Impact of Italian Guidelines on TP Audits and APAs

In recent years, this firm has assisted in an increasing number of tax audits related to transfer pricing matters, permanent establishment issues, and VAT fraud, among others. Considering this rise in audit activity, the Italian Tax Revenue Agency’s Circular No. 21/E that was published on June 20 2022 is a highly relevant document in providing additional guidance concerning tax audit activities for 2022.

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Crowe Valente is Well Represented at the Board of Crowe Global Network with Our Partner Filipa Correia!

We are delighted to announce that our Partner at Crowe Valente - Filipa Correia will join the Crowe Global board on January 1, 2022! 

Crowe Global (Crowe), one of the largest accounting networks in the world has confirmed two new members to its board of directors. Filipa Correia, International Liaison Partner (Italy) and Erastus Omolo, Managing Partner (Kenya), will take their new positions on the Crowe Global board as of 1 January 2022. Alongside these new additions, two existing members, Kuang Hui Tan (Singapore) and Héctor García (Mexico), were successfully re-elected as members of the board. 

Operating in 146 countries across the world, Crowe’s announcement reinforces their strategy to position the network for a continued future growth through investment in their services and in their people. 

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Italy Releases Circular on TP Documentation Rules

The Italian Revenue Agency published a circular aimed at providing clarifications on the subject of transfer pricing (TP) documentation on November 26 2021. The circular took into account the comments made by professionals during the public consultation that ended on October 12 2021. 
The purpose of the circular is to provide further operational instructions on the new features introduced by the regulation published on November 23 2020, regarding the suitability of the declaration which allows companies to make use of the penalty protection.

Published in: ITR (International Tax Review) - 9 December 2021

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Clarification on TP Documentation in Italy Starts Moving Forward

On September 20 2021, the Italian Revenue Agency (IRA) published the draft circular letter (the Circular) aimed at providing a vast range of clarifications on the transfer pricing (TP) documentation’s legal framework.
The Circular has been drafted to provide further operational instructions on the changes introduced by the Administrative Provision No. 360494 of November 23 2020 (containing the new rules on TP documentation).
The Circular was released for public consultation for comments and proposals. The consultation closed on October 12 2021.

One of the most significant changes concerns the obligation of digital signature with the time stamp of the master file and local file. Indeed, before the date of submission of the tax return for the relevant tax year (i.e. November 30 2021), the two documents must be digitally signed and temporally marked by the legal representative of the taxpayer or his delegate.

Published in: ITR (International Tax Review) - 21 October 2021

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Assessing the Tax Treatment of Employees Working in Italy during the Pandemic

In a response to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have enacted unprecedented measures. As such, these measures may have an overwhelming impact on the tax residence of individuals and on the tax treatment applicable to income from employment.
On July 7 2021, the Italian tax authorities issued Ruling No. 458/2021 which deals with the tax treatment of workers that temporarily returned to Italy as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and could not leave the country due to the travel restrictions enforced by China.
In the ruling, the Italian tax authorities were presented with a case involving a series of employees that were hired by the Italian parent company and seconded to the Chinese subsidiaries. Such employees moved to Italy in January 2020, as the pandemic broke out in China, and returned to China in July of the same year.

Published in: ITR (International Tax Review) - 27 July 2021

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Italian Supreme Court Rules on uneconomical inter-company Transactions

In early 2021, two decisions of the Italian Supreme Court dealt with the issue of certain inter-company transactions that were not performed according to the arm’s-length principle due to the existence of an overall advantage for the multinational group.

Published in: ITR (International Tax Review) - 28 april 2021

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The Importance of Mutual Agreement Procedures in International Tax Disputes

The mutual agreement procedure (MAP) is an instrument for the resolution of international tax disputes whenever a person considers that the actions of one or both of the contracting states’ tax administrations result or will result in taxation not in accordance with the provisions of a tax convention or of a tax treaty.
To this end, the MAP allows competent authorities designated from the governments of the contracting states to interact with the intent to resolve the international tax dispute. On October 10 2017, the Council of the European Union issued Directive (EU) 2017/1852 with the purpose of increasing tax certainty in the single market. With Legislative Decree No. 49/2020 published on June 10 2020, the Italian legislator approved the decree implementing EU Directive 2017/1852.

Published in: ITR Transfer Pricing Special Focus 2021 - 24 March 2021

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A Review of Advance Tax Agreements in Italy

Advance tax agreements are binding agreements between taxpayers and the Italian Revenue Agency aimed at enhancing tax compliance and promoting the business of multinational enterprises by providing certainty on international tax issues in advance.
The arrangements are based on mutual cooperation and transparency between taxpayers and the Italian Revenue Agency. An advance tax agreement may be requested by resident companies conducting international activities, meeting a set of requirements.
The 2021 Italian Budget Law modified the advance pricing agreement (APA) procedure, including new aspects about the ‘roll-back’ and providing the payment of a fee in order to start these procedures.

Published in: ITR Italy Special Focus 2021 - 16 March 2021

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Rethinking the Top-Line and Realignment of the Bottom-Line in a Post-Covid Landscape

As many countries around the world are facing the second wave of the Covid-19 crisis, and given the evolving restrictive measures imposed by governments to contain the global outbreak, companies should keep as their top priority to continue monitoring the shifts in customer preferences and attitudes towards risk in order to detect and understand the changes in the nature of demand.

In the last year, in the majority of markets, companies have experienced a change in the way that customers purchase goods and services, hence it has been crucial for companies to change, accordingly the way they do business. The resurgent crisis is serving as a catalytic agent that is accelerating the transformation of the nature of the relationship between companies and consumers. The catalytic effect is providing a tipping point to shrink the cultural lag (Ogburn, 1957) which is often associated with major technological change. In fact, one of the primary challenges for businesses today is to capture the evolving customer needs and expectations, hence moving ever closer towards a customer-centric approach.

Published in: Management Consulting Journal (Institute of Consulting) - 17 February 2021

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Italy Amends Regulation of Advance Rulings

The 2021 Budget Law introduced significant innovations regarding advance rulings (including advance pricing agreements) provided for by Italian legislation (Article 31-ter of D.P.R. No.600/1973).
Through the instrument of advance rulings, companies with international business activities can enter into agreements with the Italian tax authorities, in relation to the following instances:

a) Prior definition of the transfer pricing methods applicable in intercompany transactions;
b) Exit or entry values in the event of transfer of residence;
c) Attribution of profits and losses to the permanent establishment in another country of a company resident in Italy or to the permanent establishment in Italy of a non-resident entity;
d) Prior assessment of the existence or otherwise of the requirements for a permanent establishment situated in Italy; and
e) Application to a concrete case of rules, also of conventional origin, concerning the payment or receipt of dividends, interest and royalties and other income components to or from non-resident parties.

Published in: ITR (International Tax Review) - 3 February 2021

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