Under new anti money laundering legislation due to become effective in Italy in 2017, all foreign trusts with tax effects in Italy shall have to be filed and registered on the Italian Register of Enterprises. They include trusts with Italian settlor, Italian beneficiaries, Italian assets, Italian source income or treated as Italian resident trust under Italian tax law.

The tax effects of a trust in Italy and the consequent obligation to disclose it on the Italian Register of Enterprises is determined under Italian tax laws.  The way in which a trust, its income or its beneficiaries are treated under foreign tax law is not determinative for that purpose.   

Trustees of trusts subject to the new disclosure and filing rules shall have to collect, conserve and disclose adequate information about trust’s ultimate beneficial owners, which are meant to include the settlor, the trustee, the guardian, the beneficiaries, and any other person having any type of control or authority over the trust.

The scope of the new disclosure and reporting rules for trusts is very wide. All trusts with any apparent or potential point of contact with Italy should be revised to determine whether they fall within the application of the new rules.   

Italy operates specific provisions on tax treatment of trusts. Trusts formed under foreign law are recognized and enforced in Italy pursuant to the Hague Convention on Trusts dated July 1, 1985. To the extent they have Italian assets, or Italian grantor, trustees or beneficiaries or Italian source income, foreign trusts may be subject to Italy’s

Trusts are very important tools for family and succession planning. Italy enacted specific provisions on the tax treatment of trusts for income tax and indirect (transfer) tax purposes. However, Italy does not have specific legislation on trusts, and trusts for Italian clients or Italian assets must be formed and operated in accordance with the legislation

Il trust è uno strumento molto importante per un’efficace pianificazione familiare e successoria. L’Italia ha adottato una specifica normativa fiscale sul trust ai fini delle imposte dirette ed indirette, ma non ha una legislazione civilistica in materia e i trust per clienti italiani devono necessariamente essere costituiti in base alla  normativa di uno stato estero

Italy’s Tax Administration provided additional clarifications on Italian taxation of trusts. In particular, Circular n. 61/E issued on December 27, 2010 addresses the situations in which a trust is disregarded as abusive or fictitious interposition between the settlor and the assets and income of the trust and must be disregarded for tax purposes. Circular 61/E expanded the list of examples of abusive situations and shows the administration’s willingness to contrast the use of trusts for tax avoidance purposes.