Italy – Budget 2015; R&D tax credit, patent box regime

December 3: Budget bill 2015—which would provide a tax credit for research and development (R&D) and would introduce a patent box regime—was passed by the Italian lower house on 30 November 2014.

The budget bill is pending consideration by the Italian Senate. Changes to the legislation are possible during this final part of the legislative process.

R&D tax credit, patent box regime

Under provisions of the budget bill, the R&D tax credit would be made available to any enterprise, and generally would be based on 25% of the taxpayer’s additional spending on R&D (measured against average spending for the three tax periods preceeding the period that includes 31 December 2015). There would be minimum and maximum spending threshold requirements.

The patent box regime would be optional, and generally would be similar to patent box regimes in other EU Member States (e.g., Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom).