First Stage Of Italian Tax Amnesty Raises EUR95bn

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

04 January 2010

Giulio Tremonti, Minister of the Economy and Finance, has divulged that the first stage of Italy’s tax amnesty has yielded declarations of funds held abroad amounting to EUR95bn (USD136bn).

He further disclosed that, out of the volume of funds declared under the tax amnesty, 98% were repatriated into Italy. That meant that only 2% were regularized, with the funds remaining outside of the country.

The importance of the repatriated, rather than regularized, funds lies in the consequential additional investment in the country, and the additional tax capacity they would provide in the future.

Within the statement made, Tremonti also reiterated that the extension of the tax amnesty to April 2010 would definitely be its last. There would also be no further amnesties in the future. He said that they would be unnecessary given the current coordinated international measures against tax evasion.

The recently approved 2010 budget bill included only EUR3.7bn as the return from the 5% penalty imposed by the first stage of the amnesty. That would imply total declared funds of only some EUR74bn.

As a consequence, the additional declared funds of some EUR20bn, arising out of the Minister’s statement, would imply further revenue available to the government in 2010 of at least EUR1bn. As a minimum, a similar amount of revenue is also likely to be collected during the amnesty’s second stage.

Recommended