Doppelbesteuerung

Art. 10 MA Dividenden

A. Musterkommentar

I. Preliminary remarks

1. By „dividends“ is generally meant the distribution of profits to the shareholders by companies limited by shares, limited partnerships with share capital, limited liability companies or other joint stock companies. Under the laws of the OECD member countries, such joint stock companies are legal entities with a separate juridical personality distinct from all their shareholders. On this point, they differ from partnerships insofar as the latter do not have juridical personality in most countries.

2. Many states consider that the profits of a business carried on by a partnership are the partners’ profits derived from their own exertions; for them they are business profits. So these states treat the partnership as fiscally transparent and the partners are ordinarily taxed personally on their share of the partnership capital and partnership profits. (Geändert am 21. November 2017)

3. The position is different for the shareholder; he is not a trader and the company’s profits are not his; so they cannot be attributed to him. He is...