Italy and Trusts: A Contractual Fiduciary Relationship, Characterized as an Entity for Tax Purposes
While Italy does not have its own domestic trust law, it recognizes trusts that are validly established under the law of a jurisdiction that is a party to the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition…
On October 9, 2023, the last Ministerial Decree required for the final implementation of Italy’s Register of Trusts was published, and the Register of Trusts is now in effect. The initial filing deadline is December 11, 2023. The filing in the Register is required for domestic trusts, private foundations, and similar legal arrangements, defined as…
The Italian Tax Agency recently issued Ruling n. 237 of March 2, 2023 (Risposta-n.-237_2023.pdf), which clarifies foreign trusts’ tax treatment concerning Italian tax resident beneficiaries.
Under the ruling, when the trustee of a foreign trust is required to make an annual distribution to beneficiaries based on a predetermined percentage of the fair market…
The Italian tax administration, in its Circular n. 34 of October 20, 2022, provided some new guidance on the international tax reporting obligations for assets held in foreign trusts. Domestic trusts report foreign assets held under the name of the trust on their own income tax return. In the case of foreign trusts, the reporting…
With its ruling n. 693 of October 8, 2021 (Prassi – AGENZIA DELLE ENTRATE – Risposta 08 ottobre 2021, n. 693), the Italian Tax Agency held that a discretionary beneficiary of a foreign irrevocable trust, treated as a fiscally opaque trust under Italy’s tax classification rules, is required to report his beneficial interest…
With its private letter ruling n. 506 of October 30, 2020 (Ruling 506_2020), the Italian Tax Agency ruled that the Italian protector of a foreign trust which holds foreign financial assets and accounts to the benefit of an Italian resident individual does not qualify as beneficial owner of the trust. As a consequence,…
On November 20, 2020 Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance published its ministerial decree dated November 17, 2020, which contains specific provisions on the meaning and enforcement of the main benefit test of COUNCIL DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/822 of 25 May 2018 on mandatory reporting of cross border arrangements (commonly referred to as “DAC6”).
Following the…
With some years now on record after the enactment of Italy’s tax rules on special tax regime for high net worth individuals, we attach and article (Italy’s Special Tax Regime for High Net Worth Individuals, Three Years In) recently published on the topic.
The distinctive features of the Italian special tax regime are…
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…
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…
