Taxation of Artistes and Sportsmen in International Tax Law

S. 21The Notion of Artistes in Article 17 of the OECD Model Tax Convention

Milan Matijevic

S. 23I. Introduction

In dealing with, and in the understanding of, the international tax treatment of artistes, it is very important to understand and have a clear definition of who an artiste exactly is. Who would fall under the provisions of Article 17 of the OECD Model Tax Convention and who would fall under the rules of Article 7 (“Business Profits”) or Article 15 (“Income From Employment”)? In international taxation, artistes are not treated in the same way as other persons. It follows that we should define or clarify who will have the right to call himself an artiste. Artistes are taxed in the country of their performance, which means that we have to be clear in relation to the international and national definitions of the word “artiste”. Article 3 (2) of the OECD Model Tax Convention gives importance to the national definitions in cases where specific treaty terms are unclear, or where there are no clear definitions in a tax treaty, or in its context, such as the OECD Model Tax Convention, the OECD Commentary, and other official explanations which are supposed to aid the interpretation ...