Patrimoniale - Daylight Robbery

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the operations of the Italian Government, you will not be pleased to hear that they are prone to dipping into peoples savings to fund their own activities.  This is commonly known as The Patrimoniale.

My own description is Daylight Robbery.  Which in turn reminds me of one of my favourite songs from a band called Morcheeba, called......Daylight Robbery.  If you have never heard it and wish to, then just click on the link below.  The lyrics are telling!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXjaQfSDcac


The bad news is that the Italian Government is at it again.

As of 31st Dec 2012 they will be increasing the 'bollo' (tax) on all Italian domestic basic bank accounts and investments.

For prodotti finanziari (financial products) there will be an increased 'bollo' (tax) applied every year to any kind of investment (including deposit accounts, savings accounts, shares, bonds, insurance products, funds, derivatives etc).

The bollo is 0.1% for 2012 (calculated on the value of investments at 31st Dec 2012  and taken on Jan 1st 2013) and 0.15% in 2013 onwards.  For those who are holding investments outside Italy and are already declaring their year end tax return, this is the equivalent of the tax already being applied to those investments. (IVAFE).  In this case, it is being applied to Italian domestic investments and brings the domestic taxes in line with those being imposed on foreign held assets.

The good news is that it won't be applied again to foreign held investments so for most expats living in Italy it is not something to worry about.

The other news is that the standard bollo on bank accounts will be increasing to €34.

Exception:  As always the Governments like to show that they are doing there best for low earners.    If you are legally registered as having an income less than €7500 and less than €5000 in the bank then you will be exempt from the Patrimoniale.  How kind!

The Patrimoniale:  It seems to me to be a realignment of taxes for domestic and foreign held assets for Italian residents.  Nevertheless it does beg the question, when are they going to start to realise that lowering taxes might actually start to stimulate the economy again.