With its ruling n. 975 issued on January 18, 2018 Italy’s Supreme Court held that the transfer of an asset (real estate property) to an irrevocable trust falls outside the scope of Italy’s registration, cadastral and mortgage taxes (transfer taxes), charged at the aggregate rate of 10 percent, on the theory that it is a transitory step before the final transfer of the property to the beneficiaries of the trust actually occurs, at which time the transfer taxes should apply.

The ruling is consistent with a previous decision of the Supreme Court on the same issue, that is, ruling n. 21614 of October 26, 2016 (which we also commented upon on this blog).

The question is whether the ruling extends to the gift tax, which replaces the registration tax for gratuitous transfers taking place from October 25, 2006.

The ruling concerns facts occurred before the reenactment of Italy’s estate and gift tax. The issue in front of the Court was to determine whether the transfer of real property to a trust was subject to the registration, cadastral and mortgage taxes (usually referred to as transfer taxes or indirect taxes), which are charged at the rates of up to 7 percent, 2 percent and 1 percent of the value of the transferred property.

The property was transferred to an irrevocable trust that specifically identified the beneficiaries of the corpus of the trust, their shares of the principal of the trust and the time at which the trustee would be requested to distribute the trust’s assets to the trust’s beneficiaries.

The Court ruled that the transfer of the property fell outside the scope of the transfer taxes because it did not fit within any of the enumerated categories of legal arrangements to which the transfer taxes should apply, namely (1) transfers for consideration (“atti traslativi a titolo oneroso”), (2) other transfers concerning legal or contract performances with an economic value (“atti diversi aventi ad oggetto prestazioni a contenuto patrimoniale, or (3) acknowledgements (“atti di natura dichiarativa”).

According to the Court, the transfer of the property to the trustee with instructions to hold and administer it in trust in the interest of the trust’s beneficiaries, for a certain period of time and until the conditions are met to proceed with the final distribution of the property to the trust’s beneficiaries, is a transitory step that is part of a legal arrangement designed to procure the final and definitive transfer of the property to certain beneficiaries at a future time. With reference of such a legal arrangement, the Court held that the transfer taxes should apply solely at the time of the actual, final transfer of the property from the trustee to the beneficiaries of the trust.

According to one interpretation, the ruling supports the principle according to which the gift tax (which applies in lieu of the registration tax with respect to gratuitous transfers completed after the re-enactement of Italy’s estate and gift tax with effect from October 25, 2006) should apply only at the time of the final distribution of a trust’s property to the beneficiaries of the trust, when the beneficiaries eventually acquire the unconditional legal ownership rights to the property and receive the full enjoyment of the economic value of the gift, rather than at the time of the transfer of the property to the trust, when the property is temporarily held in trust and administered in the interest of the beneficiaries.

Article 2, paragraphs 47 and 49 of Legislative Decree n. 262 of 2006 (finally enacted into law by way of Act n. 286 of 2006), reinstated Italy’s estate and gift taxes, as originally instituted and governed under Legislation Decree n. 346 of 1990 effective from 1/1/1991 and temporary repealed in October 2001. For gratuitous transfers from a donor to a donee, the gift tax applies at the rate of 8 percent, in lieu of the registration tax. For real estate properties, the cadastral and mortgage tax, at the rate of 2 and 1 percent, are still due on top of the gift tax. For close family members (spouse, parent, children, grandparents, grandchildren), a lifetime exemption of up to one million euros for each beneficiary applies, and the gift tax is charged at the reduced rate of 4 percent.

The gift tax historically applied only to straightforward gifts, as defined in the Civil Code, that is, gratuitous transfers of a property or other valuable economic interests from a person – the donor – to another person – the donee, whereby the recipient of the gift, or donee, would have immediate legal rights to and enjoy the full economic benefit of the gift.

Under the original estate and gift tax statute, the application of the gift tax in the event of a transfer of property through a trust, was unclear. The transfer of a property to the trustee of a trust was not be subject to the gift tax, because the trustee, as the immediate recipient of the property, typically does not have full legal rights to and economic benefit from the property, which he administers in trust for the ultimate benefit of the beneficiaries of the trust, while the beneficiaries of the trust do not receive the property until it is distributed to them out of the trust pursuant to the terms of the trust agreement.

