Article 12 - Interest - Italy

ARTICLE 12 INTEREST 1. Interest arising in a Contracting State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State may be taxed in both the Contracting States. 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1, the tax chargeable in a Contracting State on interest arising in that State and paid to a resident of the other Contracting State in respect of loans or debts shall not exceed 15 per cent of the gross amount of such interest. 3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2, interest arising in a Contracting State shall be exempt from tax in that State, if :- (a) the payer of the interest is the Government of that Contracting State or a local authority thereof, or (b) the interest is paid to any agency or instrumentality (including a financial institution) which may be agreed upon in this behalf by the two Contracting States. 4. The term interest as used in this Article means income from Government securities, bonds or debentures, whether or not secured by mortgage and whether or not carrying a right to participate in profits, and debt-claims of every kind as well as all other income assimilated to income from money lent by the taxation law of the State in which the income arises. 5. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 not apply if the recipient of the interest, being a resident of a Contracting State, carries on business in the other Contracting State, in which the interest arises, through a permanent establishment situated therein, or performs in that other State independent personal services from a fixed base situated therein, and the debt-claim in respect of which the interest is paid is effectively connected with such permanent establishment or fixed base. In such a case, the interest shall be taxable in that other Contracting State according to its own law. 6. Interest shall be deemed to arise in a Contracting State when the payer is that State itself, a political or administrative sub-division, a local authority or a resident of that State. Where, however, the person paying the interest, whether he is a resident of a Contracting State or not, has in a Contracting State a permanent establishment or a fixed base in connection with which the indebtedness on which the interest is paid was incurred, and such interest is borne by such permanent establishment or fixed base, then such interest shall be deemed to arise in the State in which the permanent establishment or fixed base is situated. 7. Where, owing to a special relationship between the payer and the recipient or between both of them and some other person, the amount of the interest paid, having regard to the debt-claim for which it is paid, exceeds the amount which would have been agreed upon by the payer and the recipient in the absence of such relationship, the provisions of this article shall apply only to the last-mentioned amount. In that case, the excess part of the payments shall remain taxable according to the law of each Contracting State, due regard being had to the other provisions of this Convention.