TREATIES AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ACTS SERIES 13-1203

________________________________________________________________________

TAXATION

Reimbursement

Agreement Between the 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

and the INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE 

ENERGY AGENCY

Signed at Abu Dhabi December 3, 2013 

with

Annex
 NOTE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE

 Pursuant to Public Law 89—497, approved July 8, 1966

(80 Stat. 271; 1 U.S.C. 113)—

“. . .the Treaties and Other International Acts Series issued

under the authority of the Secretary of State shall be competent

evidence . . . of the treaties, international agreements other than

treaties, and proclamations by the President of such treaties and

international agreements other than treaties, as the case may be, 

therein contained, in all the courts of law and equity and of maritime

jurisdiction, and in all the tribunals and public offices of the

United States, and of the several States, without any further proof

or authentication thereof.”
 INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE

ENERGY AGENCY

 Taxation: Reimbursement

 Agreement signed at Abu Dhabi December 3, 2013;

 Entered into force December 3, 2013.

 With annex.
TAX REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES

OF AMERICA AND THE INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY

AGENCY

This Agreement is made between the United States of America (hereinafter

"United States") and the International Renewable Energy Agency (hereinafter

"IRENA"), herein after called "the Parties."

It is the intent of the United States to assume sole responsibility pursuant to this

Agreement for funding the reimbursement of taxes to directly employed staff

members (hereinafter "staff members") of IRENA who are subject to United States

tax law as United States citizens or permanent resident aliens;

It is the intent of IRENA to place the reimbursement of United States income tax to

its staff members on a sound basis; and

The Parties are desirous of concluding an agreement on reimbursement to IRENA

staff members of United States Federal, state, and local income tax and selfemployment tax levied under United States law on the income they receive as

compensation for official services rendered to IRENA (hereinafter "institutional

income");

THE PARTIES AGREE AS FOLLOWS:

1. IRENA shall reimburse the IRENA staff members paid from the regular budget

who are liable for and pay United States Federal self-employment tax and United

States Federal, state, and local income taxes on their IRENA institutional income,

as defined in the Annex of this Agreement, for the amount of those taxes, under the

terms and conditions set forth below. This Agreement does not apply to any

reimbursement of taxes by the IRENA on income not included in the Annex. This

Agreement does not cover staff members paid from voluntary funds. An advance

payment made by IRENA relating to the estimated tax liability of a staff member

during a current year shall be treated as reimbursement under this Agreement,

provided that such payment is effected by an instrument payable to the Internal

Revenue Service or counterpart body of the taxing state or local government.

2. Subject to the availability of appropriated funds, the United States shall

reimburse IRENA for each taxpayer an amount not to exceed the tax that would be

due if the specified categories of IRENA income were the taxpayer's only income,

taking into account any special tax benefits available to United States taxpayers
employed abroad, as well as the deductions and personal exemptions otherwise

allowed.

3. IRENA shall inform the staff members who seek reimbursement of taxes under

this Agreement that they are obligated to claim all deductions, exemptions, or

exclusions to which they are entitled under applicable tax legislation and

regulations.

4. For purposes of United States Federal income tax, deductions, exemptions, and

adjustments to income shall be apportioned on a pro rata basis between taxable

IRENA institutional income and private income for the purposes of calculating tax

reimbursement, except where deductions and exemptions relate to a specific

category of income. "Taxable IRENA institutional income" means the amount of

IRENA income subject to tax after the application of the foreign earned income

exclusion.

5. Both parties shall take all possible measures to reduce or eliminate the burden

resulting from the cumulative effect of tax reimbursements being treated as taxable

income.

6. IRENA staff members who seek reimbursement of taxes under this Agreement

are themselves responsible for complying with any income tax laws applicable to

them. Penalties, interest, or other charges resulting from noncompliance with such

laws shall not be reimbursed by IRENA to IRENA staff members and shall not be

reimbursed by the United States to IRENA.

7. IRENA shall require each IRENA staff member claiming tax reimbursement to

determine the status defined by United States tax law under which that staff

member files an income tax return, reimbursement being made on the basis of the

status under which taxes are in fact being paid.

