Tuesday, June 24, 2014

CANCELLED! 20% Witholding Tax on transfers from overseas

Good news: 

The law regarding a 20% withholding tax on overseas transfers of money in Italy was cancelled in the Spending Review in April when Matteo Renzi came into power. 

If you want to see a full article you can do so (it is in Italian), click here

For anyone bringing money in from overseas, i.e pensions, income from employment, money from investments etc, you can rest at ease knowing that 20% will NOT be with held at source when it enters Italy. 

There was a lot of pressure on Renzi when he entered power to overturn this decree since it was administratively an enormous burden on individuals, banks and other financial intermediaries and would have been almost impossible to police.  Beppo Grillo was quite outspoken about the potential impacts on Italy and its ability to attract investment from overseas if the law went ahead.  I think he may have had a point, and hence the reason it was repealed. 

It will not be introduced in July and will not be proposed (as things currently stand) in the near future. Italy will be relying on agreements that are now in place with Spain, France, the UK, Germany and the USA, to track movements of money from, to and within the aforementioned countries. These bi-lateral share of information agreements are currently in place and operating.  The frameworks, under which they were originally established, will also be rolled out to another 34 OECD countries within the next few years.

Should you be unaware of this information, then I hope it puts your mind at rest and you are able to enjoy the summer in Italy, once again! 

Feel free to pass this information on and if you have any questions about this law or other tax laws in Italy and how they may affect you, do feel free to get in touch on gareth.horsfall@spectrum-ifa.com or on my cell +39 3336492356

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