Italy: Tax authority’s initial guidance, patent box regime

The Italian revenue agency issued guidance that includes its initial comments and positions on issues under the patent box regime. The guidance is known as Circular no. 36/E (1 December 2015).

Patent box

Under Italy’s patent box regime, a certain percentage of income attributable to the use of qualifying intangible assets (e.g., copyright-protected software, patents, trademarks, designs and models, among others) is excluded from the tax base.

The benefit is available with respect to income arising from the tax year in progress on 31 December 2014. Once an election to participate in the patent box regime is made, it applies for five years and cannot be revoked. The Italian tax authority’s guidance addresses:

• How the election is made and what are the effects of the election
• The treatment of patent box losses
• The effects of business reorganizations on the patent box
• The procedure for obtaining a mandatory ruling

Read a December 2015 report [PDF 301 KB] prepared by the KPMG member firm in Italy: Italian revenue agency comments on the patent box regime