The Italian side: monitoring, beneficial owners and the register

The quadro RW and the concept of beneficial owner

The Italian system of fiscal monitoring (monitoraggio fiscale) introduced by Decree- Law No. 167 of 28 June 1990 rests on two pillars. Banks and other intermediaries report to the Agenzia delle Entrate cross-border transfers made on behalf of their clients, and individuals and certain entities resident in Italy declare their foreign investments and financial assets in the quadro RW of their tax return.¹ Chapter E.II describes the penalties and the IVAFE that apply to Swiss assets. One feature of the monitoring rules deserves particular attention in the context of this chapter: since the reform of 2013 the declaration duty extends to the beneficial owner (titolare effettivo) of assets held through entities, as defined by the Italian anti-money laundering law.² An Italian resident who controls a Lugano SA holding a portfolio, a Liechtenstein foundation or a trust that he can influence must therefore declare in his quadro RW the assets of the entity in proportion to his interest. The Italian anti-money laundering law defines the beneficial owner of a company as the natural person who holds more than 25 per cent of the capital, directly or indirectly, or who otherwise controls it (Art. 20 of Legislative Decree No. 231 of 21 November 2007).³ The Agenzia delle Entrate has clarified in its circulars that for entities resident in states that do not ensure an adequate exchange of information, the look-through applies to the full value of the assets. For entities in cooperative states, such as Switzerland since the Protocol of 2015, the resident declares the value of his participation.⁴ The distinction influences the choice of structure for Italian families with Swiss assets. A holding company with real activity and its own substance in Ticino is treated differently from an interposed entity that the Italian authorities regard as a mere screen.

The Swiss transparency register and the Italian quadro RW rely on the same concept of beneficial owner, both drawn from the FATF standard. In practice, the person reported to the Swiss register as beneficial owner of a Ticino company will be the person whom the Italian authorities expect to find in the quadro RW. Any divergence between the two, for example a nominee reported in Switzerland while the Italian resident declares nothing, will become visible once the information flows are combined.

The Italian register of beneficial owners

Italy established a register of beneficial owners in implementation of the Fourth and Fifth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives. Art. 21 of Legislative Decree No. 231/2007, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 90 of 25 May 2017, sets out the duty to communicate. Companies with legal personality, private legal persons, trusts and legal arrangements similar to trusts must report their beneficial owners to a special section of the register of companies (registro delle imprese) kept by the chambers of commerce.⁵ The implementing rules were adopted by Ministerial Decree No. 55 of 11 March 2022. The register became operational in the autumn of 2023, with a deadline for the first communications on 11 December 2023.⁶

The register met immediate legal resistance from the Italian fiduciary companies and from trust practitioners. They challenged the decree before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio (TAR Lazio), arguing among other points that the Italian fiduciary mandate (mandato fiduciario), under which a società fiduciaria holds shares in its own name for the account of its principal, is not a legal arrangement similar to a trust. They also argued that the access rules for persons with a legitimate interest violated the rights recognized in WM and Sovim. On 7 December 2023, a few days before the deadline, the TAR Lazio suspended the effectiveness of the decree. In April 2024 it dismissed the appeals in six identical judgments (Nos. 6837, 6839, 6840, 6841, 6844 and 6845 of 2024), holding that the access rules made access to beneficial ownership information subject to rigorous conditions.⁷ The appellants went to the Council of State (Consiglio di Stato), which by orders of 17 May 2024 suspended the enforcement of the TAR judgments pending a decision on the merits. The register thus remained blocked.

Notes

1. Decree-Law No. 167 of 28 June 1990, converted by Law No. 227 of 4 August 1990, Arts. 1 (reporting by intermediaries) and 4 (declaration by residents). ↩
2. Law No. 97 of 6 August 2013 (legge europea 2013), Art. 9, amending Art. 4 of Decree-Law No. 167/1990 to include the titolari effettivi of investments and assets. ↩
3. Legislative Decree No. 231 of 21 November 2007, Art. 20 paras. 1 and 2 (criteria for the beneficial owner of clients other than natural persons: ownership of more than 25 per cent of the capital or control). ↩
4. Agenzia delle Entrate, circular No. 38/E of 23 December 2013, section 1.3, on the look-through for entities in non-cooperative states and the declaration of the participation for entities in cooperative states. ↩
5. Legislative Decree No. 231/2007, Art. 21, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 90 of 25 May 2017 and Legislative Decree No. 125 of 4 October 2019. ↩
6. Ginex (below), on Ministerial Decree No. 55 of 11 March 2022, the publication in the Gazzetta Ufficiale of 9 October 2023 and the deadline of 11 December 2023 for the first communications. ↩
7. Angelo Ginex, "Nuova «sospensione» per il Registro dei titolari effettivi", Euroconference News, 18 June 2024, https://www.ecnews.it/fiscale/fisco-e-patrimonio/patrimonio-e-trust/nuova-sospensione-per-il-registro-dei-titolari-effettivi/ (suspension of 7 December 2023; six identical judgments Nos. 6837, 6839, 6840, 6841, 6844 and 6845, which Ginex dates to 7 April 2024; access subject to "rigorous conditions"). Ginex also reports the orders of the Council of State of 17 May 2024. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.