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With Law Decree 350/2001 dated September 25th 2001, immediately effective
and with definite Parlament approval foreseen within a maximum of 60
successive days from the date of issuing, Italy has introduced a specific
regulation made out to the purpose of aiding capital re-entrance of
resident individuals who have earned or exported those liquidities without
notice to fiscal authorities. The reasons that have made it suitable
the issuance of such regulation concern the wish of helping the returning
back to Italy of the above mentioned disposable liquidities in concomitance
to the inminent transference to Euro aiding, also through this decision,
italian economy relaunch.
The new regulation foresees, in fact, that between November 1st 2001
and February 28th 2002 subjects fiscally residents in Italy, meaning
by that all individuals, non commercial corporations, simple companies
or such alike associations in accordance to article 5 of the Tax Income
Consolidation Act (TUIR) who might perform money repatriation or other
financial disposabilities kept abroad in unfulfilment of the related
regulation (D.L. 167/1990) - which states the compulsory duty of giving
notice to italian fiscal authorities of the existance of those disponsabilities
- shall be able to regularize any transference by only paying the equivalent
to 2,5% of the thorough amount to be put into regularization procedure.
The absolutely singular characteristic of this new regulation is represented
by the fact that, by taking advantage of this retrievable opportunity
for past values irregularities, the tax-payer not only shelters himself
from future sanctions (increased in comparison to the past and nowadays
equal to a percentage going from 5 to 25% of the irregularily exported
amount) but also gets himself the possibility to use what is being re-transferred
as a "tax shield" for facing possible future fiscal verifications on
tax-duty periods for which term verification has not yet elapsed up
to the date of September 25th 2001.
Practically, the sums re-transferred to Italy, accordingly to this retrieval
procedure represent a sort of immunity to be used (completely or partially,
depending on shareholder decision) for defining fiscal verifications,
even if these last ones may refer to values or transactions repatriated
or regularized.
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Aim of regularization also could be all non-financial transactions as,
for instance, real estate properties, works of art, shared property
participations, precious items, etc, kept abroad with having given notice
of ownership to italian fiscal authorities. Moreover, it is particularly
interesting the fact that the tax-income authority would not be able
to acknowledge the identity of subjects deciding to re-transfer to Italy
their own financial transactions.
It will be thus their direct commitment to declare their use of the
"tax shield" should there be a specific verifying control on tax-duty
periods included in the fiscal protection guaranteed by this regulation;
it is clear too that this protection shall be such only until concurrence
shall be done of the amount effectively re-transferred to Italy.
Within this relevant innovating regulation an absolutely crucial role
is reserved to be played by the banks and financial companies which
are not only due to receive and keep the "confidencial declaration"
of the shareholder wishing to re-transfer to Italy his own value disposabilities
existing abroad, providing contemporarily to apply 2,5% tax charge,
but will also be responsible of making sure that the transferences are
not, in any way, linked to money laundering operations.
Meaningful is also the fact that in compliance to capital free circulation
principle, the tax-payer will have the possibility of maintaining abroad
the disposable values declared in Italy, remaining only his obligation
of paying the sanction of 2,5% that, futhermore, will be possible for
him to pay through special shares subscription of public debt.
It shall, instead, be precluded the possibility of using this regulation
on capital repatriation if belonging to shareholders against whose responsibility
there might already be a criminal procedure or in case of an already
started procedure of fiscal verification at the date of the Law's coming
into force; on this matter, it is not yet clear why a simple fiscal
verification - which not necessarily indeed will mean a control on shareholder's
charge - will preclude the possibility of taking advantage of this facility
regulation.
As it can be seen, there are plenty of new elements established by this
special legislation that has focused a huge echo not only in Italy but
in other European Union countries too, interested in replying this kind
of regulation to ease the returning back of what illegaly exported by
their own residents.
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