The Italian tax authorities view the completion of the final OECD BEPS reports as a goal achieved with their active participation. This has contributed to perceptions that the BEPS proposals will not greatly affect Italian tax laws, regulations and the tax environment since many BEPS recommendations were already expected. In reality, the OECD BEPS project is spurring a certain degree of change. It could also prompt the Italian tax authorities to conform their approach more closely with the BEPS recommendations, to the benefit of the Italian tax system and Italian taxpayers alike.
The most immediate proof that the Italian tax environment is undergoing change is the implementation of CbyC reporting, which is based entirely on the OECD recommendations on BEPS Action 13. As required by a first set of implementing measures issued in February 2017, CbyC reports should disclose the international company’s revenues, gross profit, and paid and accrued taxes by country, together with additional indicators of economic activities performed.
In line with the OECD recommendations, the first CbyC filings will be for FY 2016. Under an initial set of rules issued in February 2017, these filings are due within 12 months of the end of the corporate year after an election is filed with theannual tax return.
Italy’s CbyC reporting obligation applies to:
Sanctions ranging from EUR10,000 to EUR50,000 may apply where CbyC reports are not filed or are incomplete or untrue.
The OECD BEPS project should not immediately affect Italian tax laws in the area of digital economy but not for lack of trying on the Italian government’s part. Prompted by pressure from the media and the public, the Italian government has repeatedly introduced proposals that aim to ensure digital companies pay their ‘fair share’.
Some of these proposals, which are enacted but not yet in force, disregard the OECD’s BEPS work, contributing to an uncertain and uncoordinated environment.
For example, similar to rules in place targeting online gambling businesses, a September 2016 proposal disdains international tax law principles and unilaterally advances new nexus concepts. The proposal introduces the definition a “hidden PE”, which would exist, regardless of any physical presence in Italy, where a non-resident enterprise carries out more than 500 digital transactions and generates revenue of more than EUR1 million over a 6-month period.
Also, in a measure not restricted to the digital economy, a new law enacted in FY 2017 provides that foreign entitiesexceeding EUR1 billion in consolidated revenues and sales revenue in Italy of EUR50 million annually (together with related Italian entities) may elect into a special form of cooperative compliance, allowing it to disclose any PE in Italy and obtain favorable treatment in terms of penalties and criminal infringements.
It is hoped that such unilateral initiatives will be dropped definitively in favor of initiatives coordinated with the EU or OECD.
The Italian tax authorities were challenging commissionaire structures and artificially fragmented activities (Action 7) well before the OECD’s BEPS project began, so Italian tax law should not need to be amended for this purpose.
Considering the success of the Italian tax authorities in using agency PE assessments and the OECD BEPS project’s emphasis on expanding the factors that create PEs, the Italian tax authorities (and courts) may be less inclined to embrace extreme interpretations. Among others, these extreme interpretations include the concept that merely attending a negotiation meeting is deemed equivalent to the authority to conclude contracts in a dependent agency environment, and stretching of the concept of ‘at disposal of’ for fixed PEs.
While legislative change may not be strictly needed, an approach to PEs that is more consistent with the OECD and EU proposals could benefit the Italian tax system and help revitalize inbound investment.
Italy’s optional patent box regime, introduced in the 2015 Budget Law, substantially complies with the OECD Action 5 principles, except that it also covers trademarks and knowhow. A new decree removed trademarks from the list of qualifying intangible assets, as of FY 2017. However, the list still includes know-how, so the regime does not completely align with the OECD.
Italy’s transfer pricing legislation complies with the OECD guidelines and allows for optional documentation, which may offer penalty protection in the event of an audit.
A recent law decree amended the transfer pricing legislation by replacing the reference to ‘normal value’ with the OECD’s ‘at arm’s length’ value (i.e. conditions and prices that would have been agreed between independent persons operating at arm’s length and in comparable circumstances).
Italy was a member of the ad hoc group that developed the OECD Multilateral Instrument. Italy signed the agreement on 7 June 2017, applying it to 84 out of its 94 tax treaties in force.Italy’s main positions on signing the instrument are as follows:
The ATA 1 Directive5 compels EU member states to implement certain minimum standards in compliance with certain BEPS recommendations. Again, the Italian government claims the country’s tax system largely complies with most of these standards already, as follows:
In short, the implementation of the OECD BEPS Action Plan and EU ATA Directive is not likely to bring many brand new concepts to the Italian tax system. Nevertheless, these implementations give Italian tax authorities the opportunity to initiate a ‘new normal’ — by abandoning previous aggressive positions that may impede the Italian economy’scompetitiveness.
5 EU Council directive 2016/1174 of 12 July 2016.