Malta and Cyprus removed off Italian blacklist of tax havens

Malta – 2nd August 2010 – Italian legislation has been amended to remove Malta and Cyprus from the country’s ‘blacklist’ of tax havens. This includes changes to all three lists of countries considered to have tax systems which favour the avoidance of taxation – the list concerning the residence of individual taxpayers; the list concerning controlled foreign companies (CFCs); and the third for the non-deductability of corporate costs and expenses.

Malta and Cyprus, can now benefit from fully ordinary fiscal status as far as the Italian tax system is concerned. Italian individuals who have attempted to transfer their residence to Malta and Cyprus will not have a continued presumed residence in Italy, while there will be no additional tax consequences for those Italian businesses with subsidiaries or associated companies in Malta or Cyprus.

The changes to the lists are also significant with regard to the new Italian value-added tax (VAT) reporting requirements that were announced in April, for all ‘risky’ import and export transactions above EUR50,000 (USD65,400), particularly those transacted with countries considered not to have a sufficient level of tax information exchange.

Under the new rules, the details of transactions in goods and services from companies or individuals having an establishment, residence or domicile in those countries will have to be forwarded electronically to the Italian Revenue Agency.

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