On 3 August 2009, the Italian Anti-crisis Decree ( tax amnesty) was converted into Law Decree No. 103 . The key points of the tax amnesty measures provided in the Law are summarised:
With effect from15 September 2009, Italian taxpayers that are considered to be financially resident in Italy will be allowed to legitimately transfer/declare funds and assets that were held abroad as of 31 December 2008 and that have not been declared to the Italian Tax Authorities (ITA). In order to comply with the tax amnesty law:
– any funds that are held outside the EU must be repatriated upon payment of a 5% extraordinary tax
– funds held within the EU/EEA, provided that the Member State concerned has an exchange of information with Italy, will be permitted to remain abroad but the funds will need to be regularised by paying a 5% extraordinary tax.
In order to take advantage of the favourable tax amnesty, assets must be declared between 15 September 2009 and 15 April 2010.
However, taxpayers already under investigation in tax enforcement procedures are not entitled to take advantage of the amnesty.
The amnesty comes at the same time as activity in the US and UK to track down offshore account holders. (See also our articles on the IRS offensive against hidden offshore accounts and the UK HMRC's NDO and LDF.)
