The Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income) (Republic of Korea) Order 1996

Article 10 Dividends

(1) 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.

(2) 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 recipient is the beneficial owner of the dividends the tax so charged shall not exceed:

(a) 5 per cent. of the gross amount of the dividends if the beneficial owner is a company (other than a partnership) which controls, directly or indirectly, at least 25 per cent. of the voting power in the company paying the dividends;

(b) 15 per cent. of the gross amount of the dividends in all other cases.

This paragraph shall not affect the taxation of the company in respect of the profits out of which the dividends are paid.

(3) The term “dividends” as used in this Article means income from 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 and also includes any other item payable by an enterprise to an associated enterprise which, under the laws of the Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident, is treated as a dividend or distribution of a company.

For the purpose of this paragraph an enterprise of a Contracting State shall be regarded as an associated enterprise of an enterprise of the other Contracting State where:

(a) one enterprise participates directly or indirectly in the management, control or capital of the other enterprise; or

(b) the same persons participate directly or indirectly in the management, control or capital of both enterprises.

(4) The provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article 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.

(5) 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 that other State.

(6) The provisions of this Article shall not apply if it was the main purpose or one of the main purposes of any person concerned with the creation or assignment of the shares or other rights in respect of which the dividend is paid to take advantage of this Article by means of that creation or assignment.

(7) In the event that a resident of a Contracting State is denied relief from taxation in the other Contracting State by reason of the provisions of paragraph (6) of this Article, the competent authority of that other Contracting State shall notify the competent authority of the first-mentioned Contracting State.