Risultati ricerca

ESTATE DISPUTES: Some important judgments from last month

The Japanese government's 2018 tax reform bill abolishes the recently introduced rule under which the heirs of a long-term resident foreigner who died outside Japan remain liable to Japanese inheritance tax (IHT) on estate assets anywhere in the world. The rule had threatened to derail the government's efforts to attract foreign talent to live and work in Japan, because it meant IHT liability could follow a foreign national for up to five years after leaving the country.

INTERNATIONAL - UK, TRUSTS: online trusts register is delayed

INTERNATIONAL - EU: Court of Justice rules on dynamic IP addresses

US: Trump proposes territorial tax system

INTERNATIONAL - UK: Doubts cast on non-dom reforms' commencement date

INTERNATIONAL - European Union: Taxation at source must take into account non-resident taxpayer's domestic costs

The italian Notary

It often happens that, after a prospective property has been inspected and chosen, substantial agreement is reached with the other party even if this is not yet formalized in written form. It is advisable to contact a notary at this early stage before signing the preliminary contract (the so-called “compromesso”). In the preliminary contract, both signatories undertake to stipulate the definitive sale contract by a certain date and on given conditions. The preliminary agreement (even i

The following are examples of what needs to be included in a proposal for sale or purchase and in a preliminary contract: - the precise description of the asset or assets; - the exact identification of the owner or owners and of the purchaser or purchasers; - the obligations of the vendor and of the purchaser; - the price of the sale and method of payment; - the conditions of the conveyance and relevant guarantees; - documentation of the history of the asset or assets; -

Notaries and business

The Notary as existing in Italy belongs to the “latin (o roman)  notarial system”. The “latin notary” system is largely spread around the world, adopted by approximately 71 countries, mostly belonging to the civil law system. Although the same word “public notary” is used within the “common law” legal systems, it must be underlined very clearly from the beginning that the concept (the meaning) behind the word in the civil law system and in the common law system is completely, absolutel

The vendor has the right to receive the full amount of the agreed price from the purchaser at the time the sale contract is settled. Frequently the vendor has already received an advance payment on that price, generally as a deposit: in that case he will have the right to receive the difference to make up the full agreed price. The vendor has the option to allow the purchaser a deferral of payment, with or without interest. It is up to the discretion of the vendor (based on the trust h

Mention must be made of the distinction between real rates and nominal rates. The nominal rate is the percentage of interest that formally appears in the contract and which regulates the home loan operation. In reality, however, the effective cost of the loan is inevitably conditioned by a whole series of other factors: first of all, by various expense items  (survey, review and closure expenses; collection or encashment expenses; third-party agency costs; tax and insurance expenses; othe

The rate of interest is usually set in percentage terms; it may be fixed, which means it is the same for the whole duration of the loan, or variable, which means it is determined with reference to changing parameters that are set by objective, impartial criteria. For example, Euribor is an average quotation for variable rates calculated using objective criteria in the EU financial markets; while I.R.S. (interest instalments swap) is the financial reference parameter for establishing the cost

Following marriage, unless an explicit declaration to the contrary is made at the time of the ceremony, spouses find themselves in a shared property arrangement, this being the automatic legal regime in force in our system since 20/9/1975. This means that any purchase made by a spouse during the marriage is subject to legal community (or, simply put, is common property) with the other. The law excludes (to take a few of the more important cases) only assets acquired by donation or inherit

The law (articles 2 and 3) provides that when entering a preliminary agreement, or any agreement or contract for which the purchaser takes on obligations and pays money in advance but does not immediately purchase the property in the building under construction, the seller must issue a bank or insurance surety bond that guarantees the entire amount paid and to be paid before the final conveyance deed (which coincides with the deed drawn up by a notary public). The surety bond is the very

One of the essential elements in the negotiation of a home loan is the delay allowed for  repayment of the capital, i.e. the duration. In general terms, one may say that the longer the duration of a home loan the lower the amount of each repayment instalment, which gives the borrower more breathing space; all this, however, means paying overall a larger amount in  interest, precisely because the capital is repaid more slowly. The practice also is that a longer duration

A  "public officer" is a professional who performs "public functions". This means that he is vested by the State  with public authority and faith, which allows him to draw "authentic deeds"  (or "public deeds"). The “authentic deed” is the characteristic  "product" of the latin notary system. Even though  the notaries' discipline can show slight differences in  the different countries adopting the latin system, they all draw up authentic (public) deeds with the same legal meaning.

Legalization is indispensable for a foreign public document to be valid in Italy. It consists only of the official certification - by the competent Italian consular or diplomatic authority abroad – of the legal status of the public official (or functionary) who has signed the document and the authenticity of his signature. If the document is issued by a foreign authority in Italy, it must be legalized by the Prefect in the district in which the foreign authority is located (except for the

Joint ownership of assets is the property regime Italian law “automatically” assigns to partners in marriage, but allows the spouses to choose otherwise (such as the separation of assets or joint ownership by agreement).In summary, legal joint ownership means that, in principle, all assets acquired by the spouses during their marriage, even if formally in the name of one only of them, in reality belong to both. That means that in order to sell them, donate them, mortgage them or otherwise dispos

A property conveyance gives rise to a series of rights and obligations for both parties. For a number of the rights of one of the contracting parties, there are corresponding and equal obligations of the other party, so that the vendor and the purchaser find themselves involved in an interactive web of expectations to be met and duties to be performed. While some of these rights/obligations, such as the payment/receipt of the purchase price and the delivery/receipt of the property, are

