For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 9, 2003
Message to the Senate of the United States
I transmit herewith, for Senate advice and consent to ratification,
the Convention between the Government of the United States of America
and the Government of Japan for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and
the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income,
signed at Washington on November 6, 2003, together with a Protocol and
an exchange of notes (the "Convention"). I also transmit, for the
information of the Senate, the report of the Department of State
concerning the Convention.
This Convention would replace the Convention between the United
States of America and Japan for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and
the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income,
signed at Tokyo on March 8, 1971.
This Convention, which is similar to tax treaties between the
United States and other developed nations, provides rules specifying
the circumstances under which income that arises in one of the
countries and is derived by residents of the other country may be taxed
by the country in which income arises, providing for maximum
source-country withholding tax rates that may be applied to various
types of income and providing for protection from double taxation of
income. The proposed Convention also provides rules designed to ensure
that the benefits of the Convention are not available to persons that
are engaged in treaty shopping. Also included in the proposed
Convention are rules necessary for administering the Convention.
I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration
to this Convention, and that the Senate give its advice and consent to
the ratification of the Convention.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 9, 2003.
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