Direct Tax Avoidance Agreements

Vietnam

ARTICLE 3 : General definitions - 1. In this Agreement, unless the contest 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 international law or the U.N. Convention on the law of the Sea;

(b) the term Vietnam means the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; when used in a geographical sense, it means all its national territory, including its territorial sea and any area beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea, within which Vietnam, by Vietnamese legislation and in accordance with international law, has sovereign rights of exploration for and exploitation of natural resources of the sea-bed and its sub-soil and superjacent watermass;

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

(d) the term company means any body corporate or any entity which is treated as company or body corporate under the taxation law in force in the respective Contracting State;

(e) the term competent authority means :

(i)  in the case of India, the Central Government in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) or their authorized representative; and

(ii) in the case of Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance or his authorized representative ;

(f)  the terms enterprise of a Contracting State and enterprise of the other Contracting State means 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 ;

(g) the term fiscal year means :

(i)  in the case of India, previous year as defined under section 3 of the Income-tax Act, 1961; and

(ii) in case of Vietnam, the accounting year comprising of a twelve-month period;

(h) 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 the places in the other Contracting State;

(i)  the term national means any individual, possessing the nationality of a Contracting State and any legal person, partnership or association deriving its status from the laws in force in the Contracting State;

(j) the term person includes an individual, a company, a body of person and any other entity which is treated as a taxable unit under the taxation laws in force in the respective Contracting State;

(k) the term tax means Indian tax or Vietnamese tax, as the context requires, but shall not include any amount which is payable in respect of any default or omission in relation to the taxes to which this Agreement applies or which represents a penalty imposed relating to those taxes.

2. As regards the application of the Agreement by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning which it has under the law of that State concerning the taxes to which the Agreement applies.