Italian resident taxpayers are required to report their foreign financial investments and assets which can generate foreign-source income subject to tax in Italy, by filling out a special part of their annual income tax return referred to as form RW. Foreign individuals who have (personal and business) interests and contacts with Italy that may trigger Italian tax residency under Italian residency or domicile tests would be subject to the same reporting obligations. Italy’s tax administration is stepping up its enforcement efforts in this area of law and penalties for failure to report are particular harsh and difficult to mitigate after the fact. We have prepared an overview of Italian international tax reporting rules with a general discussions of some of the relevant issues that arise in this area of law.
Continue Reading Italian International Tax Reporting Rules Through Part RW of Italian Tax Return

On January 9, 2011 the Internal Revenue Service reopened the offshore voluntary disclosure program to help people hiding offshore accounts get current with their taxes and announced the collection of more than $4.4 billion so far from the two previous international programs.

The IRS reopened the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) following continued strong interest from taxpayers and tax practitioners after the closure of the 2011 and 2009 programs. The third offshore program comes as the IRS continues working on a wide range of international tax issues and follows ongoing efforts with the Justice Department to pursue criminal prosecution of international tax evasion.  This program will be open for an indefinite period until otherwise announced.

“Our focus on offshore tax evasion continues to produce strong, substantial results for the nation’s taxpayers,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “We have billions of dollars in hand from our previous efforts, and we have more people wanting to come in and get right with the government. This new program makes good sense for taxpayers still hiding assets overseas and for the nation’s tax system.”

The program is similar to the 2011 program in many ways, but with a few key differences. Unlike last year, there is no set deadline for people to apply.  However, the terms of the program could change at any time going forward.  For example, the IRS may increase penalties in the program for all or some taxpayers or defined classes of taxpayers – or decide to end the program entirely at any point.

“As we’ve said all along, people need to come in and get right with us before we find you,” Shulman said. “We are following more leads and the risk for people who do not come in continues to increase.”

Continue Reading IRS Announced Reopening of Tax Amnesty Program For Undisclosed Foreign Financial Accounts

Italy’s enacted a new tax on real estate properties located outside of Italy. The tax is charged at 0.76 percent rate on purchase price of fair market value. Individual taxpayers owning foreign real property directly are liable for the tax. Apparently, the tax does not apply to real property owned indirectly through foreign investment or management companies.
Continue Reading Italy’s New Tax on Foreign Real Estate Property

The European Commission confirmed that Italian anti inversion rules treating foreign companies owned or controlled by Italian national and owning or controlling Italian companies as Italian resident companies subject to tax in Italy do not violate EC law to the extent that they are designed to combat tax evasion and provide taxpayers with a reasonable opportunity to rebut the tax residency presumption and treat the foreign company as foreign and outside Italian tax net
Continue Reading European Commission Blesses Italy’s Anti-Inversion Rules

The bill on tax federalism currently under discussion in the Parliament would introduce a new flat 20 per cent tax on Italian real estate income. That would benefit foreign investors who are currently taxed at 30 per cent rate under most tax treaties. The new provisions would not apply to foreign real estate income and might be challenged as violating the non discrimination and free movement of capital provisions of EU treaty.
Continue Reading New Bill Aimed At Introducing Flat Tax on Italian Real Estate Income

The European Court of Justice blessed international tax arbitrage in a VAT transaction by means of which taxpayer was able to obtain a credit for input VAT on purchases while avoiding payment of output VAT on sales. The result was obtained thanks to an inconsistent characterization of the transaction for VAT purposes under UK and German law. UK treated the transaction as a financial service taxable in the country of supplier (Germany), while Germany treated it a as a sale of goods taxable in the country of the goods are sold (UK).
Continue Reading ECJ Blesses International Tax Arbitrage Transaction

EU Council of Finance Ministers approved new draft legislation reinforcing exchange of tax information for contrasting tax evasion throughout the EU. The directive shall eliminate the banking secret and ultimately starting from 2015 the exchange of information will be automatic in several areas of tax law which fall within the scope of the directive.
Continue Reading EU Council of Finance Ministers Adopted New Draft Legislation on Exchange of Tax Information

On July 14, 2010 Marco Rossi presented a lecture on the European Union and EU tax law to candidates/students of Master of Science in Taxation at Fairfield University. We provided an overview of the European Union and its institutions, discussed the sources of EU law and the main developments in the area of EU statutory tax