December 18, 2014
No. 283
On December 17, 2014, the Austrian Parliament passed the Agreement between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Austria and the Austrian Office in Taipei for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, which was signed by the two sides on July 12, 2014.
The agreement stipulates that it will enter into force once the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Republic of Austria have notified each other in writing that their respective domestic legislative procedures have been completed. As Taiwan has already completed its procedures and notified Austria, the agreement will enter into force once Austria notifies Taiwan of the completion of its domestic procedures. The agreement will start to be implemented on January 1 of the calendar year following its entry into force, which in this case will be January 1, 2015.
Taiwan has now signed 28 taxation-related pacts with other countries, 13 of which are in Europe. Meanwhile, bilateral trade between Taiwan and Austria amounted to US$780 million in 2013, and US$630 million in the first three quarters of 2014. The agreement with Austria is expected to create a fair taxation mechanism for, and spur investment by, enterprises of both sides. It will also expand mutual investment, bilateral trade, employment opportunities, technology exchanges, and tax cooperation between the two countries. The agreement thus marks an important milestone in the growth of substantive relations between Taiwan and Austria, and creates favorable conditions for Taiwan to deepen and broaden economic and trade ties with the European Union.
The ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to uphold the “viable diplomacy” policy to boost Taiwan’s external trade, and assist related agencies in fostering an international investment environment beneficial to Taiwanese businesses. It will also work to implement the ROC government’s policy of attracting more foreign enterprises to invest in Taiwan. (E)