The Double Taxation Relief (Taxes on Income) (The United States of America) Order 2002

Article 26 Mutual agreement procedure

1.  Where a person considers that the actions of one or both of the Contracting States result or will result for him in taxation not in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, he may, irrespective of the remedies provided by the domestic law of those States, present his case to the competent authority of the Contracting State of which he is a resident or national. The case must be presented within three years from the first notification of the action resulting in taxation not in accordance with the provisions of this Convention or, if later, within six years from the end of the taxable year or chargeable period in respect of which that taxation is imposed or proposed.

2.  The competent authority shall endeavour, if the objection appears to it to be justified and if it is not itself able to arrive at a satisfactory solution, to resolve the case by mutual agreement with the competent authority of the other Contracting State, with a view to the avoidance of taxation which is not in accordance with this Convention. Any agreement reached shall be implemented notwithstanding any time limits or other procedural limitations in the domestic law of the Contracting States, except such limitations as apply for the purposes of giving effect to such an agreement.

3.  The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall endeavour to resolve by mutual agreement any difficulties or doubts arising as to the interpretation or application of this Convention. In particular the competent authorities of the Contracting States may agree:

(a) to the same attribution of income, deductions, credits, or allowances of an enterprise of a Contracting State to its permanent establishment situated in the other Contracting State;

(b) to the same allocation of income, deductions, credits, or allowances between persons;

(c) to the same characterization of particular items of income, including the same characterization of income that is assimilated to income from shares by the taxation law of one of the Contracting States and that is treated as a different class of income in the other Contracting State;

(d) to the same characterization of person;

(e) to the same application of source rules with respect to particular items of income;

(f) to a common meaning of a term;

(g) that the conditions for the application of the second sentence of paragraph 5 of Article 7 (Business Profits), paragraph 9 of Article 10 (Dividends), paragraph 7 of Article 11 (Interest), paragraph 5 of Article 12 (Royalties), or paragraph 4 of Article 22 (Other Income) of this Convention are met; and

(h) to the application of the provisions of domestic law regarding penalties, fines, and interest in a manner consistent with the purposes of this Convention.

They may also consult together for the elimination of double taxation in cases not provided for in this Convention.

4.  The competent authorities of the Contracting States may communicate with each other directly for the purpose of reaching an agreement in the sense of the preceding paragraphs.