Pavia e Ansaldo – Important judgement of the Supreme Court on a financial administration matter

10Rome, 10 June, 2022 – With the very recent ruling no. 18300 of 7 June, 2022 the Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) stated the principle according to which, regarding the registration tax, article 20 of D.P.R. no. 131 of 1986 (in the wording following Law no. 205 of 2017 having retroactive validity, pursuant to Law no. 145 of 2018) must be intended in the sense that the financial Administration, in the activity of qualification of transaction deeds, must stick to the intrinsic nature and juridical effects of the deeds filed for registration, with no relevance of extra-textual elements nor of deeds that, even if connected, are devoid of any textual connection with such deed.

On the basis of such principle the Court rejected the petition filed by the Tax Agency, since the regional tax commission of Lazio correctly conformed to said principle considering illegitimate the taxation act with which the financial Administration requalified a deed of transfer of all corporate shares of a limited liability company in a transfer of business transaction, because it referred to extra-textual elements and presumed an elusive intention without indicating the reasons included in the deed to be taxed, apt to justify such requalification.

The Law firm Pavia e Ansaldo, with the partner Mario Di Giulio and the counsel Laura Cavarretta, assisted a foreign company investing in Italy which suffered the requalification of the deed undergoing taxation.