On 20 October 2022, the Italian Revenue Agency issued the Circular Letter No. 34/E laying down the final version of the guidelines concerning the taxation of trusts (“the Guidelines”). A draft version of the guidelines was published in August 2021 for public consultation. The Guidelines are expected to have a significant impact for clients and intermediaries. The subjects addressed include the following:

  1. Income tax treatment of beneficiaries of non-resident transparent trusts (i.e., trusts where the beneficiary has a right to the income);
  2. Income tax treatment of trust distributions made by non-resident non-disregarded trusts;
  3. Inheritance and gift tax treatment of trusts in the light of the case law of the Supreme Court;
  4. Impact of the disregarded characterisation of a trust for income tax and inheritance and gift tax purposes;
  5. Reporting obligations of resident beneficiaries over the assets held in non-resident trusts;
  6. Wealth tax treatment of resident trusts.

The Guidelines can be found here.

More detailed commentary will follow.