Agreement with Venezuela to prevent double taxation on income from sea or air navigation activity

This Convention shall apply to taxes on income imposed by each of the Contracting States, irrespective of the manner in which they are levied.

The current taxes to which this Agreement applies are:

1. As regards Venezuela, the "Income Tax".

2. As regards Spain, the "Corporate Tax" and the "Personal Income Tax".

3. The Convention shall also apply to future taxes of an identical or similar nature which are additional to or substitute for existing taxes.

For the purposes of this Convention, the following expressions shall mean:

1. The term "enterprise of a Contracting State" means an enterprise carried on by a natural or legal person who is considered, for tax purposes, to be a resident of one of the Contracting States under the laws in force in that State. If the individual is a resident of both, for the purposes of this Agreement, he shall be deemed to be a resident of the State in which his place of effective management is located.

2. "The exercise of maritime or air navigation in international traffic" means the activity of transport by sea or air of persons, livestock and fish, mail or goods carried out by the owner, charterer or lessee of ships or aircraft, as well as any other preparatory, auxiliary or complementary activity related thereto, except when the activity is carried out between points located in a single Contracting State.

3. The terms "a Contracting State" and "the other Contracting State" designate Spain and Venezuela, as required by the context of the Convention.

4. The term "Competent Authorities" designates, in the case of Venezuela, the General Sectoral Directorate of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance, and in the case of Spain, the Minister of Economy and Finance, or any other authority to which the Minister delegates.

1. For the purposes of applying this Convention by a Contracting State, any expression not defined in its articles shall be interpreted in the sense attributed to it by the tax laws of that State.

2. The competent authorities may consult when they consider it appropriate, in order to ensure the reciprocal application and compliance with the principles and provisions of this Convention.

3. Such consultation may be requested by any of the Contracting States and the meetings for its resolution must begin within sixty days from the date of the request.

1. Income derived by a company of a Contracting State from the exercise of maritime or air navigation in international traffic is exempt from taxation in the other Contracting State.

2. The same rule shall apply to the participations held by a company of a Contracting State in joint activities or "pools" of any kind for the exercise of maritime or air navigation.

3. Profits derived by a company of a Contracting State from the alienation of ships or aircraft operated in international traffic, or of movable property pertaining to the operation of such ships or aircraft, are exempt from tax in the other Contracting State.

4. The provisions of the preceding paragraphs shall also apply to the air navigation companies of both Contracting States, designated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention on Air Transport between Venezuela and Spain of 25 July 1972.

5. The regime provided for in the preceding paragraphs shall not apply to income obtained from the transport of hydrocarbons.

6. Maritime and air transport companies of a Contracting State shall, in accordance with the internal legislation of the other Contracting State and for purely statistical purposes, submit a declaration of the economic results of their maritime or air transport operations and of operations connected therewith, carried out in the territory of this Contracting State.

1. Each Contracting State shall notify the other in writing, as soon as possible, through diplomatic channels, of the completion of the procedures required by their respective legal systems to put this Agreement into effect.

2. The Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the last of such notifications and shall have effect with respect to income derived from the financial year commencing immediately after its entry into force.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, taxpayers to whom the Convention signed by both Contracting States on February 2, 1979, would have been applied, had the corresponding exchange of Instruments of Ratification taken place, shall be exempt from taxation on income derived from maritime or air navigation in international traffic, up to the fiscal year, inclusive, in which this Convention enters into force.

In such case, the Agreement shall cease to have effect for income obtained from the financial year beginning immediately after the termination.