Convention Between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Romania

Status of Negotiations


This electronic version of the Canada–Romania Income Tax Convention signed on November 20, 1978 is provided for convenience of reference only and has no official sanction.


The Government of Canada and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Romania desiring to promote and strengthen relations between the two countries and to conclude a Convention for the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on income and on capital, have agreed as follows:

This Convention shall apply to persons who are residents of one or both of the Contracting States.

1. This Convention shall apply to taxes on income and on capital imposed on behalf of each Contracting State, irrespective of the manner in which the are levied.

2. There shall be regarded to taxes on income and on capital all taxes imposed on total income, on total capital, or on elements of income or of capital, including taxes on gains from the alienation of movable or immovable property, taxes on the total amounts of wages or salaries paid by enterprises, as well as taxes on capital appreciation.

3. The existing taxes to which the Convention shall apply are, in particular:

4. The Convention shall apply also to any identical or substantially similar taxes and to taxes on capital which are imposed after the date of signature of this Convention in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes. Important changes which have been made in the taxation laws of the Contracting States shall be reciprocally communicated.

1. In this Convention, unless the context otherwise requires:

2. As regards the application of the Convention by a Contracting State any term not otherwise defined shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the laws of that Contracting State relating to the taxes which are the subject of the Convention.

1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "resident of a Contracting State" means any person who, under the law of that State, is liable to taxation therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of management or any other criterion of a similar nature.

2. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then this case shall be determined in accordance with the following rules:

3. Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 a person other than an individual is a resident of both Contracting States the competent authorities of both Contracting States shall by mutual agreement endeavour to settle the question and to determine the mode of application of the Convention to such person.

1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "permanent establishment" means a fixed place of business in which the business of the enterprise is wholly or partly carried on.

2. The term "permanent establishment" shall include especially:
3. The term "permanent establishment" shall not be deemed to include:

4. A person -- other than an agent of an independent status to whom paragraph 5 applies -- acting in a Contracting State on behalf of an enterprise of the other Contracting State shall be deemed to be a permanent establishment in the first-mentioned State if he has, and habitually exercises in that State, an authority to conclude contracts in the name of the enterprise, unless his activities are limited to the purchase of goods or merchandise for the enterprise.

5. 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 State through a broker, general commission agent or any other agent of an independent status, where such persons are acting in the ordinary course of their business.

6. 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.

1. Income from immovable property including income from agriculture or forestry may be taxed in the Contracting State in which such property is situated.

2. For the purpose of this Convention, the term "immovable property" shall be defined in accordance with the law of the Contracting State in which the property in question is situated. The term shall in any case include property accessory to immovable property, livestock and equipment used in agriculture and forestry, rights to which the 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.

3. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall apply to income derived from the direct use, letting, or use in any other form of immovable property and to profits from the alienation of such property.

4. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 3 shall also apply to the income from immovable property of an enterprise and to income from immovable property used for the performance of professional services.

1. The profits of an enterprise of a Contracting State shall be taxable only in that State unless the enterprise carries on business in the other Contracting State through a permanent establishment situated therein. If the enterprise carries on or has carried on business as aforesaid, the profits of the enterprise may be taxed in that other State but only so much of them as is attributable to that permanent establishment.

2. Subject to the provisions of paragraph 3, where an enterprise of a Contracting State carries on business in the other Contracting State through a permanent establishment situated therein, there shall in each Contracting State be attributed to that permanent establishment the profits which it might be expected to make if it were a distinct and separate enterprise engaged in the same or similar activities under the same or similar conditions and dealing wholly independently with the enterprise of which it is a permanent establishment.

3. In the determination of the profits of a permanent establishment, there shall be allowed those deductible expenses which are incurred for the purposes of the permanent establishment including executive and general administrative expenses, whether incurred in the State in which the permanent establishment is situated or elsewhere.

4. No profits shall be attributed to a permanent establishment by reason of the mere purchase by that permanent establishment of goods or merchandise for the enterprise.

5. For the purposes of the preceding paragraphs, the profits to be attributed to the permanent establishment shall be determined by the same method year by year unless there is good and sufficient reason to the contrary.

6. Where profits include items of income which are dealt with separately in other Articles of this Convention, then, the provisions of those Articles shall not be affected by the provisions of this Article.

1. Profits derived by an enterprise of a Contracting State from the operation of ships or aircraft in international traffic shall be taxable only in that State.

