Canada: Treaties and Tax Information Exchange Agreements

This is a Technical Explanation of the Protocol signed at Chelsea on September 21, 2007 (the "Protocol"), amending the Convention between the United States of America and Canada with Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital done at Washington on September 26, 1980, as amended by the Protocols done on June 14, 1983, March 28, 1994, March 17, 1995, and July 29, 1997 (the "existing Convention"). The existing Convention as modified by the Protocol shall be referred to as the "Convention." Negotiation of the Protocol took into account the U.S. Treasury Department's current tax treaty policy and the Treasury Department's Model Income Tax Convention, published on November 15, 2006 (the "U.S. Model"). Negotiations also took into account the Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital, published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (the "OECD Model"), and recent tax treaties concluded by both countries. The Technical Explanation is an official United States guide to the Protocol. The Government of Canada has reviewed this document and subscribes to its contents. In the view of both governments, this document accurately reflects the policies behind particular Protocol provisions, as well as understandings reached with respect to the application and interpretation of the Protocol and the Convention. References made to the "existing Convention" are intended to put various provisions of the Protocol into context. The Technical Explanation does not, however, provide a complete comparison between the provisions of the existing Convention and the amendments made by the Protocol. The Technical Explanation is not intended to provide a complete guide to the existing Convention as amended by the Protocol. To the extent that the existing Convention has not been amended by the Protocol, the prior technical explanations of the Convention remain the official explanations. References in this Technical Explanation to "he"' or "his" should be read to mean "he or she" or "his or her." References to the "Code" are to the Internal Revenue Code.