In Ruling No. 144/2025, the Italian tax authorities confirmed that a foreign, fiscally opaque trust can be treated as a separate non-resident taxpayer — and can benefit from the Italian capital gains exemption on sales of non-qualified shares. However, the ruling denied the 1.2% reduced withholding rate on dividends under Article 27(3-bis) TUIR, holding that the benefit is reserved to specific corporate forms listed in EU law, which do not include trusts. What the ruling didn’t address is just as interesting: possible treaty relief under the Italy–Malta tax treaty and potential claims under EU free movement of capital rules.…