2. Not withstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 and of Article 7, profits derived from the operation of ships or aircraft used principally to transport passengers or goods exclusively between places in a Contracting State may be taxed in that State.

3. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall also apply to profits referred to in those paragraphs derived by an enterprise of a Contracting State from its participation in a pool, a joint business or an international operating agency.

1. Where

and in either case conditions are made or imposed between the two enterprises in their commercial or financial relations which differ from those which would be made between independent enterprises, then any profits which would, but for those conditions, have accrued to one of the enterprises, but, by reason of those conditions, have not so accrued, may be included in the profits of that enterprise and taxed accordingly.

2. Where profits on which an enterprise of a Contracting State has been charged to tax in that State are also included in the profits of an enterprise of the other Contracting State and taxed accordingly, and the profits so included are profits which would have accrued to that enterprise of the other State, if the conditions made between the enterprise have been those which would have been made between independent enterprises, then the first-mentioned State shall make an appropriate adjustment to the amount of tax charged on those profits in the first-mentioned State. In determining such an adjustment, due regard shall be had to the other provisions of this Convention in relation to the nature of the income.

3. A Contracting state shall not change the profits of an enterprise in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 1 after the expiry of the time limits provided in its national laws and, in any case, after five years from the end of the year in which the profits which would be subject to such change would have accrued to an enterprise of that State. This paragraph shall not apply in the case of fraud, wilful default or neglect.

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

2. However, such dividends may be taxed in the Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident, and according to the law of that State; but if the recipient is the beneficial owner of the dividends, the tax so charged shall not exceed 15 percent of the gross amount of the dividends. The provisions of this paragraph shall not affect the taxation of the company on the profits out of which the dividends are paid.

3. 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, profits distributed by Romanian joint companies to capital subscribers as well as in come assimilated to income from shares by the taxation law of the State of which the company making the distribution is a resident.

4. The provisions of paragraph 2 shall not apply if the recipient of the dividends, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on in the other Contracting State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident, a trade or business through a permanent establishment, or performs in that other State professional services from a fixed base, and the holding by virtue of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such a case, the provisions of Article 7 or 14, as the case may be, shall apply.

5. Where a company is a resident of a Contracting State, the other Contracting 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 undistributed profits, even if the dividends paid or the undistributed profits consist wholly or partly of profits or income arising in such other State.

6. Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as preventing a Contracting State from imposing on the earnings of a company attributable to a permanent establishment in that State, tax in addition to the tax which would be chargeable on the earnings of a company which is a national of that State, provided that any additional tax so imposed shall not exceed 15 percent of the amount of such earnings which have not been subjected to such additional tax in previous taxation years. For the purpose of this provision, the term "earnings" means the profits attributable to a permanent establishment in a Contracting State in a year and previous years after deducting there from all taxes, other than the additional tax referred to herein, imposed on such profits by that State; however, it does not include the profits attributable to a permanent establishment of a company in a Contracting State earned in a year during which the business of the company was not carried on principally in that State.

1. Interest arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.

2. However, such interest may be taxed in the Contracting State in which it arises, and according to the law of that State; but the tax so charged shall, provided that the interest is taxable in the other Contracting State, not exceed 15 percent of the gross amount of the interest.

3. The term "interest" as used in this Article means income from debt-claims of every kind, whether or not secured by mortgage, and whether or not carrying a right to participate in the debtor's profits, and in particular, income from government securities and income from bonds or debentures, including premiums and prizes attaching to such securities, bonds or debentures, as well as income assimilated to income from money lent by the taxation law of the State in which the income arises. However, the term "interest" does not include income dealt with in Article 10.

4. The provisions of paragraph 2 shall not apply if the recipient of the interest, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on in the other Contracting State in which the interest arises a trade or business through a permanent establishment, or performs in that other State professional services from a fixed base, and the debt-claim in respect of which the interest is paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such a case, the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.

5. Interest shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the payer is that State itself, a political subdivision, a territorial administrative subdivision, a local authority or a resident of that State. Where, however, the person paying the interest, whether he is a resident of a Contracting State or not, has in a Contracting State a permanent establishment or a fixed base in connection with which the indebtedness on which the interest is paid was incurred, and that interest is borne by that permanent establishment or fixed base, then such interest shall be deemed to arise in the Contracting State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated.

