South Africa Issues Ruling that Dividend Withholding Exemption under Kuwait Treaty Applies with Respect to Treaty with Sweden (MFN Clause)

On 1 March 2017, the South African Revenue Service published Binding Private Ruling (BPR) 267 concerning dividends withholding tax under the 1995 tax treaty with Sweden, which was amended by the 2010 protocol including the addition of an MFN clause. According BPR 267, the MFN clause added by the 2010 protocol is triggered by the 2004 Kuwait-South Africa tax treaty, which provides an exemption for withholding tax on dividends paid by a company resident in a Contracting State to a resident of …