On December 23, 2019, the Italian Ministry of the Economy and Finance published on its web site a draft of the Ministerial Decree setting forth the provisions for the establishment and operation of the Register of Beneficial Owners of business entities, non-commercial entities and trusts. The establishment of the Register of Beneficial Owners is required by article 21 of the Legislative Decree n. 231 of November 21, 2007, which contains the domestic legislation implementing the…

News broke out that Italian tax auditors have issued a proposed tax assessment for Euro 1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) as additional corporate income tax due from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (“FCA”), in connection with the merger between FCA and FIAT S.p.A. (“FIAT) carried out in 2014, after FIAT had completed its acquisition of US automaker Chrysler. FCA was incorporated in the Netherlands, and established its tax domicile in the UK, to carry out the reorganization…

By way of ruling n. 25490 issued on October 10, 2019 (Supreme Court Ruling 25490 of 10-10-2019), Italy’s Supreme Court upheld the appellate court’s ruling which denied both the dividend withholding tax exemption of the EU Parent Subsidiary Directive n. 435/90/CEE of the Council dated July 23, 1990 (the “Directive”), and the dividend withholding tax rate reduction granted under article 10 of Italy-Luxembourg tax treaty (the “Treaty”), for dividends paid by an Italian…

Law Decree n. 124 of October 26th, 2019 (which is immediately effective, but needs to be converted into law within 60 days to become final) includes, at article 13, new provisions on taxation of certain distributions from foreign trusts to Italian resident beneficiaries (individuals and non-business entities). By way of background, Italy does not have its on law on trust, but it recognizes and gives effects to trusts established under foreign law, pursuant to the…

By way of thirteen decisions issued in June and July (numbers 15451, 15453, 15455, 15456 of June 7, 2019, numbers 16699, 16700, 16701, 16702, 16703, 16704, 16705 of June 21, 2019, no. 19167 of July 17, 2019 and no. 19319 of July 18, 2019), the Italian Supreme Court ruled that the Italian gift tax does not apply to the transfer of property to a trust, at which time the gift is to be regarded as…

With its tax ruling n. 88/E of October 18, 2019 (Ruling 88-2019), the Italian Tax Agency denied the interest withholding tax exemption provided for in the EU Interest and Royalties Directive, in respect of interest due by an Italian Target on a shareholder’s loan extended from its EU Parent in connection with a merger leveraged buy-out transaction carried out in Italy. A EU-based holding company (Purchaser) set up and Italian acquisition vehicle (NewCo),…

In its Ruling N. 380 of September 11, 2019, Italy’s Tax Agency provided its guidance on certain tax implications of a corporate reorganization pursuant to which a Luxembourg holding company, which owns an Italian company, would reincorporate into Switzerland and convert into a Swiss tax resident company. Prior to the reincorporation of the holding company in Switzerland, the dividends paid by the Italian subsidiary to its Luxembourg parent were exempt from Italian withholding tax…