6. Where, owing to a special relationship between the payer and the recipient or between both of them and some other person, the amount of the interest paid, having regard to the debt-claim for which it is paid, exceeds the amount which would have been agreed upon by the payer and the recipient in the absence of such relation ship, the provisions of this Article shall apply only to the last-mentioned amount. In that case, the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable according to the law of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Convention.

7. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, interest arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State shall be taxable only in the other Contracting State if it is paid in respect of a loan made, guaranteed or insured by that other State or by such public body of that other State as is specified and agreed in letters exchanged between the competent authorities of the Contracting States.

1. Royalties arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.

2. However, such royalties may be taxed in the Contracting State in which they arise, and according to the law of that State; but the tax so charged shall, provided that the royalties are taxable in the other Contracting State, not exceed 15 percent of the gross amount of the royalties.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, copyright royalties and other like payments in respect of the production or reproduction of any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, including royalties in respect of motion picture films and works on film or tape for use in connection with television or radio, arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in the State in which they arise and according to the law of that State; but the tax so charged shall, provided that the royalties are taxable in the other Contracting State, not exceed 10 percent of the gross amount of the royalties.

4. The term "royalties" as used in this Article means payments of any kind received as a consideration for the use of, or the right to use, any copyright, patent, trade mark, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, or for the use of, or the right to use, industrial, commercial or scientific equipment, or for information concerning industrial, commercial or scientific experience.

5. The provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 shall not apply if the recipient of the royalties, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on in the other Contracting State in which the royalties arise a trade or business through a permanent establishment, or performs in that other State professional services from a fixed base, and the right or property in respect of which the royalties are paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such a case, the provisions of Article 7 or Article 14, as the case may be, shall apply.

6. Royalties shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the payer is that State itself, a political subdivision, a territorial administrative subdivision, a local authority or a resident of that State. Where, however, the person paying the royalties, whether he is a resident of a Contracting State or not, has in a Contracting State a permanent establishment or fixed base in connection with which the obligation to pay the royalties was incurred, and those royalties are borne by that permanent establishment or fixed base, then such royalties shall be deemed to arise in the Contracting State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated.

7. Where, owing to a special relationship between the payer and the recipient or between both of them and some other person, the amount of the royalties paid, having regard to the use, right or information for which they are paid, exceeds the amount which would have been agreed upon by the payer and the recipient in the absence of such relationship, the provisions of this Article shall apply only to the last-mentioned amount. In that case, the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable according to the law of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Convention.

1. Gains from the alienation of immovable property may be taxed in the Contracting State in which such property is situated.

2. Gains from the alienation of movable property forming part of the business property of a permanent establishment which an enterprise of a Contracting State has in the other Contracting State or movable property pertaining to a fixed base available to a resident of a Contracting State in the other Contracting State for the purpose of performing professional services, including such gains from the alienation of such a permanent establishment (alone or together with the whole enterprise) or of such a fixed base may be taxed in the other State. However, gains from the alienation of ships or aircraft operated in international traffic and movable property pertaining to the operation of such ships or aircraft, shall be taxable only in the Contracting State in which such property is taxable according to paragraph 3 of Article 21.

3. Gains from the alienation of shares or similar rights of the capital stock of a company the property of which consists principally of immovable property situated in a Contracting State, may be taxed in that State. Gains from the alienation of an interest in a partnership or a trust, the property of which consists principally of immovable property situated in a Contracting State, may be taxed in that State.

4. Gains from the alienation of any property, other than those mentioned in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall be taxable only in the Contracting State of which the alienator is a resident.

5. The provisions of paragraph 4 shall not affect the right of either of the Contracting States to levy, according to its law, a tax on gains from the alienation of any property derived by an individual who is a resident of the other Contracting State and has been a resident of the first-mentioned State at any time during the five years immediately preceding the alienation of the property.

1. Income derived by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of professional services or other independent activities of a similar character shall be taxable only in that State unless he has a fixed base regularly available to him in the other Contracting State for the purpose of performing his activities. If he has such a fixed base, the income may be taxed in the other Contracting State but only so much of it as is attributable to that fixed base.

A resident of a Contracting State performing professional services or other independent activities in the other State shall be deemed to have such a fixed base available to him in that other State if he is present in that other State for a period or periods exceeding in the aggregate 183 days in the taxation year concerned.

