ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Marco Valdonio and Gabriella Cappelleri, Maisto e Associati
ised requests for information, of a banking or finan - cial nature, and not concerning specific taxpayers (so-called “fishing expeditions”). The exchange of information can occur upon request, automatically or spontaneously. TIEAs Furthermore, Italy has concluded several TIEAs with states other than those with which it has a DTT in force. Based on such agreements, exchange of infor - mation can occur only upon request, and the pieces of information to be exchanged are those that are fore - seeably relevant for the assessment and collection of taxes. EU Directives Italy has implemented, among other things, the fol - lowing EU directives. • Council Directive (EU) 2015/2376 (DAC3), which provides for the automatic exchange of tax rulings and advance pricing agreements (APAs); however, bilateral or multilateral APAs concluded with third countries are excluded if the agreement reached does not allow its disclosure. These agreements may be subject to spontaneous exchange, if allowed and where the competent authority of the third country authorises the disclosure. • Council Directive (EU) 2016/881 (DAC4), which provides for the automatic exchange of reporting documents of multinational companies (ie, country- by-country reporting). • Council Directive (EU) 2018/822 (DAC6), which provides for the automatic exchange of information regarding cross-border aggressive tax planning mandatorily communicated by Italian intermediar - ies (such as, lawyers, tax accountants, notaries, financial institutions, etc) or taxpayers. • Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 (DAC7), which provides for the automatic exchange of informa - tion regarding platform operators with respect to sellers in the sharing and digital economy and adds, among other things, some rules regarding the timeline and the subject of the information to be communicated with respect to tax rulings and APAs. • Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (DAC 8), which extends the framework for the automatic exchange
of information to crypto-assets, clarifying and expanding the relevant definitions and the subjec - tive and objective scope of reporting obligations for operators and transactions, in line with the EU regulatory framework on crypto-assets (MiCA). 6.2 Joint Audits Italian laws provide certain instruments of advanced administrative co-operation with foreign administra - tions that carry out control activities on the correct fulfilment of tax obligations. It is important to note that Article 3 of Legislative Decree No 13, dated 12 February 2024, mandates the introduction of specific forms of co-operation between domestic and foreign administrations and the reorganisation of existing co- operation mechanisms. On the basis of this reform, the rules governing joint audits between administra - tions of different countries, already introduced into the Italian legal system by Article 16 of Legislative Decree No 32, dated 1 March 2023, have been further devel - oped and incorporated into the new Article 31-bis 4 of Presidential Decree No 600/1973. In particular, in the event of common or complementary interest with respect to one or more taxpayers, the Tax Audi - tors may request the competent authority of another member state or several member states to conduct a joint audit of such taxpayers. The Tax Auditors may enter specific arrangements for the activation of joint audits with the tax authorities of third jurisdictions with which a bilateral or multilateral treaty permitting this is in force. In the event of a joint audit conducted within the territory of the state, the tax authorities appoint a representative responsible for directing and co-ordi - nating the audit. This enables the tax authorities of the other member states to engage with the taxpay - ers concerned and review the relevant documents, while ensuring compliance with the rules ordinar - ily applicable to evidence collection and taxpayers’ rights. The competent authorities jointly establish the relevant facts and circumstances with a view to reach - ing an agreement on the taxpayer’s position, which is recorded in a final report. 6.3 Simultaneous Controls As regards multilateral audits, including simultaneous audits, Italy provides a specific legal framework under Presidential Decree No 600/1973, Article 31-bis 3, effective as of 22 February 2024 and amended by Leg -
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