[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 26, Volume 18, Parts 500 to 599]
[Revised as of April 1, 2000]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 26CFR514.1]

[Page 64-66]
 
                       TITLE 26--INTERNAL REVENUE
 
     CHAPTER 1--INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 
                               (Continued)
 
PART 514--FRANCE--Table of Contents
 
                       Subpart--Withholding of Tax
 
Sec. 514.1  Introductory.

 Taxable Years Beginning After December 31, 1956, And Before January 1, 
 1967, or Dividends, Interest, And Royalties Paid Before August 11, 1968

    Source: Treasury Decision 6273, 22 FR 9530, Nov. 28, 1957; 25 FR 
14022, Dec. 31, 1960, unless otherwise noted.

    Effective Date Note:  By T.D. 8734, 62 FR 53498, Oct. 14, 1997, the 
undesignated centerheading preceding Sec. 514.1 was removed, effective 
Jan. 1, 1999. By T.D. 8804, 63 FR 72183, Dec. 31, 1998, the effective 
date was delayed until Jan. 1, 2000. By T.D. 8856, 64 FR 73408, Dec. 30, 
1999, the effective date was delayed until Jan. 1, 2001.


    (a) Applicable provisions of convention. The income tax convention 
between the United States and France, signed on July 25, 1939, and 
October 18, 1946, as modified by the supplemental convention, signed 
June 22, 1956 (the instruments of ratification of which were exchanged 
on June 13, 1957), referred to in this part as the convention, provides 
in part as follows, the quoted articles being effective as indicated:

    Article I(a) of the Supplemental Convention of 1956, on June 13, 
1957.
    Article I(d) of the Supplemental Convention of 1956, on January 1, 
1952.
    Article 7 and the Protocol of the Convention of 1939, on January 1, 
1945.
    The supplemental convention signed June 22, 1956, provides in part 
as follows:

                                Article I

    The provisions of the Convention and Protocol between the United 
States and the French Republic signed at Paris on July 25, 1939 are 
hereby modified and supplemented as follows:
    (a) By striking out Article 1(a) and inserting in lieu thereof the 
following:
    ``(a) In the case of the United States: The Federal income taxes 
(including surtaxes and excess profits taxes) and the documentary taxes 
on sales or transfers of shares or certificates of stock or bonds.''

                                * * * * *

    (d) By adding immediately after Article 6 the following new 
articles:

[[Page 65]]

                              ``Article 6A

    Dividends and interest derived, on or after January 1, 1952, from 
sources within one of the contracting States by a resident or 
corporation or other entity of the other State, not having a permanent 
establishment in the former State shall be subject to tax by such former 
State at a rate not in excess of 15 percent of the gross amount of such 
dividends or interest. Such reduced rate of tax shall not apply to 
dividends or interest paid prior to the calendar year in which are 
exchanged the instruments of ratification of the present Convention if, 
for the taxable year in which such dividends or interest is received, 
penalty for fraud with respect to the taxes which are the subject of the 
present Convention has been imposed against the recipient of such 
dividends or interest.''

                                * * * * *

                               Article III

    (a) The present Convention shall be ratified and the instruments of 
ratification shall be exchanged at Paris as soon as possible.
    (b) Its provisions shall come into force and shall become effective 
as of the date of the exchange of the instruments of ratification 
subject both to the provisions of Article I (d) and (e) and to the 
provisions set forth herein below.

                                * * * * *

    (c) If refund of any overpayment resulting from the application of 
Article I(d) of the present Convention is prevented on the date of 
exchange of instruments of ratification or within two years from such 
date by the operation of any law, refund of such overpayment (without 
interest) shall nevertheless be made provided that claim for refund is 
filed within two years after the date of the exchange of instruments of 
ratification of the present Convention with the contracting State to 
which such overpayment was made.
    (d) The present Convention shall remain effective so long as the 
Conventions signed July 25, 1939 and October 18, 1946, remain effective.
    The convention of July 25, 1939, provides, in part, as follows:

                                Article 7

                                * * * * *

    Royalties derived from within one of the contracting States by a 
resident, or by a corporation or other entity of the other contracting 
State as consideration for the right to use copyrights, patents, secret 
processes and formulae, trademarks and other analogous rights shall be 
exempt from taxation in the former State, provided such resident, 
corporation or other entity does not have a permanent establishment 
there.

                                Article 8

                                * * * * *

    Private pensions and life annuities derived from within one of the 
contracting States and paid to individuals residing in the other 
contracting State shall be exempt from taxation in the former State.

Protocol:

                                * * * * *

    III. As used in this Convention:
    (a) The term ``permanent establishment'' includes branches, mines 
and oil wells, plantations, factories, workshops, stores, purchasing and 
selling and other offices, agencies, warehouses, and other fixed places 
of business but does not include a subsidiary corporation.
    When an enterprise of one of the contracting States carries on 
business in the other State through an employee or agent, established 
there, who has general authority to negotiate and conclude contracts or 
has a stock of merchandise from which he regularly fills orders which he 
receives, this enterprise shall be deemed to have a permanent 
establishment in the latter State. But the fact that an enterprise of 
one of the contracting States has business dealings in the other State 
through a bona fide commission agent or broker shall not be held to mean 
that such enterprise has a permanent establishment in the latter State.
    Insurance enterprises shall be considered as having a permanent 
establishment in one of the States as soon as they receive premiums from 
or insure risks in the territory of that State.
    IV. The term ``life annuities'' referred to in Article 8 of this 
Convention means a stated sum payable periodically at stated times 
during life, or during a specified number of years to the person who has 
paid the premium or a gross sum for such an obligation.
    The convention of October 18, 1946, provides, in part, as follows:

                                Title III

                        Administrative Assistance

                                * * * * *

                               Article 13

    (1) The competent authorities of the two Contracting States may 
prescribe regulations necessary to interpret and carry out

[[Page 66]]

the provisions of the present Convention and the Convention of July 25, 
1939.

                                * * * * *

    (b) Definitions--(1) In general. Any term defined in the convention 
or Secs. 514.1 to 514.10 shall have the meaning so assigned to it; any 
term not so defined shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have 
the meaning which such term has under the internal revenue laws of the 
United States.
    (2) France. As used in Secs. 514.1 to 514.10, the term ``France'', 
when used in a geographical sense, means continental France, exclusive 
of Algeria and the Colonies.