English · protocol
Published treaty languages: German and English. Original closing on physical page 21 declares both texts equally authoritative. Both bodies come exclusively from the original 2011 PDF. No third language, translation or cross-language paragraph alignment is inferred. English interface; legal source containers carry their own language.
Signed at Dublin 2011-03-30; consent law 2011-11-01; gazette publication 2011-11-07. Treaty entry 2012-11-28, not application; entry notice dated 2013-02-11, published 2013-03-20. Article 32(2) general application from 2013-01-01 is qualified by tax-specific rules and transitional paragraphs 32(3)–(5).
Historical original edition only. Later amending protocols signed 2014-12-03 and 2021-01-19 and a 2025 official consolidation are documented in the cached BMF article; none of their amended wording is imported here. The cache is not fresh currentness proof. This new edition does not replace the held 2025 intake or override its central audit. Later amendments, MLI effects and present-day applicability are not certified.
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Protocol
to the Agreement
between the Federal Republic of Germany
and Ireland
for the Avoidance of Double Taxation
and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion
with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital
signed on 30 March 2011
The Federal Republic of Germany and Ireland have in addition
to the Agreement of 30 March 2011 for the Avoidance of Double
Taxation and the Prevention of Tax Evasion with respect to Taxes
on Income and on Capital agreed on the following provisions,
which shall form an integral part of the said Agreement:
1. With reference to this Agreement as a whole:
a) Retirement Benefit Schemes in Ireland
It is understood that, taking account of
aa) tax-relief given for contributions or premiums paid in re-
spect of retirement benefit schemes, retirement annuity
contracts or other pension products in accordance with
Part 30 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 of Ireland,
and
bb) the exemption from tax of income and gains accruing to
a fund (referred to in this paragraph as a “pension fund”)
created by such contributions or premiums,
distributions (for the purposes of section 784A of the Taxes
Consolidation Act 1997) from an approved retirement fund
(within the meaning of that section) that was created by the
transfer of accrued rights or assets from a pension fund shall
only be taxable by reference to the provisions of that section,
notwithstanding any provision of this Agreement.
b) Undertakings for Collective Investment
aa) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Agreement but
without prejudice to any benefits to which an under -
taking for collective investment in transferable securities
(“UCITS”) would otherwise be entitled under this Agree-
ment, a UCITS which is established in a Contracting
State and which receives income arising in the other
Contracting State shall be treated for purposes of
applying the Agreement to such income as an individual
who is a resident of the Contracting State in which it is
established and as the beneficial owner of the income it
receives, but only to the extent that the beneficial
interests in the UCITS are owned by equivalent
beneficiaries.
bb) However, if at least 95 percent of the beneficial interests
in the UCITS are owned by equivalent beneficiaries, the
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UCITS shall be treated as an individual who is a resident
of the Contracting State in which it is established and as
the beneficial owner of all of the income it receives.
cc) For purposes of this paragraph,
i) the term “UCITS” means an undertaking for
collective investment in transferable securities
within the meaning of European Communities
(Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transfer-
able Securities) Regulations 1989, as amended or
extended from time to time and any other regulations
that may be construed as one with those Regula-
tions, as well as any other investment fund, arrange-
ment or entity established in either Contracting State
which the competent authorities of the Contracting
States agree to regard as a UCITS for purposes of
this paragraph; and
ii) the term “equivalent beneficiary” means a resident
of the Contracting State in which the UCITS is
established, and a resident of any other State with
which the Contracting State in which the income
arises has an income tax agreement that provides for
effective and comprehensive information exchange
who would, if he received the particular item of in-
come for which benefits are being claimed under this
Agreement, be entitled under that agreement, or
under the domestic law of the Contracting State in
which the income arises, to a rate of tax with respect
to that item of income that is at least as low as the
rate claimed under this Agreement by the UCITS with
respect to that item of income.
c) Common Contractual Fund in Ireland
A Common Contractual Fund established in Ireland shall not
be regarded as a resident of Ireland and shall be treated as
fiscally transparent for the purposes of granting tax treaty
benefits.
2. With reference to Article 10 (Dividends):
It is understood that the term “dividends” also includes income
from distributions on certificates of a German “Investment -
vermögen”.
