SAINT CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS
No. of 2020
A BILL to amend the Income Tax Act, Cap. 20.22
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty by and with the
advice and consent of the National Assembly of Saint Christopher and Nevis, and by the authority of the
same as follows:
- Short title.
This Act may be cited as the Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2020. - Interpretation.
In this Act, a reference to the expression “Act” shall mean the Income Tax Act, Cap.
20.22.
- Amendment of Act.
The Act is amended by inserting immediately after section 3, the following new sections:
“ 3A. Additional Charge.
(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 3, the assessable
income of a resident company in Saint Christopher and Nevis shall be all of its
assessable income wherever arising.
(2) A company that is not resident within Saint Christopher and
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Nevis is within the charge to Income Tax if it carries on a trade or business in
Saint Christopher and Nevis through a permanent establishment in Saint
Christopher and Nevis
(3) Pursuant to subsection (2), the assessable income of a company
that is not resident in Saint Christopher and Nevis shall not be assessable income
attributable to the permanent establishment in Saint Christopher and Nevis.
(4) For the purposes of this Part,
“resident company” means a company that is managed and
controlled from within Saint Christopher and Nevis, whether
or not that company is registered in Saint Christopher and
Nevis”;
“company that is not resident” means a company that is not
managed and controlled from within Saint Christopher and
Nevis, whether or not that company is registered in Saint Christopher
and Nevis”;
“managed and controlled” means the place where the
central mind, management and control of a company
occurs;
“permanent establishment” means a fixed place of business
through which the business of an enterprise is wholly or partly
carried on
(a) A permanent establishment includes especially
(i) a place of management;
(ii) a branch;
(iii) an office;
(iv) a factory;
(v) a workshop;
(vi) a mine, oil or gas well; and
(vii) a quarry or any other place of extraction
of natural resources.
(b) The term “permanent establishment”
also encompasses
(i) a building site, a construction,
assembly or installation project
or supervisory activities in
connection therewith, but
only if such site, project or
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activities last more than six
months.
(ii) the furnishing of services,
including consultancy services,
by an enterprise through
employees or other personnel
engaged by the enterprise for
such purpose, but only if
activities of that nature continue
within a Contracting State for a
period or periods aggregating
more than 183 days in any
twelve month period
commencing or ending in the
fiscal year concerned.
(c) Notwithstanding the preceding
provisions of this Article, the term
“permanent establishment” shall be
deemed not to include:
(i) the use of facilities solely for the
purpose of storage, display of
goods or merchandise
belonging to the business
organization;
(ii) the maintenance of a stock of
goods or merchandise belonging
to the business organization
solely for the purpose of storage,
display;
(iii) the maintenance of a stock of
goods or merchandise belonging
to the business organization
solely for the purpose of
processing by another business
organization;
(iv) the maintenance of a fixed place
of business solely for the
purpose of purchasing goods or
merchandise or of collecting
information, for the business
organization;
(v) the maintenance of a fixed place
of business solely for the
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purpose of carrying on, for the
business organization, any other
activity of a preparatory or
auxiliary character;
(vi) the maintenance of a fixed place
of business solely for any
combination of activities
mentioned in paragraph (a)
subparagraphs (i) – (vii);
provided that such activity or, in the case of
subparagraph (vi), the overall activity of the
fixed place of business, is of a preparatory or
auxiliary character.
(d) Subparagraph (c) shall not apply to a fixed
place of business that is used or maintained by
an enterprise if the same enterprise or a closely
related enterprise carries on business activities
at the same place or at another place in Saint
Christopher and Nevis and
(i) that place or other place constitutes a
permanent establishment for the
enterprise or the related persons under
the provisions of this Article, or
(ii) the overall activity resulting from the
combination of the activities carried on
by the two enterprises at the same place,
or by the same enterprise or related
persons at the two places, is not of a
preparatory or auxiliary character,
provided that the business activities carried on by the
two enterprises at the same place, or by the same
enterprise or closely related enterprises at the two
places, constitute complementary functions that
are part of a cohesive business operation.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraphs (a)
and (b), but subject to the provisions of paragraph 6,
where a person is acting in Saint Christopher and Nevis
on behalf of an enterprise, that enterprise shall be
deemed to have a permanent establishment in that State
in respect of any activities which that person undertakes
for the enterprise, if such a person:
(i) habitually concludes contracts, or habitually
plays the principal role leading to the conclusion
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of contracts that are routinely concluded without
material modification by the enterprise, and
these contracts are
(A) in the name of the enterprise, or
(B) for the transfer of the ownership of, or
for the granting of the right to use,
property owned by that enterprise or that
the enterprise has the right to use, or
(C) for the provision of services by that
enterprise, unless the activities of such
person are limited to those mentioned in
which, if exercised through a fixed
place of business, other than a fixed
place of business to which subparagraph
(c) would apply, would not make this
fixed place of business a permanent
establishment under the provisions of
that paragraph; or
(D) the person does not habitually conclude
contracts nor plays the principal role
leading to the conclusion of such
contracts, but habitually maintains in
that State a stock of goods or
merchandise from which that person
regularly delivers goods or merchandise
on behalf of the enterprise.
(f) Paragraph (e) shall not apply where the person acting in
Saint Christopher and Nevis on behalf of an enterprise in another
country carries on business in Saint Christopher and Nevis as an
independent agent and acts for the enterprise in the ordinary course of
that business.
(g) Where, pursuant to subaragraph (f), a person
acts exclusively or almost exclusively on behalf of one
or more enterprises to which it is a related person, that
person shall not be considered to be an independent
agent within the meaning of this paragraph with respect
to any such enterprise.
(h) The fact that a company which is a resident of Saint Christopher and
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Nevis, controls or is controlled by a company which is a resident of another country, or which
carries on business in that other country, whether through a permanent establishment or
otherwise, shall not of itself constitute either company a permanent establishment of the other.
………………………………
A. MICHAEL PERKINS
Speaker
Passed by the National Assembly this day of , 2020.
..……………………………………
SONIA BODDIE-THOMPSON
Clerk of the National Assembly
