TREATIES AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ACTS SERIES 13022 

________________________________________________________________________ 

TAXATION 

Reimbursement 

 Agreement Between the 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

and the ORGANIZATION FOR THE 

PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS 

Signed at The Hague February 25, 1999 

 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.” 
ORGANIZATION FOR THE PROHIBITION 

 OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS 

 Taxation: Reimbursement 

Agreement signed at The Hague February 25, 1999; 

Entered into force February 25, 1999. 

With annex. 
TAX REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND

THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS

This Agreement is made between the Government of the

United States of America (hereinafter "United States") and

the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

(hereinafter "OPCW"), together "the Parties."

In view of the fact that the Preparatory Commission for

the OPCW ceased to exist on May 16, 1997, the Parties

recognize the importance of concluding a further agreement

concerning tax reimbursement for OPCW staff members.

It is the intent of the United States to assume sole

responsibility pursuant to this Agreement for funding the

reimbursement of taxes to officials of OPCW who are

subject to United States tax law as United States citizens

or permanent resident aliens.

It is the intent of OPCW to place the reimbursement of

United States income tax to its officials on a sound

basis.

The Parties are desirous of concluding an agreement on

reimbursement to OPCW officials of United States Federal,

state, and local income tax and self-employment tax levied

under United States law on the income they receive as

compensation for official services rendered to OPCW

(hereinafter "institutional income").

THE PARTIES AGREE AS FOLLOWS:

1. The Parties agree that OPCW shall assume the rights

and responsibilities of the Commission under the Tax

Reimbursement Agreement between the Government of the

United States of America and the Preparatory Commission

for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical

Weapons ("the PrepCom Agreement").

2. OPCW shall reimburse OPCW officials paid from the

regular budget who are liable for and pay the United

States Federal self-employment tax and United States

Federal, state, and local income taxes on their OPCW

institutional income as defined in the Annex to this

Agreement, the amount of those taxes, under the terms and
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conditions set forth below. This Agreement does not cover

officials paid from voluntary funds. An advance payment

made by OPCW relating to the estimated tax liability of a

staff member during a current year will be treated as

reimbursement, 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.

3. Subject to the availability of appropriated funds, the

United States shall reimburse OPCW for each taxpayer an

amount not to exceed the tax that would be due if the

specified categories of OPCW 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.

4. Officials who seek reimbursement of taxes under this

Agreement shall claim all deductions, exemptions, or

exclusions to which they are entitled under applicable tax

legislation and regulations.

5. For purposes of United States Federal income tax,

deductions, exemptions, and adjustments to income shall be

apportioned on a pro rata basis between taxable OPCW

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 OPCW institutional income" means the amount of

OPCW income subject to tax after the application of the

foreign earned income exclusion.

6. 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.

7. The OPCW officials 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

OPCW.

8. Each official claiming tax reimbursement shall

determine the status defined by United States tax law

under which that official files an income tax return,
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reimbursement being made on the basis of the status under

which taxes are in fact being paid.

9. OPCW shall maintain separate accounting of the tax

reimbursements covered by this Agreement. OPCW shall

require each official receiving tax reimbursement to

authorize OPCW 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 official and the payment of the tax due.

OPCW shall require each official to provide it with all

the materials necessary to verify that the amounts claimed

under this Agreement from OPCW are the same as the tax

liability the official reports and the tax payments the

official in fact makes.

10. Checks by OPCW 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 for reimbursement of taxes already paid by an

official shall be made payable to the official concerned.

11. Reimbursement of the United States Federal selfemployment taxes shall equal the difference between the

amount the official pays as a result of the official's

classification as a self-employed person, less any

applicable tax credit arising from the same qualification,

and the amount the official would have to pay in social

security (Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance)

taxes and health insurance (Medicare) taxes were the

official classified as an employee.

12. The principles embodied in the present Agreement on

reimbursement of Federal taxes equally constitute the

basis for the reimbursement of state and local taxes.

13. The United States shall reimburse OPCW on the basis

of a certification that reimbursements have been made by

OPCW 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 OPCW officials reimbursed, the

total of OPCW income against which the United States tax

has been paid (that is, institutional income as defined in

the Annex), the amounts reimbursed to OPCW officials, the

tax year for which reimbursement is made, and the year in

which reimbursement is made for each category of tax
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specified in Article 2 and affirm that their salaries and

benefits are paid from the regular budget as required by

Article 2. This information shall be provided yearly to

the United States before October first of each year.

14. The United States shall deposit with OPCW at the

earliest possible date following receipt of the

certification specified in Article 13 a sum sufficient to

cover all tax reimbursements paid by OPCW with respect to

preceding tax years, in accordance with this Agreement.

15. Subject to the availability of funds, the United

States and OPCW may agree to a reimbursement for such

reasonable and necessary expenses as OPCW may incur in

connection with the implementation of the administrative

procedures required to carry out the provisions of this

Agreement.

16. This Agreement shall enter into force upon signature

by the Parties and shall be terminated by either Party on

December 31 of the year following the year in which notice

is given in writing to the other Party. Should the United

States conclude a tax reimbursement agreement with any

other international organization substantially more

favorable to that organization or its officials than the

present Agreement, the latter shall be modified to extend

to OPCW the benefit of the former, subject to the

agreement of the United States, which shall not

unreasonably be refused.

17. 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 The Hague,

this 25 day of February 	1999.

FOR THE ORGANIZATION	FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE

FOR THE PROHIBITION OF	UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

CHEMICAL WEAPONS:

Jose M. Bustani	 William J. Miller

Director General	Permanent Representative

United States Permanent

Delegation to the OPCW
ANNEX

A. Particulars of Institutional Income

"Institutional income," as used in this Tax

Reimbursement Agreement, includes only the following

particulars of compensation:

Base salary

Post Adjustment, including rental subsidies

Salary increases, including merit increments

Overtime

Night differential

Dependency allowance

Education grant and related travel

Home leave travel

Termination indemnity

Lump-sum payments for unused annual leave

Assignment grant

Removal expenses

Repatriation grant

Reimbursement of United States Federal, state, or

local income tax payments and United States selfemployment tax payments on institutional income.

Language allowance

Installation allowance

Non-resident allowance

Should OPCW approve the addition, modification, or

deletion of any elements of institutional income, this

Annex may be modified by an exchange of letters, subject

to the agreement of the United States, which shall not be

unreasonably refused.