3. With reference to Articles 10 (Dividends) and 11 (Interest):
Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 10 and 11 of this Agree-
ment, dividends and interest may be taxed in the Contracting
States in which they arise, and according to the law of that State,
a) if they are derived from rights or debt claims carrying a right
to participate in profits, including income derived by a silent
partner (“stiller Gesellschafter”) from his participation as
such, or from a loan with an interest rate linked to borrower’s
profit (“partiarisches Darlehen”) or from profit sharing bonds
(“Gewinnobligationen”) within the meaning of the tax law of
Germany, and
b) under the condition that they are deductible in the determina-
tion of profits of the debtor of such income.
4. With reference to Article 12 (Royalties):
It is understood that if, following the signature of the Agreement,
the laws of Ireland should change to allow a greater amount of
royalties to be disregarded for the purposes of the Income Tax
Acts than would be permitted by the provisions of Section
234(3A)(a) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 at the time of
signature of the Agreement, then Ireland shall notify Germany of
such change and, if Germany so requests, shall enter into a
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renegotiation of the Article so that such royalties arising in
Germany may be taxed in Germany.
5. With reference to paragraph 3 of Article 17 (Pensions and
Annuities) and paragraph 2 a) of Article 23 (Elimination of
Double Taxation) and paragraph 6 of this Protocol:
It is understood income is actually taxed when it is actually
included in the taxable base by reference to which the tax is
computed. Income is not actually taxed when, being subject to
tax treatment normally applicable to such income, it is either not
taxable or exempt from tax.
6. With reference to paragraph 2 of Article 20 (Other
Income):
Where the recipient and the payer of a dividend are both resi-
dents of Germany and the dividend is attributed to a permanent
establishment that the recipient of the dividend has in Ireland but
is not actually taxed in Ireland, Germany may tax such a dividend
at the rates provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 10. Ireland shall
give a credit for such tax according to the provisions of
Article 23.
7. With reference to Article 23 (Elimination of Double
Taxation):
It is understood that references in paragraph 2e) aa) to items of
income or capital being placed under different provisions of this
Agreement or being attributed to different persons are references
to income or capital being so placed or attributed in accordance
with the provisions of this Agreement and to such differences
where they are based not on different interpretations of facts or
the provisions of the Agreement but rather on different provisions
of the domestic law of each Contracting State, as distinguished
in paragraphs 32.5 and 32.6 of the July 2008 version of the
Commentary on Articles 23A and 23B of the model tax convention
on income and on capital of the OECD.
8. With reference to Article 26 (Exchange of Information):
If in accordance with domestic law personal data are exchanged
under this Agreement, the following additional provisions shall
apply subject to the legal provisions in effect for each Contract-
ing State:
a) The receiving agency may use such data only for the stated
purpose and shall be subject to the conditions prescribed by
the supplying agency.
b) The receiving agency shall on written request inform the
supplying agency about the use of the supplied data and the
results achieved thereby.
c) Personal data may be supplied only to the responsible
agencies. Any subsequent supply to other agencies may be
effected only with the prior approval of the supplying agency.
d) The supplying agency shall be obliged to ensure that the data
to be supplied are accurate and that they are necessary for
and proportionate to the purpose for which they are supplied.
Any prohibition of or restriction on data supply prescribed
under applicable domestic law shall be observed. If it
emerges that inaccurate data or data which should not have
been supplied have been supplied, the receiving agency shall
be informed of this without delay. That agency shall be
obliged to correct or erase such data without delay.
e) Upon application the person concerned shall be informed of
the supplied data relating to him and of the use to which such
data are to be put. There shall be no obligation to furnish this
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information if on balance it turns out that the public interest in
withholding it outweighs the interest of the person concerned
in receiving it. In all other respects, the right of the person
concerned to be informed of the existing data relating to him
shall be governed by the domestic law of the Contracting
State in whose sovereign territory the application for the
information is made.
f) The receiving agency shall bear liability in accordance with
its domestic laws in relation to any person suffering unlawful
damage or loss as a result of supply under the exchange of
data pursuant to this Agreement. In relation to the damaged
person, the receiving agency may not plead to its discharge
that the damage had been caused by the supplying agency.
g) Where the domestic law of the supplying agency contains
special provisions for the deletion of the personal data sup-
plied, that agency shall inform the receiving agency accord-
ingly. Irrespective of such law, supplied personal data shall
be erased once they are no longer required for the purpose
for which they were supplied.
h) The supplying and the receiving agencies shall be obliged to
keep official records of the supply and receipt of personal
data.
i) The supplying and the receiving agencies shall be obliged to
take effective measures to protect the personal data supplied
against unauthorised access, unauthorised alteration and
unauthorised disclosure.