In a recent article published by Dr. Brigitte Kalteis in this journal the tax treatment of foreign orchestras and theatres under tax conventions was heavily criticised and a call for new legislative measures was launched. In response, the present article explains the position of the Austrian tax administration; attention is drawn to the fact that certain very basic principles must not be disregarded when tax treaties shall be interpreted in a proper manner: Firstly, it is not justfied to ascribe two different meanings to one and the same provision of law at the same time and to claim that both are right; law can only have one single correct meaning; if therefore the interpretation given to Article 17 of the OECD-MC in the OECD-Commentary of 1992 is accepted as being the right one, it cannot be argued that provisions of Austrian tax conventions that are based on exactly that provision of the OECD-MC should be interpretated in a different way only because the OECD-Commentary did not exist in the 1992-version at the time when the treaty was concluded. Secondly, treaties override domestic law only insofar as they contain provisions of a binding legal force; no override can take place w...