Article 27 - Assistance in the collection of taxes - Sri Lanka

ARTICLE 27 ASSISTANCE IN THE COLLECTION OF TAXES 1. The Contracting States shall lend assistance to each other in the collection of revenue claims. The Competent Authorities of the Contracting States may, by mutual agreement, settle the mode of application of this Article. 2. The term revenue claim as used in this Article means an amount owed in respect of taxes covered by the Agreement together with interest, penalties and costs of collection or conservancy related to such amount. 3. When a revenue claim of a Contracting State is enforceable under the laws of that Contracting State and is owed by a person who, at that time, cannot, under the laws of that Contracting State, prevent its collection, that revenue claim shall, at the request of the Competent Authority of that Contracting State, be accepted for purposes of collection by the Competent Authority of the other Contracting State, and that revenue claim shall be collected by that other Contracting State in accordance with the provisions of its laws applicable to the enforcement and collection of its own taxes as if the revenue claim were a revenue claim of that other Contracting State. 4. When a revenue claim of a Contracting State is a claim in respect of which that Contracting State may, under its law, take measures of conservancy with a view to ensure its collection, that revenue claim shall, at the request of the Competent Authority of that Contracting State, be accepted for purposes of taking measures of conservancy by the Competent Authority of the other Contracting State. That other Contracting State shall take measures of conservancy in respect of that revenue claim in accordance with the provisions of its laws as if the revenue claim were a revenue claim of that other Contracting State even if, at the time when such measures are applied, the revenue claim is not enforceable in the first-mentioned Contracting State or is owed by a person who has a right to prevent its collection. 5. The provisions of this Article shall be invoked on request of a Contracting State only after all permissible measures of recovery under the domestic laws of that Contracting State have been exhausted. 6. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 3 and 4, a revenue claim accepted by a Contracting State for purposes of paragraph 3 or 4 shall not, in that Contracting State, be subject to the time limits or accorded any priority applicable to a revenue claim under the laws of that Contracting State by reason of its nature as such. In addition, a revenue claim accepted by a Contracting State for the purposes of paragraph 3 or 4 shall not, in that Contracting State, have any priority applicable to that revenue claim under the laws of the other Contracting State. 7. Proceedings with respect to the existence, validity or the amount, of a revenue claim of a Contracting State shall only be brought before the courts or administrative bodies of that Contracting State. Nothing in this Article shall be construed as creating or providing any right to such proceedings before any court or administrative body of the other Contracting State. 8. Where, at any time after a request has been made by a Contracting State under paragraph 3 or 4 and before the other Contracting State has collected and remitted the relevant revenue claim to the first-mentioned Contracting State, the relevant revenue claim ceases to be: (a) in the case of a request under paragraph 3, a revenue claim of the first-mentioned Contracting State that is enforceable under the laws of that Contracting State and is owed by a person who, at that time, cannot, under the laws of that Contracting State, prevent its collection, 'or (b) in the case of a request under paragraph 4, a revenue claim of the first-mentioned Contracting State in respect of which that Contracting State may, under its laws, take measures of conservancy with a view to ensure its collection. The Competent Authority of the first-mentioned Contracting State shall promptly notify the Competent Authority of the other Contracting State of that fact and, at the option of the other Contracting State, the first-mentioned Contracting State shall either suspend or withdraw its request. 9. In no case shall the provisions of this Article be construed so as to impose on a Contracting State the obligation: (a) to carry out administrative measures at variance with the laws and administrative practice of that or of the other Contracting State; (b) to carry out measures which would be contrary to public policy (ordre public); (c) to provide assistance if the other Contracting State has not pursued all reasonable measures of collection or conservancy, as the case may be, available under its laws or administrative practices; (d) to provide assistance in those cases where the administrative burden for that Contracting State is clearly disproportionate to the benefit to be derived by the other Contracting State.