Direct Tax Avoidance Agreements

USA

Article 3 - General definitions - 1. In this Convention, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) the term India means the territory of India and includes the territorial sea and air space above it, as well as any other maritime zone in which India has sovereign rights, other rights and jurisdictions, according to the Indian law and in accordance with inter-national law ;

(b) the term United States, when used in a geographical sense means all the territory of the United States of America, including its territorial sea, in which the laws relating to United States tax are in force, and all the area beyond its territorial sea, including the sea bed and subsoil thereof, over which the United States has jurisdiction in accordance with international law and in which the laws relating to United States tax are in force ;

(c) the terms a Contracting State and the other Contracting State mean India or the United States as the context requires ;

(d) the term tax means Indian tax or United States tax, as the context requires ;

(e) the term person includes an individual, an estate, a trust, a partnership, a company, any other body of persons, or other taxable entity ;

(f)  the term company means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as a company or body corporate for tax purposes ;

(g) the terms enterprise of a Contracting State and enterprise of the other Contracting State mean respectively an enterprise carried on by a resident of a Contracting State and an enterprise carried on by a resident of the other Contracting State ;

(h) the term competent authority means, in the case of India, the Central Government in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) or their authorised representative, and in the case of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury or his delegate ;

(i) the term national means any individual possessing the nationality or citizenship of a Contracting State ;

(j) the term international traffic means any transport by a ship or aircraft operated by an enterprise of a Contracting State, except when the ship or aircraft is operated solely between places within the other Contracting State ;

(k) the term taxable year in relation to Indian tax means previous year as defined in the Income-tax Act, 1961.

2. As regards the application of the Convention by a Contracting State any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires or the competent authorities agree to a common meaning pursuant to the provisions of Article 27 (Mutual Agreement Procedure), have the meaning which it has under the laws of that State concerning the taxes to which the Convention applies.