Italy: ITA. New Law: Four Tax Rulings For Resident And Non-Resident Taxpayers.

In an effort to finally catch up with more efficient tax jurisdictions, the Italian legislature has recently implemented a "General Tax Ruling" (Article 11 of Law no. 212 of July 27, 2000) in addition to other three Special Tax Rulings. While this represents a significant step forward for taxpayers purposes, the downside is that they will still face a particularly complicated environment in obtaining any given tax ruling. In fact, depending on the particular field in which the application is involved, the taxpayer will be required to follow distinct administrative procedures as to, inter alia, (i) Tax Authorities to be inquired, (ii) Terms for the issuance of rulings. In accordance with preliminary guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance, Circular Letter no. 99/E of May 18, 2000, the four different tax rulings may be summarized as follows:

1. General Tax Ruling (Article 11 of Law no. 212/2000 (i.e. Charter for taxpayers));
2. Special Tax Ruling (Article 21 of Law no. 413/1991, broadly for anti-avoidance measures, including the coming CFC legislation);
3. Special Tax Ruling (Article 37 bis, paragraph 8, President of Republic Decree no. 600/1973, generally aimed at removing the effect of anti-avoidance provisions which result in a restriction to the general right of using certain deductible items).
4. Special Tax Ruling (Circular Letter 99/E/2000 for instances of applications filed by non-resident taxpayers who intend to invest in Italy).

Source: Article 11 of Law no. 212/2000 can be found in the law journal Corriere Tributario no. 33/2000 from page 2412. Circular letter no. 99/E/2000 can be found in the law journal Corriere Tributario no. 23/2000 from page 608. Salvatore di Salvatore, SQUIRE, SANDERS & DEMPSEY LLP, MILAN