2. The term "profession al services" includes especially independent scientific, literary, artistic, educational or teaching activities, as well as the independent activities of physicians, lawyers, engineers, architects, dentists and accountants.

1. Subject to the provisions of Articles 16 and 18, salaries, wages and other similar remuneration derived by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of an employment shall be taxable only in that State unless the employment is exercised in the other Contracting State. If the employment is so exercised, such remuneration as is derived there from may be taxed in that other State.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1, remuneration derived by a resident of a Contracting State in respect of an employment exercised in the other Contracting State shall be taxable only in the first-mentioned State if:

3. Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this Article, remuneration in respect of an employment exercised a board a ship or aircraft operated in international traffic by an enterprise of a Contracting State, shall be taxable only in that State.

Directors' fees and similar payments derived by a resident of a Contracting State in his capacity as a member of the board of directors or a similar organ of a company which is a resident of the other Contracting State, may be taxed in that other State.

1. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 7, 14 and 15, income derived by entertainers, such as theatre, motion picture, radio or television artistes, and musicians, and by athletes, from their personal activities as such may be taxed in the Contracting State in which these activities are exercised.

2. Where income in respect of personal activities as such of an entertainer or athlete accrues not to that entertainer or athlete himself but to another person, that income may, notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 7, 14 and 15, be taxed in the Contracting State in which the activities of the entertainer or athlete are exercised.

3. The provisions of paragraph 2 shall not apply if it is established that neither the entertainer or the athletes or persons related there to, participate directly or indirectly in the profits of the person referred to in that paragraph.

4. Income derived by entertainers or athletes who are residents of a Contracting State from activities performed in the other Contracting State, within the framework of cultural exchanges established under the cultural conventions concluded between the two Contracting States, shall be exempt from tax in that other Contracting State.

1. a ) Remuneration, other than a pension, paid by a Contracting State or a political subdivision or a territorial administrative subdivision or a local authority thereof to any individual in respect of services rendered to that State or subdivision or local authority thereof shall be taxable only in that State.

2. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not apply to remuneration in respect of services rendered in connection with any trade or business carried on by one of the Contracting States or a political subdivision or a territorial administrative subdivision or a local authority thereof.

Payments which a student, apprentice or business trainee including any person being trained for improvement or specialization who is, or was immediately before visiting one of the Contracting States, a resident of the other Contracting State and who is present in the first-mentioned Contracting State solely for the purpose of his education or training receives for the purpose of his maintenance, education or training shall not be taxed in that first-mentioned State, provided that such payments are made to him from sources outside that State.

1. Subject to the provision of paragraph 2 of this Article, items of income of a resident of a Contracting State which are not expressly mentioned in the foregoing Articles of this Convention shall be taxable only in that Contracting State.

2. However, if such income is derived by resident of a Contracting State from sources in the other Contracting State, such income may also be taxed in the State in which it arises, and according to the law of that State. However, in the case of income from an estate or trust and in the case of a periodic pension payment the tax so charged shall, provided that the income is taxable in the Contracting State in which the recipient resides, not exceed 15 percent of the gross amount of the income.

1. Capital represented by immovable property may be taxed in the Contracting State in which such property is situated.

2. Capital represented by movable property forming part of the business property of a permanent establishment of an enterprise, or by movable property pertaining to a fixed base used for the performance of professional services, may be taxed in the Contracting State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated.

3. Ships and aircraft operated by an enterprise of a Contracting State in international traffic and movable property pertaining to the operation of such ships and aircraft, shall be taxable only in that State.

4. All other elements of capital of a resident of a Contracting State shall be taxable only in that State.

1. In the case of Canada, double taxation shall be avoided as follows:
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1(a), Romanian tax payable by a resident of Canada:
shall be deemed to include any amount which would have been payable as Romanian tax for any year but for an exemption from, or reduction of, tax granted for that year or any part thereof under:

3. In the case of Romania, tax paid by a Romanian resident on income which, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, may be taxed in Canada shall be deducted from the Romanian tax payable under Romanian tax law. Profits paid by the Romanian State enterprises to the State budget shall be deemed to be Romanian tax.

4. For the purpose of this Article, profits, income or gains of a resident of a Contracting State which are taxed in the other Contracting State in accordance with this Convention shall be deemed to arise from sources in that other State.