Fluctuations in the cost of money may, in some cases, make it advisable to “make running changes” to the terms of a mortgage: such changes, in economics, are known as renegotiation. There are various legal methods for achieving this: a) discharge of the old home loan and granting of new financing with a new mortgage (“replacement” home loan); b) merely changing the terms of the old home loan (renegotiation in the strictest sense); c) from 2 February 2007, subrog

In general the purchase/sale is the contract having the purpose of transferring the ownership of a house or the transfer of some other right for the equivalent of a price;  more generically it could be said that the purchase/sale of real estate is the formal agreement by means of which one party, called the seller, transfers to another, called purchaser, the ownership of a given property against payment of the price agreed on. Our juridical system, in view of the extreme importance of rea

If the parties wish to set up an general partnership, they must respect the specific rules laid down in this regard by the Civil Code, bearing in mind, in any case that, for many aspects, the law refers the reader to the provisions regulating informal partnerships, which consequently apply equally to general partnerships. So that, in the light the foregoing, the present file foresees multiple referrals to the subjects already dealt with and developed with regard to the informal partners

A conveyance differs substantially from an exchange, a donation or a division. In an exchange, there is the reciprocal transfer of certain properties from one owner to another: basically, this means one property is exchanged for another but the exchange may also be accompanied by the passing of a sum of money as a balance if there is a difference in value between the properties exchanged. In a donation, there is always, as in the conveyance, the transfer of real estate, but there is no

A home loan is a contract whereby one party, called the lender (usually a bank), transfers a given sum of money to a second party known as the borrower, so that the latter may use it for a given time in exchange for paying the former an amount representing interest. To this outline of the essential structure and functions of the contract must be added that a home loan includes various clauses that are not always immediately comprehensible but are necessary for regulating all the relations

The sale contract includes the personal data of both the vendor and the purchaser, including their fiscal codes, the description of the property to be transferred with an indication of its location, its nature and its boundaries, as well as its identification at the land titles office and a number of obligatory pieces of information regarding town planning and building regulations. The vendor must declare whether the property was built before 1 September 1967; if the building took place a

It is important to understand what the types of buildings are to which the duties and guarantees examined below apply.  Under this law “buildings to be built” are those for which the building permit or other authorization to build was applied for after the entry into force of the law (21 July 2005), and which are not yet finished, and hence “the fit for use” (agibilità) statement has not been issued (article 1, paragraph 1, letter d). This means that on the one hand the law does not apply to

As has been seen above, in order to determine the type of tax and the amount and means of payment of the sums due for duties on the purchase of a so-called primary residence, one must first of all take into account the nature of the vendor. When the vendor is the company that built (or renovated) the property and four years have not elapsed since completion, the conveyance is subject to VAT that the purchaser must pay directly to the company and not to the notary, along with the payment o

Only legal security in business and private relationships allow for economic development; therefore a constitutional state must guarantee  legal security to its citizens. To this goal: 1) lawsuits  must be prevented, for as much as possible; 2) the citizens must have access  to public registers whose records are reliable and legally trustworthy. Clearly the reliability of the findings depends entirely upon the trustworthiness of the deeds entered. An authentic deed, drawn by a

The limited liability company is intended for smaller companies than joint-stock companies, and the equity participation in the company has a personal connotation which is absent in the s.p.a.  In fact, it has a limited number of shareholders who are not personally responsible for the social security liabilities, even if they have acted in the name and on behalf of the company.The legislation in place as of 1 January 2004 has had a major impact on the limited liability company, which is an e

In early 2003 the Italian legislator issued a law decree (n° 6 of 17 January 2003) which thoroughly reformed companies limited by shares.  The declared aim was to simplify, where appropriate, and enrich, wherever possible, the rules governing such companies, with a view to increasing their competitiveness on both domestic and international markets.Many changes were made and the following results have been achieved:  a better, though still not complete, co-ordination between the rules governi

Co-operatives are associations of persons which are protected in the Italian Constitution:  in fact Article 45 of the Italian Constitution states: “the Constitution recognises the social function of co-operative societies that are based on the values of solidarity and that do not pursue goals of private profit”.In co-operatives predominant importance is ascribed to the social function, which consists in implementing a democratic decentralisation of the power of organisation and management of

Let us take the case in which the Parties decide to undertake an entrepreneurial activity by setting up  a partnership.What would the general characteristics of such a company be?First of all, as regards the unlimited and joint liability of the partners:- in the case of a general partnership, all the partners have unlimited and joint liability;- in the case of an informal partnership, all the partners have unlimited and joint liability, but there can be an agreement whereby the partners who

In  share capital companies the financial autonomy is perfect in that the shareholders are accountable for the debts of the company only in proportion to the share they hold.This means:- that the personal creditors of a shareholder can never receive payment from the company;- that creditors of the company, in turn, can never expect the members to use their personal assets to pay for the company’s debts.The financial circumstances of the shareholder of a company with share capital will never

In order to do business often huge investments are required and often a single person may not have that amount of financial means. Doing business through a company enables several people to invest and work together so that each individual may then enjoy the benefits of the activity carried out proportionately to the amount of work done and to the quota of investments made.A participation (share or quota) of the capital of the company is assigned to the partner in return for the assets he has

The share capital is a numerical entity that expresses the value of the contributions in monetary terms, as indicated by the valuation expressed in the Memorandum of Association.A share capital of 100 means that the partners have committed to contributing (underwritten capital) and/or have contributed (fully paid-up capital) money or other entities which at the time of the signing of the partnership deed, were attributed that given monetary value.The share capital remains unchanged throughou