Taxation of Artistes and Sportsmen in International Tax Law

S. 371Non-discrimination Issues of Artistes and Sportsmen in the light of Article 24 OECD Model

Ove Jenssen

S. 373I. Introduction and overview of Article 24

Agreements that are designed to avoid discrimination were well known a long time before double taxation treaties became of interest. As early as in the nineteenth century non-discrimination clauses were used in treaties of friendship and in trade agreements between countries. The non-discrimination rules of today’s bilateral tax conventions, the model of which is contained in Article 24 of the OECD Model, can thus be seen as provisions with a long-standing history that goes far beyond the history of other articles in the OECD Model Tax Convention.

Article 24 of the OECD Model consists of 5 different non-discrimination rules, which will be closely examined in the following chapters with specific consideration of artistes and sportsmen. Article 24 (1) contains the nationality nondiscrimination provision that prohibits discrimination of taxpayers who are “in the same circumstances” on the basis of nationality. Article 24 (2) gives the same protection to stateless persons who ar...