Electronic Version of the OECD Model Tax Convention

CONTENT

The OECD Model Convention on Income and on Capital (MTC) serves as a model used by countries when negotiating bilateral tax agreements. These agreements are entered into by countries to clarify the situation when a taxpayer might find himself subject to taxation in more than one country. The Convention is dynamic in that it is constantly monitored and updated as economies evolve and new tax questions arise. In recent years, for example, special reports have had to be done on tax treatment of software and treaty characterization issues arising from e-commerce.

The Convention consists of Articles, Commentaries on the Articles which include OECD member country Reservations, Histories of the Articles, Non-Member Country Positions on the Articles, and Special Reports related to the Convention.  This model is used not only by country officials negotiating bilateral tax treaties, but also by lawyers and accountants having to interpret these treaties for their clients.

FEATURES OF THE ELECTRONIC VERSION

This first electronic version of the MTC (eMTC), prepared in co-operation with Eurofield Information Systems, is based on the text as it was updated on 28 January 2003, but includes some related elements not included in the loose-leaf version including the texts of the 1963 and 1977 Conventions.  The electronic version also includes numerous features that will make working with the convention much easier.

Because the eMTC includes software that enables users to append notes to segments of Convention text; to navigate between Articles, Commentaries, History, and Country Positions; and to rapidly search the full text for terms and phrases, it is sold on a subscription basis as a downloadable, executable file available on the OECD Online Bookshop or through OECD’s online service, SourceOECD.  Subscriptions are sold on a one-year basis and the program reminds users to renew towards the end of the subscription period.  For access provided as part of a SourceOECD/Taxation subscription, renewal notices are sent.

The electronic version of MTC includes the following powerful features:

• Users can append their own notes to specific paragraphs in the text of the Convention. Users can exchange their notes with other users. All notes are automatically transcribed in context into updated versions of the eMTC.
• Users can quickly do full-text searches for particular terms or phrases using the drag-on icon and the search tools. With every word, number, and alphanumeric indexed, users can search for absolutely everything within the publication.
• Users can easily navigate between Articles, Commentary, History, Country Positions, and Related Reports through the table of contents and extensive internal linking.
• Text from previous versions of the Convention is highlighted in blue, to distinguish it from the current version. This is important in cases where the action in question took place at a time when a previous version of the Convention was in force.
• Users can cut and paste or ‘drag and drop’ from the text with all formatting remaining preserved.
• The program is highly compressed, so it does not take up much space on a hard drive.
• Users can print from the text.
  

USING eMTC

When purchasing eMTC from the OECD Online Bookshop, users are instructed where to go to download the file and are given key code to access the publication. When executing the file, the user is asked for the key and when the key is entered, the program installs. Users downloading the file from SourceOECD do not need a key code as the program checks automatically the subscribing institution’s status when the program is first opened and once a week thereafter. At the end of the subscription period, the program can be opened but the text cannot be accessed. When the subscription renewal is paid, a new key code is provided to the user enabling opening of the program during the new period. When the Convention is updated, subscribers are informed and if their subscription is up to date, the update can be downloaded free of charge. When the update is installed, notes from the previous version are automatically brought into the new version.

When opening eMTC, the follow screen appears:

The Table of Contents appears on the left column and can be expanded or pruned as the user desires. At all times the Table of Contents will stay synchronized with text of the publication so the user can never get lost. The user instructions appear in the “Navigation Quick Start” box, which can be moved around the screen or minimized.

If the program is closed, clicking on the drag-on icon will open the program. If the program is open, Dragging a term or phrase onto the icon will result in a full-text search of the Convention for the desired term or phrase. The drag-on icon can be turned on or off and its size can be adjusted.

Scroll the Title Page for the copyright notice and a more detailed Table of Contents

The icons across the top of the screen allow for returning to the home Table of Contents, Backtracking, Pruning the Table of Contents, various Search functions, appending/moving/deleting of personal notes, cutting/copying/pasting, printing, and adjusting the text size on the screen. Click on “Help” for more detailed usage instructions.

When you open an article, you see the following:

Notice that when in an article, links are provided to the related commentary and history. Links are also available for footnotes.

When you open a commentary, you see:

Notice that from a commentary, you can link back to the text of the article in question and to related articles and reports. Text highlighted in blue is text as it appeared in a previous version of the Convention. Similar navigation and text identification appears in the country positions pages.

In addition to the Articles, Commentaries, and Country Positions, the eMTC also includes the following related reports. When mentioned within commentaries to articles, links to these reports are provided.

• R1. Transfer pricing, corresponding adjustments and the mutual agreement procedure
• R2. The taxation of income derived from the leasing of industrial, commercial or scientific equipment
• R3. The taxation of income derived from the leasing of containers
• R4. Thin capitalisation
• R5. Double taxation conventions and the use of base companies
• R6. Double taxation conventions and the use of conduit companies
• R7. The taxation of income derived from entertainment, artistic and sporting activities
• R8. Tax treaty override
• R9. The 183 day rule: some problems of application and interpretation
• R10. The tax treatment of software
• R11. Triangular cases
• R12. The tax treatment of employee's contributions to foreign pension schemes
• R13. Attribution of income to permanent establishments
• R14. Tax sparing
• R15. The application of the OECD model tax convention to partnerships
• R16. Issues related to article 14 of the model tax convention
• R17. Restricting the entitlement to treaty benefits
• R18. Treaty characterisation issues arising from e-commerce
• R19. Issues arising under article 5 (permanent establishment) of the model tax convention

The eMTC also includes the Recommendation of the OECD Council related to the MTC and the texts of the 1963 and 1977 model conventions. There is also a table listing, for each OECD country, countries with whom it has concluded bilateral conventions based on the MTC.

This new tool will also be available in French soon. The next update to the MTC is expected later in 2005.

HOW TO GET THE OECD MODEL TAX CONVENTION: ELECTRONIC VERSION

If your institution subscribes to SourceOECD, you'll be able to access eMTC at: http://new.SourceOECD.org.

eMTC is also available at the OECD Online Bookshop

Or, Subscribe to eMTC through OECD’s network of distributors. See the list at: http://www.oecd.org/publishing/distributors.

If you are with a organization that could use multiple copies of the OECD Model Tax Convention: Electronic Version, we suggest you subscribe to SourceOECD/Taxation. This will give you online access to not only to the Model Tax Convention downloads, but also to PDF files of all OECD publications on taxation published since 1998. And you still get a discount for purchasing multiple copies!

Up to 6 copies: €564, $733, £380, ¥75,600,

Up to 10 copies: €930, $1209, £625, ¥124,600

Up to 15 copies: €1380, $1794, £928, ¥185,000

Up to 20 copies €1790, $2327, £1204, ¥239,900

Up to 25 copies: €2200, $2860, £1480, ¥294,900

More than 25 copies: Consult our licensing manager: James.Kitchen@oecd.org

OECD Publishing
Public Affairs and Communications Directorate
2 rue Andre-Pascal
75016 Paris Cedex 16
France

Tel +33 (0) 1 45 24 81 67
Fax +33 (0) 1 45 24 19 50

sales@oecd.org