The scudo ter of 2009–2010

Article 13-bis of Decree-Law No. 78 of 2009

The third tax shield, commonly called the scudo ter, was inserted as Article 13-bis into Decree-Law No. 78 of 1 July 2009 by the conversion law of 3 August 2009. It reused the mechanics of 2001 with three differences that reflected the changed international context.¹ The charge was higher. Instead of a flat fee, the declarant paid an extraordinary tax (imposta straordinaria) calculated by applying a presumed annual yield of 2 per cent over five years to the amounts declared and taxing that yield at 50 per cent. The result was an effective charge of 5 per cent of the capital. The Agenzia delle Entrate described this presumption as absolute, so that the actual income earned on the assets was irrelevant.² The tax extinguished the taxes due on the declared amounts as well as the related penalties. The declaration also excluded criminal liability for a list of offences under the Criminal Tax Law of 2000 and for certain related offences of false accounting.

The second difference concerned the geography of regularization. In 2009 the option of keeping the assets abroad was restricted to states of the European Union and of the European Economic Area that ensured an effective exchange of information. For assets in Switzerland, as the Agenzia delle Entrate's circular No. 43/E of 10 October 2009 made clear, only repatriation was available.³ The third difference lay in the treatment of rimpatrio giuridico. The circular confirmed that repatriation did not require the physical transfer of the assets to Italy. It was sufficient that an Italian intermediary, in particular a fiduciary company, assumed the custody or administration of the assets, which could remain deposited with the foreign bank.⁴ The Swiss account thereby became, for Italian tax purposes, an asset held through an Italian intermediary, which applied Italian withholding taxes to the income and dispensed the client from the quadro RW.

The window, its extension and the results

The window opened on 15 September 2009 and was originally to close on 15 December 2009. Decree-Law No. 194 of 30 December 2009, the annual "milleproroghe" decree, reopened it until 30 April 2010 at a charge of 6 per cent for declarations made by the end of February and 7 per cent for those made by the end of April.⁵ The final result exceeded every forecast. The Ministry of Economy and Finance reported EUR 104.5 billion of assets declared in 206,608 confidential declarations and revenue of EUR 5.6 billion. Of the total, about EUR 102 billion, or 97.6 per cent, was repatriated, physically or legally, and only EUR 2.5 billion regularized. The legal repatriation alone accounted for EUR 51.4 billion.⁶ The Bank of Italy, which measured the flows in the balance of payments, arrived at a lower figure of EUR 97 billion for the period from September 2009 to April 2010, a difference attributable to coverage and timing.⁷

The Bank of Italy also produced the most precise figure for Switzerland. Of the assets repatriated from Switzerland, it attributed EUR 27.7 billion to physical repatriation and EUR 39.1 billion to legal repatriation, a total of EUR 66.8 billion.⁸ Measured by declarants, Switzerland accounted for 105,792 of the declarations, followed at a great distance by San Marino with 19,967 and Monaco with 11,107.⁹ Both measures confirm that the scudo ter was above all a Swiss-Italian operation, and that within Switzerland it was above all a Ticino operation.

Notes

1. Di Vizio, "Lo strano caso di un'emersione a volto coperto" (above), describing Art. 13-bis DL 78/2009, introduced by the conversion law, Law No. 102 of 3 August 2009. ↩
2. Agenzia delle Entrate, circular No. 43/E of 10 October 2009, text via FiscoeTasse, https://www.fiscoetasse.com/files/807/circ-43-10102009.pdf ("una presunzione assoluta"). ↩
3. Circular No. 43/E (above), limiting regularization to EU Member States and to the EEA states that guarantee an effective exchange of information. ↩
4. Circular No. 43/E (above), on the rimpatrio giuridico through Italian intermediaries. ↩
5. Di Vizio (above) for the window from 15 September 2009 to 30 April 2010 and the rates of 5, 6 and 7 per cent. Decree-Law No. 194 of 30 December 2009, "Proroga di termini previsti da disposizioni legislative", appears in Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 302 of 30 December 2009, https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/gazzetta/serie_generale/caricaDettaglio? dataPubblicazioneGazzetta=2009-12-30&numeroGazzetta=302. ↩
6. Di Vizio (above): EUR 104.5 billion, 206,608 declarations, revenue EUR 5.6 billion, repatriation EUR 102 billion (97.6 per cent), legal repatriation EUR 51.362 billion, regularization EUR 2.5 billion. ↩
7. "Scudo, Bankitalia fa di nuovo le pulci al Tesoro", Bluerating, 21 June 2010, https://www.bluerating.com/?p=19171. ↩
8. Bluerating, 21 June 2010 (above): from Switzerland, physical repatriation EUR 27.736 billion and legal repatriation EUR 39.052 billion, together EUR 66.788 billion. ↩
9. Di Vizio (above). ↩

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 August 2025.