Articles 10 to 12 of the OECD Model Convention stipulate that the reduction of the withholding tax on passive income in the state source shall be available only if the recipient qualifies as the "beneficial owner" „Nutzungsberechtigter") of such payments. The limitation of benefits was introduced in the treaty wording by the amendment of 1977, the new concept, however, was not explained in detail. A variety of the meanings can be found currently in national tax systems and the tax literature, but none of them offers a precise definition of the term "beneficial owner", that could become universally accepted in the tax treaty law. Some of the issues are described in this article, the following overview shows also the interpretation of the respective term by the Austrian Ministry of Finance and takes a critical point of view.