17 DECEMBER 2004. - An Act to Accredit the Avenor, signed on 11 December 2002, to the Convention between the Kingdom of Belgic and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with a view to avoiding double taxation and resolving certain other issues relating to income and property taxes, and the Final Protocol thereto, signed in Luxembourg on 17 September 1970 (1) (2)

The Government of the Kingdom of Belgium
and
The Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg,
desirous of amending the Convention between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with a view to avoiding double taxation and resolving certain other issues relating to income and property taxes, and the Protocol thereto, signed in Luxembourg on 17 September 1970 (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention" and "the Final Protocol") respectively),
agreed on the following provisions:
ARTICLE 1^er
Paragraph 3 of Article 2 of the Convention is replaced by the following paragraph:
Ҥ3. The current taxes to which the Convention applies are:
1° With regard to Belgium:
(a) the tax of natural persons;
(b) corporate tax;
(c) the tax of legal persons;
(d) non-resident tax;
including pre-payments, additional cents to such taxes and pre-payments, and additional taxes to the tax of natural persons,
(hereinafter referred to as "Belgian tax");
2° With regard to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg:
(a) the income tax of natural persons;
(b) community income tax;
(c) capital tax;
(d) communal commercial tax;
(e) land tax,
(hereinafter referred to as "Luxembourg tax"). »
Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the Convention is deleted.
Paragraph 5 of Article 2 of the Convention becomes paragraph 4.
ARTICLE 2
Paragraph 2 of Article 15 of the Convention is replaced by the following paragraph:
“§2. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 1^erthe remuneration of a resident of a Contracting State in respect of an employee employed in the other Contracting State shall be taxable only in the first State if:
(a) the beneficiary stays in the other State for a period or periods not exceeding a total of 183 days during any twelve-month period beginning or ending in the calendar year in question, and
(b) compensation shall be paid by an employer or on behalf of an employer who is not a resident of the other State, and
(c) the pay charge is not borne by a permanent establishment or a fixed base that the employer has in the other State. »
Paragraph 3 of Article 15 of the Convention is replaced by the following paragraph:
“§3. By derogation from §§ 1^er and 2 and subject to the reservation referred to in § 1^erthe remuneration for an employee employed on board a ship, aircraft or railway or road vehicle operated in international traffic, or on board a vessel used for inland navigation in international traffic, shall be considered to be related to an activity carried out in the Contracting State in which the seat of the effective management of the enterprise is located and shall be taxable in that State. »
ARTICLE 3
Article 16 of the Convention is replaced by the following article:
“Corporate Leaders
§ 1^er. The fortieth, attendance and other similar remuneration that a resident of a Contracting State receives as a member of the board of directors or of a similar body of a corporation that is a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State.
The foregoing provision also applies to remuneration received because of the performance of functions which, under the legislation of the Contracting State whose company is a resident, are treated as functions of a nature similar to those exercised by a person referred to in that provision.
§ 2. Compensation that a person referred to in § 1^er a corporation that is a resident of a Contracting State because of the exercise of a daily activity of direction or technical, commercial or financial character shall be taxable in accordance with the provisions of Article 15, as if it were remuneration that an employee derives from an employee's employment and as if the employer were the corporation. This provision is also applicable to remuneration derived by a Luxembourg resident from his or her daily activity as a partner in a corporation other than a share corporation, which is a resident of Belgium. »
ARTICLE 4
Article 17 of the Convention is replaced by the following article:
« § 1^er. Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 7, 14 and 15, the income derived by a resident of a Contracting State from his or her personal activities in the other Contracting State as an artist of the spectacle, such as a theatre, cinema, radio or television artist, or a musician, or as a sportsman, may be taxed in that other State.
§ 2. Where the income of activities that an entertainer or a sportsman exercises personally and in this capacity is attributed not to the artist or to the athlete himself, but to another person, such income shall be taxable, notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 7, 14 and 15, in the Contracting State where the activities of the artist or athlete are carried out. »
ARTICLE 5
A paragraph 3 is inserted in article 18 of the Convention as follows:
“§3. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 1^er, pensions and other similar remuneration from Luxembourg and paid to a resident of Belgium, are not taxable in Belgium if these payments are derived from contributions, allowances or insurance premiums paid to a supplementary pension plan by the beneficiary or on behalf of the beneficiary, or from the expenses made by the employer to an internal plan, and if these contributions, allowances, insurance premiums or endowments were actually subject to tax in Luxembourg. »
A paragraph 4 is inserted in article 18 of the Convention as follows:
“§4. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 1^er, capital and redemption values held in lieu of pensions paid in respect of a previous employment to a resident of Luxembourg who come from Belgium are taxable in Belgium. »
ARTICLE 6
Article 24, paragraph 4, of the Convention becomes paragraph 4a.
