Flat-tax regime: Ateco sections relevant for the new impediment
The Italian IRS, on the 9/E 2019 Circular published on 10 April 2019, analyzed some issues relating to the flat-tax regime, focusing in particular on the new impediment represented by direct or indirect control in limited liability companies which carry out economic activities directly or indirectly attributable to those performed by the owners who are subjects to the flat-tax regime.
It is useful to remind that, for such an impediment to be operating, it is mandatory the co-presence of:
- the direct or indirect control of the limited liability company and
- the exercise of the same economic activities attributable to those performed by the owners.
With regard to the first point, the circular clarifies that for the definition of direct and indirect control it is necessary to refer to the provisions of article 2359 of the civil code, which provides that companies must be considered as controlled when:
- another company holds the majority of the votes that can be exercised at the ordinary shareholders’ meeting;
- another company has sufficient votes to exercise a dominant influence in the ordinary shareholders’ meeting;
- under the dominant influence of another company by particular contractual obligations.
With regard to the second point, the Italian IRS provides important clarifications to the notion of “economic activities directly or indirectly attributable to those performed by the owners”.
In fact, it is clarified that the Ateco codes declared by the owner and by the company do not assume relevance, and it will be necessary to analyze the activities actually carried out by both parties: what will be relevant are the activities exercised by the limited liability company that must belong to the same section of the Ateco of the activities carried out by the owner subject to the flat-tax regime.