1. The nationals of a Contracting State shall not be subjected in the other Contracting State to any taxation or any requirement connected therewith which is other or more burdensome that the taxation and the connected requirements to which nationals of that other State in the same circumstances are or may be subjected.

2. The taxation on a permanent establishment which an enterprise of a Contracting State has in the other Contracting State shall not be less favourably levied in that other State than the taxation levied on enterprises of that other State carrying on the same activities.

3. Nothing in this Article shall be construed as obliging a Contracting State to grant to residents of the other Contracting State any personal allowances, reliefs and reductions for taxation purposes on account of civil status or family responsibilities which it grants to its own residents.

4. Enterprises of a Contracting State, the capital of which is wholly or partly owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by one or more residents of the other Contracting State, shall not be subjected in the first-mentioned State to any taxation or any requirement connected therewith which is other or more burdensome than the taxation and connected requirements to which other similar enterprises of the first-mentioned State, the capital of which is wholly or partly owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by one or more residents of a third State, are or may be subjected.

5. In this Article, the term "taxation" means taxes which are the subject of this Convention.

6. The taxes on income, profits and capital and the payments from profits to the State budget which under Romanian law are chargeable on socialist units shall be chargeable only on such units.

1. Where a resident of a Contracting State considers that the actions of one or both of the Contracting States result or will result for him in taxation not in accordance with this Convention, he may, without prejudice to the remedies provided by the national laws of those States, address to the competent authority of the Contracting State of which he is a resident an application in writing stating the grounds from claiming the revision of such taxation. To be admissible, the said application must be submitted within two years from the first notification of the action which gives rise to taxation not in accordance with the Convention.

2. The competent authority referred to in paragraph 1 shall endeavour, if the objection appears to it to be justified and if it is not itself able to arrive at an appropriate solution, to resolve the case by mutual agreement with the competent authority of the other Contracting State, with a view to the avoidance of taxation not in accordance with the Convention.

3. A Contracting State shall not, after the expiry of the time limits provided in its national laws and, in any case, after five years from the end of the taxable period in which the income concerned has accrued, increase the tax base of a resident of either of the Contracting States by including therein items of income which have also been charged to tax in the other Contracting State. This paragraph shall not apply in the case of fraud, wilful default or neglect.

4. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall endeavour to resolve by mutual agreement any difficulties or doubts arising as to the interpretation of application of the Convention.

5. The competent authorities of the Contracting States may consult together for the elimination of double taxation in cases not provided for in the Convention.

1. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall exchange such information as is necessary for the carrying out of this Convention and of the domestic laws of the Contracting States concerning taxes covered by this Convention insofar as the taxation thereunder is in accordance with this Convention. Any information so exchanged shall be treated as secret and shall not be disclosed to any persons or authorities other than those concerned with the assessment of collection of the taxes which are the subject of this Convention.

2. In no case shall the provisions of paragraph 1 be construed so as to impose on one of the Contracting States the obligation:

Nothing in this Convention shall affect the fiscal privileges of members of diplomatic or consular missions under the general rules of international law or under the provisions of special agreements.

1. The provisions of this Convention shall not be construed to restrict in any manner any exclusion, exemption, deduction, creditor other allowance now or hereafter accorded

2. Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as preventing the application of the provisions of the domestic law of each Contracting State concerning the taxation of income of persons in respect of their participation in non-resident companies or concerning fiscal evasion.

3. The competent authorities of the Contracting States may communicate with each other directly for the purpose of applying this Convention.

4. For the purposes of this Convention, any reference to a "political subdivision, a territorial administrative subdivision" of a Contracting State shall be read as a reference to "a political subdivision" when the Contracting State concerned is Canada and as a reference to "a territorial administrative subdivision" when the Contracting State concerned is Romania.

1. This Convention shall be ratified and the instruments of ratification shall be exchanged at Bucharest.

2. The Convention shall enter into force upon the exchange of instruments of ratification and its provisions shall have effect:
This Convention shall continue in effect indefinitely but either Contracting State may, on or before June 30 in any calendar year after the year 1980, give to the other Contracting State a notice of termination and in such event, the Convention shall cease to have effect:

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorized to that effect, have signed this Convention.

DONE in duplicate at Ottawa, this 20th day of November, One thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight, in the English, French and Romanian languages, each version being equally authentic.

Donald C. Jamieson

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA

B. Popescu

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF ROMANIA

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