Monti Wealth tax

StephenBrown Modena Image
01/29/2013 - 07:36

Having searched the archive and not found anything specific I thought I would ask whether anyone has thoughts or expertise about whther setting up a trust would be a legal and sound way to take assets outside the scope of the Monti wealth tax on worldwide assets. I will be moving over to Italy in the summer to be a resident but will be keeping my UK property let in case I wish to return to the UK in the future. To the best of my knowledge Italy recognises UK trusts so I hope this approach will mean not having to pay the circa 0.75% annual tax on that property. I do realise that I may incur UK Capital Gains tax when putting the asset into the trust and will have to pay both UK and Italian tax on the rental income. Any thoughts would be appreciated as I am sure that I am not the only one with this challenge.

Comment

Looking at the link and a very rough translation it looks like a trust would be looked at and if the property is still available to you/held for your benefit the trust is likely to be ignored. If you are letting the property out then it might be excluded - but may depend on the terms of the lease. You need to get the advice of a good commercialista or wait until someone is able to consider the Italian rules in a bit of detail. If the property has been your principle private residence for UK tax purposes since you acquired it there would not be any UK Capital Gains Tax on its disposal. However, watch the Italian tax position if sold whilst Italian resident for tax purposes.

Dear Panner, Thanks for more help! You mention 'if you are letting a property then it might be excluded' from IVIE charges. Under what circumstances would this letting have to be? I have a long term let investment flat in the UK which will be my sole means of pension in 20 years time. It has been let out for years now. I had always envisaged his would be liable to IVIE as well as our family home which is also let out whilst we are renting. I can't imagine why these would be exempt so am curious (ever hopeful!) to know further about your information that certain let properties are excluded from IVIE. Thanks!  

Thanks for the link and other comments. I was going to put the UK property into trust for the benefit of my two children. It used to be primary residence but let for last 4 years. Now living in accomodation provided as a result of my work. I need the income from it which I am 'happy' to pay uk tax upon plus supplimentary italian income tax up to Italian basic rate. I will certainly discuss with a Commercialista but I wanted to ensure that uk property did not feature as part of my assets...hence the trust option. Sadly do not speak Italian yet and the link does not provide a translation. I will ask around for some help with this. Many thanks for thoughts.

Hi Rachel68 It was based on my very rough translation of a bit of the directive relating to IVIE. There is reference to to leased property where the freeholder is not caught. However, I have not got a full (or proper) translation of the directive to look at whether this extends to the short term residential lettings.  Unfortunately you will need advice from a good commercialista who knows about it in depth.

The clip I linked to was a precis of a part of the Agenzia clarification on IVIE, and really only talks about Trusts. I take the reference to 'nudo proprietario' to cover the freeholder (in the case of a UK leasehold property), and in that case the freeholder is not responsible for IVIE. If you owned a leasehold property in the UK, and were an Italian resident, you would be responsible for the IVIE, irrespective of whether it was rented out to another party. I'm sure there are cases awaiting determination, and further clarifications will no doubt emerge. As Panner says, even without the complicating issue of a Trust, you need to go through it with a commercialista.