ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Giuliano Foglia, Foglia & Partners
• definition of the attribution of profits/losses to an Italian PE of a non-resident company or to a PE in another State of a resident company; • assessment of the tax treatment of income (ie, divi - dends, interest, royalties and other income) paid to/received from non-resident companies. 9.2 Other Mechanisms The Italian tax system offers a wide range of instru - ments to obtain advance certainty regarding the appli - cation of specific tax provisions or tax regimes. Those instruments are available to all taxpayers (whether Ital - ian or foreign residents) for both purely domestic and cross-border matters. Ordinary Tax Rulings The ordinary tax ruling programme provides, in rela - tion to actual cases, certainty on: • interpretation of the tax law (“interpretative ruling”); • qualification of specific cases in relation to the applicable tax provisions (“qualification ruling”); • whether a specific transaction could be considered abusive (see 6.2 Criminal Penalties ) (“anti-abuse ruling”); • disapplication of specific anti-avoidance rules (“disapplication ruling”); • existence of the conditions required by the law for the application of specific tax regimes (“probatory ruling”); • existence of the conditions required by the law for the application of the flat tax regime for new resi - dent individuals (Article 24-bis of the ITC). A probatory ruling can be requested only by taxpay - ers under the cooperative compliance regime or by those who have already applied for the new invest - ments ruling. Since 2024, filing a ruling request has, in principle, been subject to a fee. As of today, absent any imple - menting rules, no fee is required. Depending on the domicile, nature and size of the applicant taxpayer, the ruling request is processed by either the central bodies or by the competent Regional Directorate of the Italian Revenue Agency.
An answer to the ruling request must be provided within 90 days, with the possibility of extending the term by a further 60 days in the event of a request for additional information or documentation. If the Italian Revenue Agency does not answer within the prescribed term, the ruling request is considered con - firmed. The ruling binds both the Italian Tax Authorities and the specific taxpayers(s), provided the relevant laws, facts and circumstances remain as represented. “New Investments” Ruling Taxpayers can apply for the new investments ruling in relation to intended new investments that have the following characteristics: • be realised in the Italian territory; • have a value of at least EUR15 million; • have a beneficial and long-lasting impact on employment and tax revenues. The new investment ruling provides advanced cer - tainty on the tax regime applicable to the overall investment, covering both matters normally covered by ordinary tax rulings and more factual issues (eg, existence of a PE in Italy). The answer to the new investments ruling request must be provided within 120 days, with the possibil - ity of extending the term by a further 90 days in the event of a request for additional information or docu - mentation. The ruling binds both the Italian Tax Authorities and the specific taxpayers(s) with respect to the specific business plan described in the ruling request, pro - vided the relevant laws, facts and circumstances rep - resented remain as stated. Taxpayers who invest in accordance with a new invest - ment ruling have facilitated access, regardless of their turnover, to the cooperative compliance regime. Cooperative Compliance Programme In 2015, Italy has implemented a cooperative compli - ance regime, in line with the OECD standards, allow - ing groups and companies, with turnover/revenues of
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