asked the Minister for Finance if he will state the terms of the double taxation agreement covering authors' royalties made between this country and America, and if he will make a statement outlining the present position to Dáil Éireann.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Authors' Royalties.
The terms of the Double Income-Taxes Convention with the United States in regard to authors' royalties are contained in article VIII of the convention. With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to circulate with the Official Report a copy of the article and also of article XXII which deals with the question of ratification.
Ratification has not yet taken place in the United States. For the purpose of ratification here it will be necessary to introduce legislation.
Following is the text of the articles:
ARTICLE VIII.
(1) Royalties and other amounts paid as consideration for the use of, or for the privilege of using, copyrights, patents, designs, secret processes and formulæ, trademarks and other like property, and derived from sources within the United States by a resident of Ireland who is subject to Irish tax on such royalties or other amounts and not engaged in trade or business in the United States, shall be exempt from United States tax.
(2) Royalties and other amounts paid as consideration for the use of, or for the privilege of using, copyrights, patents, designs, secret processes and formulæ, trademarks and other like property, and derived from sources within Ireland by a resident of the United States who is subject to United States tax on such royalties or other amounts and not engaged in trade or business in Ireland shall be exempt from Irish tax.
(3) For the purposes of this article the term "royalties" shall be deemed to include rentals in respect of motion picture films.
ARTICLE XXII
(1) The present convention shall be ratified and the instruments of ratification shall be exchanged at Washington, District of Columbia, as soon as possible.
(2) Upon exchange of ratifications, the present convention shall have effect—
(a) as respects United States tax, for the taxable years beginning on or after the first day of January in the calendar year in which the exchange of instruments of ratification takes place;
(b) (i) as respects Irish incometax, for the year of assessment beginning on the 6th day of April in the calendar year in which the exchange of instruments of ratification takes place and subsequent years;
(ii) as respects Irish surtax, for the year of assessment beginning on the 6th day of April immediately preceding the calendar year in which the exchange of instruments of ratification takes place, and subsequent years; and
(iii) as respects Irish corporation profits tax, for any chargeable accounting period beginning on or after the first day of April in the calendar year in which the exchange of instruments of ratification takes place, and for the unexpired portion of any chargeable accounting period current at that date.