itonewbie
Level 15

These are distributions from pension plans, just not qualified pension plans for US tax purposes.  That's why you can't apply the same rules as you do with US qualified plans.  Foreign pension plans are often investments-linked and are most often trusts (both domestically and under US tax law).  Question is whether it's a grantor trust and who the grantor is.  You mentioned that the distributions are based on years of service; I suppose that is a DB plan then.

State Electricity Boards in India are generally statutory boards from what I understand.  I also believe there are court cases in India that ruled whether they are part of the state for employment purposes.  If you have already done your research and concluded the state electricity board your client received pension distributions from constitutes part of the state government, agency, or instrumentality based on Indian law, I would agree that Article 19(2)(a) should apply.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Still an AllStar