreign investment;
C. the income tax concerning foreign enterprises; and
D. the local income tax
(hereinafter referred to as "Chinese tax" ) ;
(2) in the Republic of Singapore:
the income tax (hereinafter referred to as "Singapore tax" ) .
4. This Agreement shall also apply to any identical or substantially similar taxes which are imposed after the date of signature of this Agreement in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes referred to in paragraph 3. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of any substantial changes which have been made in their respective taxation laws within a reasonable period of time after such changes.
　
Article 3 General Definitions
1. For the purposes of this Agreement, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) the term "China" means the People''s Republic of China;
(2) the term "Singapore" means the Republic of Singapore;
(3) the terms "a Contracting State" and "the other Contracting State" mean China or Singapore as the context requires;
(4) the term "tax" means Chinese tax or Singapore tax, as the context requires;
(5) the term "person" includes an individual, a company and any other body of persons which is treated as an entity for tax purposes;
(6) the term "company" means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a body corporate for tax purposes;
(7) the terms "enterprise of a Contracting State" and "enterprise of the other Contracting State" mean, respectively, an enterprise carried on by a resident of a Contracting State and an enterprise carried on by a resident of the other Contracting State;
(8) the term "national" means:
A. all individuals possessing the nationality of a Contracting State;
B. all legal persons, partnerships and associations deriving their status as such from the laws in force in a Contracting State;
(9) the term "international traffic" means any transport by a ship or aircraft operated by an enterprise which is a resident of a Contracting State, except when the ship or aircraft is operated solely between places in the other Contracting State;
(10) the term "competent authority" means, in the case of China, the Ministry of Finance or its authorized representative and, in the case of Singapore, the Minister for Finance or his authorized representative.
2. As regards the application of this Agreement by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the laws of that Contracting State concerning the taxes to which this Agreement applies.
　
Article 4 Resident
1. For the purposes of this Agreement, the term "resident of a Contracting State" means any person who is liable to tax as a resident for tax purposes of that Contracting State by reason of his domicile, residence, place of head office, place of control and management or any other criterion of a similar nature in accordance with the tax law of that Contracting State.
2. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then his status shall be determined as follows:
(1) he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (hereinafter referred to as his "centre of vital interests" ) ;
(2) if the State in which he has his centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either State, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has an habitual abode;
(3) if he has an habitual abode in both States or in neither of them, the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall settle the question by mutual agreement.
3. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 a person other than an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then the competent authorities of the Contracting States shall determine his residential status by mutual agreement.
　
Article 5 Permanent Establishment
1. 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" includes especially:
(1) a place of management;
(2) a branch;
(3) an office;
(4) a factory;
(5) a workshop; and
(6) a mine, an oil or gas well, a quarry or any other place of extraction of natural resources.
3. The term "permanent establishment" likewise encompasses:
(1) a building site, a construction, assembly or installation project or supervisory activities in connection therewith, but only where such site, project or activities continue for a period of more than six months;
(2) the furnishing of services, including consultancy services, by an enterprise of a Contracting State through employees or other personnel in the other Contracting State, provided that such activities continue for the same project or a connected project for a period or periods aggregating more than six months within any twelve-month period.
4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 to 3, the term "permanent establishment" shall be deemed not to include:
(1) the use of facilities solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise;
(2) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of storage, display or delivery;
(3) the maintenance of a stock of goods or merchandise belonging to the enterprise solely for the purpose of processing by another enterprise;
(4) the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of purchasing goods or merchandise, or of advertising, or of collecting information, for the enterprise;
(5) the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for the purpose of carrying on, for the enterprise, any other activity of a preparatory or auxiliary character,
(6) the maintenance of a fixed place of business solely for any combination of the activities mentioned in sub-paragraphs (1) to (5), provided that the overall activity of the fixed place of business resulting from this combination is of a preparatory or auxiliary character.
5. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, where a person-other than an agent of an independent status to whom the provisions of paragraph 6 apply-is acting in a Contracting State on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State, has and habitually exercises an authority to conclude contracts in the name of the enterprise, that enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned Contracting State in respect of any activities which that person undertakes for the enterprise, unless his activities are limited to those mentioned in paragraph 4 which, if exercised through a fixed place of business, would not make this fixed place of business a permanent establishment under the provisions of that paragraph.
6. An enterprise of a Contracting State shall not be deemed to have a permanent establishment in the other Contracting State merely because it carries on business in that other Contracting State through a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of an independent status, provided that such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business. However, when the activities of such an agent are devoted wholly or almost wholly on behalf of that enterprise, he will not be considered an agent of an independent status within the meaning of this paragraph.
7. The fact that a company which is a resident of a Contracting State 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 constitute either company a permanent establishment of the other.
　
Article 6 Income from Immovable Property
1. Income derived by a resident of a Contracting State from immovable property situated in the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other Contracting State.
2. The term "immovable property" shall have the meaning which it has under the laws of the Contracting State in which the property in question is situated. The term shall in any case include property accessory to immovable poperty, livestock and equipment used in agriculture and forestry, rights to which the provisions of general law respecting landed property apply, usufruct of immovable property and rights to variable or fixed payments as consideration for the working of, or the right to work, mineral deposits, sources and other natural resources; ships and aircraft shall not be regarded as immovable property.
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