A paragraph 4b is inserted in article 24 of the Convention as follows:
§ 4b. Individuals who are residents of Luxembourg and who, in accordance with the provisions of Chapter III (Imposition of income), are taxable in Belgium are not subject to any taxation or obligation relating to such income which is heavier than those to which are or may be subject to natural persons who are residents of Belgium who are also in the same situation. The personal deductions, deductions and tax reductions based on the situation or family expenses that Belgium grants to its own residents are granted to the residents of Luxembourg on the prorated basis of income from Belgium in relation to the total income, from which they come, of which these persons are beneficiaries. »
Article 24, paragraph 5, of the Convention becomes paragraph 5a.
A paragraph 5b is inserted in article 24 of the Convention as follows:
“§5b. The imposition of an agricultural or logging operation that a resident of a Contracting State has in the other Contracting State is not established in that other State in a less favourable manner than the taxation of the residents of that other Contracting State who exercise the same activity. »
ARTICLE 7
Article 25, paragraph 2, of the Convention is supplemented by a second sentence as follows:
"The agreement shall be applied regardless of the time limits provided by the domestic law of the Contracting States. »
ARTICLE 8
Paragraph 1^er Article 27 of the Convention is deleted. The remaining paragraphs become paragraphs 1^er, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
ARTICLE 9
The Final Protocol is amended as follows:
Paragraphs 3, 8 and 9 are deleted. Paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10, renumber as paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Paragraph 8 is inserted to read:
Ҥ 8. Dependent professions
Ad article 15 §§ 1^er and 2
As defined in Article 15, §§ 1^er and 2, it is understood that an employee employment is exercised in the other Contracting State where the activity because of which wages, salaries and other remuneration are paid is actually exercised in that other State, i.e. when the employee is physically present in that other State to exercise that activity. »
A paragraph 9 is inserted as follows:
Ҥ 9. Corporate managers
Ad article 16
It is understood that the term company does not apply to companies in collective name, single-managed companies and civil societies in Luxembourg law. »
ARTICLE 10
§ 1^er. Each Contracting State shall notify the other, in writing by diplomatic means, of the fulfilment of the procedures required by its legislation for the implementation of this Agreement. The Advant to the Convention shall enter into force on the date of receipt of the last notification.
§ 2. The Advant to the Convention shall apply:
(i) in respect of taxes withheld from the source, the income awarded on or after 1^er January of the calendar year immediately following the year in which the Avenor to the Convention will enter into force;
(ii) in respect of other income taxes, and capital taxes, on taxes due for any tax period beginning on or after 1^er January of the calendar year immediately following the year in which the Agreement will enter into force.
The Avenor will remain in force as long as the Convention.
In faith of what, the undersigned, duly authorized to do so, have signed this Advant.
Done in Brussels on 11 December 2002 in duplicate in French and Dutch languages.

17 DECEMBER 2004. - An Act to Accredit the Avenor, signed on 11 December 2002, to the Convention between the Kingdom of Belgic and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with a view to avoiding double taxation and resolving certain other issues relating to income and property taxes, and the final protocol thereto, signed in Luxembourg on 17 September 1970
ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Avenor, signed in Brussels on 11 December 2002, to the Convention between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with a view to avoiding double taxation and resolving some other issues relating to income and property taxes, and the Protocol thereto, signed in Luxembourg on 17 September 1970, will come out its full and full effect.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels, December 17, 2004.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Finance,
D. REYNDERS
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
K. DE GUCHT
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
____
Note
(1) Session 2004-2005
Senate:
Documents. - Bill tabled on 11 June 2004, No. 3-740/1.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of July 15, 2004. - Vote, meeting of 15 July 2004.
House of Representatives:
Documents. - Project transmitted by the Senate, No. 51-1293/1. - Text adopted in plenary and subject to Royal Assent, No. 51-1293/2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of November 25, 2004. - Vote, meeting of 25 November 2004.
(2) This Aven comes in vigil on December 20, 2004.