At the time of distribution of the property from the trustee to the beneficiaries of the trust, the gift tax would not apply because the trustee distributes the property to the beneficiaries pursuant to a legal arrangement that does not fall within the legal definition of gift that is subject to the gift tax.

The original estate and gift tax statute, resurrected in 2006, was amended with the addition of a specific reference to deeds or other legal arrangements resulting in the creation of a legal restriction to or constraint on the final disposition of property (“atti costitutivi di vincoli di destinazione”).

The main purpose of the amendment was to bring trusts within the scope of the reenacted gift tax.

The tax administration, in its administrative guidance on the application of indirect taxes to trusts (provided with Circular n. 48/E of August 6, 2007 and n. 3/E of January 22, 2008), took the position that the new category of “legal arrangements resulting in the creation of a legal restriction to or constraint on the final disposition of property” refers to and includes the transfer of a property into a trust, whereby the property is subject to the legal restrictions set forth in the trust agreement, with respect to its administration and disposition, before it can be distributed to there beneficiaries of the trust. As a result, according to the Italian tax administration’s position, the gift tax applies at the time of the transfer of the property into the trust. Later, when the property is distributed out of the trust to the trust’s beneficiaries, no second tax would apply.

The Supreme Court agreed with the tax administration in a number of decisions issued in respect of transactions taking place under the newly reenacted and amended estate and gift statute. Those decisions include ruling n. 3735 of February 24, 2015 (concerning a self settled trust subject to gift tax at the full rate of 8 percent); ruling n. 3737 of February 24, 2015; ruling n. 3886 of February 25, 2015 (also concerning a self settled trust taxed at the full rate of 8%); ruling n. 5322 of March 18, 2015 and ruling n. 4482 of March 7, 2016.

More recently the Supreme Court, when addressing cases concerning transactions completed before the reenactment of the amended estate and gift tax statues, held that in light of the temporary and transitory nature of the transfer of a property to a trust, whereby the property is placed and held in trust, and is not immediately transferred to the intended final recipient and beneficiary, outright, the registration tax at the rate of 8 percent should apply. Ruling n. 975 is the last one on the issue, following previous ruling n. 25478 of December 18, 2015 and ruling n. 21614 of October 26, 2016.

According to one interpretation, the rational of those rulings extends to the realm of the newly reenacted gift tax and con-validates the principle according to which the gift tax should apply at the time of the final transfer of the property out of the trust to its final beneficiary. According to this interpretation, the new language added to the revised gift tax statute does not create an additional stand alone category of transactions subject to gift tax but, rather, it has the sole function of making it clear that the gift tax actually applies also to gratuitous transfer of property made through a trust, as it applies to straightforward gifts.

Clearly, the narrow interpretation of the scope of the Italian gift tax with respect to transfer of properties through trusts, is inconsistent with the way in which the gift tax applies in the U.S. Under U.S. principles, generally the transfer of property into an irrevocable trust is a complete gift, which falls within the application of the federal gift tax. Simultaneously, under Italian law, according to the interpretation illustrated here above, a complete gift would occur solely at the time of the final distribution of the property out of the trust, to the trust’s beneficiaries.

As a consequence, Americans with properties held in irrevocable trusts might be inadvertently exposed to Italian gift tax, at the time the property is distributed to the beneficiaries of the trust. That would happen whenever the original settlor is resident in Italy, for Italian gift tax purpose (in which case, all of the properties held in trust, wherever located in the world, would potentially be subject to Italian gift tax, based on the tax residency or domicile of the settlor), or some or the properties held in trust are located in Italy (in which case those properties might be subject to Italian gift tax, based on the location of the property and regardless of the tax residency or domicile of the settlor).

In conclusion, trust planning for individuals who have establish or are planning to move their tax residency or domicile into Italy, or held Italian properties in trust, should be reviewed to address Italian estate and gift tax issues in a very uncertain area of law.