Korean Republic - Dividend

Article 10. Dividends

1. Dividends paid by a company which is a resident of one of the States to a resident of the other State may be taxed in that other State.

2. However, such dividends may be taxed in the State of which the company paying the dividends is a resident, and according to the law of that State, but the tax so charged shall not exceed:

a  10 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends if the recipient is a company the capital of which is wholly or partly divided into shares and which holds directly at least 25 per cent of the capital of the company paying the dividends; 

b  15 per cent of the gross amount of the dividends in all other cases. 

3. The provisions of paragraph 2 shall not affect the taxation of the company in respect of the profits out of which the dividends are paid.

4. The term "dividends" as used in this Article means income from shares, "jouissance" rights, founders' shares or other rights, not being debt-claims, participating in profits, as well as income from other corporate rights assimilated to income from shares by the taxation law of the State of which the company making the distribution is a resident.

5. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if the recipient of the dividends, being a resident of one of the States, has in the other State, of which the company paying the dividends is a resident, a permanent establishment with which the holding by virtue of which the dividends are paid is effectively connected. In such a case, the provisions of Article 7 shall apply.

6. Where a company which is a resident of one of the States derives profits or income from the other State, that other State may not impose any tax on the dividends paid by the company to persons who are not residents of that other State, or subject the company's undistributed profits to a tax on undistributed profits, even if the dividends paid or the undistributed profits consist wholly or partly of profits or income arising in such other State.

Protocol:

II. Ad Article 10

The provision of subparagraph a) of paragraph 2 of Article 10 shall not apply, if the company which is a resident of the Netherlands suffers Netherlands company tax on the dividends which it receives from the company which is a resident of Korea. In such a case the provision of subparagraph b) of paragraph 2 of Article 10 shall apply.

III. Ad Articles 10, 11 and 12

The competent authorities of the States shall by mutual agreement settle the mode of application of paragraph 2 of Article 10, paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 11, and of paragraph 2 of Article 1.2.

IV. Ad Articles 10, 11 and 12

Applications for the restitution of tax levied contrary to the provisions of Articles 10, 11 and 12 have to be lodged with the competent authority of the State having levied the tax within the time limit provided for in the national legislation of that State.