8. IRENA shall maintain separate accounting of the tax reimbursements covered

by this Agreement. IRENA shall require each staff member receiving tax

reimbursement to authorize IRENA to obtain confirmation from the United States

Internal Revenue Service and state and local government counterpart bodies, as

appropriate of the tax liability of that staff member and the payment of the tax due.

IRENA shall require each staff member to provide it with all the materials

necessary to verify that the amounts claimed under this Agreement from IRENA

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are the same as the tax liability the staff member reports and the tax payments the

staff member in fact makes.

9. Checks by IRENA for payment of estimated taxes shall be made payable to the

Internal Revenue Service, or counterpart body of the taxing state or local

government, and checks by IRENA for reimbursement of taxes already paid by a

staff member shall be made payable to the staff member concerned.

10. Reimbursement of the United States Federal self-employment taxes shall equal

the difference between the amount the staff member pays as a result of the staff

member's classification as a self-employed person, less any applicable tax credit

arising from the same qualification, and the amount the staff member would have

to pay in social security (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) taxes and

health insurance (Medicare) taxes were the staff member classified as an

employee.

11. The principles embodied in this Agreement on reimbursement of Federal taxes

equally constitute the basis for the reimbursement of state and local taxes.

12. The United States shall reimburse IRENA on the basis of a certification that

reimbursements have been made by IRENA to United States citizens or others who

are liable to pay United States income taxes. The certification shall set forth the

names and United States social security numbers of the IRENA staff members

reimbursed, the total of IRENA income against which the United States tax has

been paid (that is, institutional income as defined in the Annex), the amounts

reimbursed to IRENA staff members, the tax year for which reimbursement is

made, the year in which reimbursement is made for each category of tax specified

in Article 1, and affirm that the salaries and benefits of the staff members

reimbursed are paid from the regular budget as required by Article 1. This

information shall be provided yearly to the United States by October 1 following

the tax year for which the claim is made. Without prejudice to the foregoing,

IRENA shall claim all tax reimbursements for a particular tax year no later than 24

months from October 1 following the tax year for which the claim is made.

13. The United States shall reimburse IRENA at the earliest possible date

following receipt of the certification specified in Article 12 a sum sufficient to

cover all tax reimbursements documented by such certification that were paid by

IRENA with respect to preceding tax years, in accordance with this Agreement.

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14. Subject to the availability of funds, the United States and IRENA may agree to

a reimbursement for such reasonable and actual necessary expenses as IRENA may

incur in connection with the implementation of the administrative procedures

required to carry out the provisions of this Agreement.

15. This Agreement shall apply with regard to tax reimbursements for institutional

income earned on or after January 1, 2012.

16. This Agreement shall enter into force upon signature by the Parties and may

thereafter be terminated by either Party on December 31 of the year following the

year in which notice of termination is given in writing to the other Party.

17. Should the United States subsequently conclude a tax reimbursement

agreement with any other international organization substantially more favorable to

that organization or its staff members than the present Agreement, the latter shall

be amended to extend to the IRENA the benefit of the former, subject to the

written agreement of the United States and IRENA, which shall not unreasonably

be refused by the United States.

18. Any difficulties arising from the implementation of this Agreement shall be

resolved by consultations between the Parties.

Done in duplicate, in the English language, at Abu Dhabi, this third day of

December 2013.

FOR THE UNITED STATES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL

OF AMERICA: RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY:

, F

Michael H. Corbin Adnan Z. Amin

U.S. Ambassador to the UAE Director General of IRENA

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ANNEX

Particulars of Institutional Income

"Institutional income," as used in this Tax Reimbursement Agreement, includes

only the following particulars of compensation:

- Basic salary

- Overtime

- Post adjustments

- Rental subsidy

- Dependency allowances

- Representation allowance

- Education grant and related travel

- Special education grant and related travel

- Hardship and non-removal allowances

- Assignment grant

- Home leave travel

- Family visit travel

- Relocation grant

- Termination indemnity

- Accrued annual leave upon separation from service

- Repatriation grant

- Reimbursement as stipulated in this agreement of United States Federal, state, or

local income tax payments and United States self-employment tax payments on

institutional income.

Should IRENA approve the addition, modification, or deletion of any elements of

institutional income, this Annex may be amended by written agreement of the

Parties.

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