Relief in respect of Commonwealth Income Tax

(1) If any person resident in Belize who has paid, by deduction or otherwise, or is liable to pay, tax under this Act for any year of assessment or any part of his income, proves to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that he has paid by deduction or otherwise, or is liable to pay, Commonwealth income tax for that year in respect of the same part of his income, he shall be entitled to relief from tax in Belize paid or payable by him or her on that part of his or her income at a rate thereon to be determined as followsof (a) if the Commonwealth rate of tax does not exceed one-half of the rate of tax appropriate to his case under this Act in Belize the rate at which relief is to be given shall be the Commonwealth rate of tax; (b) in any other case the rate at which relief is to be given shall be half the rate of tax appropriate to his or her case under this Act. (2) If any person not resident in Belize who has paid, by deduction or otherwise, or is liable to pay tax under this Act for any year of assessment on any part of his or her income, proves to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that he or she has paid, by deduction or otherwise, or is liable to pay, Commonwealth income tax for that year of assessment in respect of the same part of his or her income, he shall be entitled to relief from tax paid or payable by him or her under this Act on that part of his or her income at a rate thereon to be determined as follows– (a) if the Commonwealth rate of tax appropriate to his or her case does not exceed the rate of tax appropriate to his or her case under this Act, the rate at which relief is to be given shall be one-half of the Commonwealth rate of tax; (b) if the Commonwealth rate of tax appropriate to his or her case exceeds the rate of tax appropriate to his or her case under this Act, 47 the rate at which relief is to be given shall be equal to the amount by which the rate of tax appropriate to his case under this Act exceeds one-half of the Commonwealth rate of tax. (3) For the purposes of this section, Commonwealth income tax means any income tax charged under any law in force in a Commonwealth country or in any place under Her Majesty’s protection other than the United Kingdom or Belize, where the legislature of that country or place has provided for relief in respect of tax charged on income both in that country or place and in Belize in a manner similar to that provided in this section. (4) For the purposes of this section, the rate of tax under this Act shall be computed in the manner provided by section 46 (3) of this Act, and the Commonwealth rate of tax shall be computed in a similar manner. (5) Where a person is for any year of assessment resident both in Belize and in a part or place in which Commonwealth income tax is charged, he shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to be resident where during that year he resides for the longer period.