Private Client Services: Integrated Legal and Tax Advice

We assist entrepreneurs, families, and High Net Worth Individuals in planning, managing, protecting, and transferring wealth, with integrated, customized advice on legal, tax, and asset management matters.

We support clients in decisions affecting family wealth, business governance, and intergenerational transfers, coordinating multidisciplinary expertise and international networks.

Generation transition planning

Starting from an in-depth analysis of the estate to be passed on—including its individual components and potential legal and tax issues—we identify the best strategies to protect it and ensure its transfer to future generations.

We work closely with entrepreneurs and key company leaders to plan for the next generation and ensure a smooth transfer of business leadership. We produce custom plans that take into account the specific needs and goals of our clients, integrating legal instruments—such as family covenants, wills and corporate structures—with the most appropriate tax optimization solutions, ensuring that the transfer process takes place rationally, efficiently and in full compliance with current regulations.

Legacy Planning and Tax Optimization and tax optimization

The current Italian tax system provides a number of advantages and specific rules that can help reduce the impact of tax on inheritance and gifts. Our team identifies the best ways to optimize estate planning, including through legal instruments such as trusts, foundations, holding companies and family agreements, lifetime gifting, and life insurance policies, that transfer wealth as efficiently as possible while organically addressing legal and tax issues.

To ensure the most favorable wealth transfers, including across borders, we work in coordination with Andersen professionals in Europe and around the world, ensuring compliance in the jurisdictions where the investments are located or where the clients choose to reside.

Trusts, Foundations and Asset Protection Structures

Our assistance extends from strategic consulting to the seamless building of sophisticated legal structures. We support clients in setting up and managing trusts—also assisting the trustees in carrying out their business—and in establishing foundations or other suitable vehicles to protect assets, optimize tax liability, and preserve assets over the long term.

We also partner with banks, insurance companies, trustee companies, and family offices navigating complex wealth restructurings for their private clients.

Planning for international assets

We adopt a custom approach because each individual’s goals and asset mix are unique. By analyzing all the factors that may impact your assets—including cross-border legal implications—we deliver tailor-made solutions to help you navigate complex tax rules and civil law frameworks in estate planning in all the countries where Andersen Global is active.

Services for Private Clients

In addition to strategic support, our professionals provide a full range of operational legal and tax services.

We provide an integrated service in the various stages of the creation, protection, management, and intergenerational transfer of wealth and business ownership, in investing or divesting in real estate, and in creating and managing charitable or philanthropic organizations.

Wealth Planning and Transfer

  • Family Pacts: Assistance with negotiating and formalizing agreements between entrepreneurs and family members to regulate transfer of the business, in full compliance with the Civil Code.
  • Wills: Drafting of personalized testamentary provisions—including holographic, public and secret wills—to ensure that the deceased’s wishes are respected and that the transition takes place smoothly, minimizing the risk of disputes.
  • Institution and Management of Trusts: Advice in selecting the governing law, drafting the trust deed, providing ongoing support to the trustees in managing and reporting on the trust, with an ever-watchful eye on Italian and international tax aspects.
  • Establishment of Foundations and Philanthropic Organizations: Support in setting up and managing Third Sector entities, family foundations and other philanthropic vehicles, integrating estate planning with the client’s social and value-driven goals.
  • Wealth Reorganization via Holding Companies: Designing corporate architectures—including family holding companies—to optimize the management, protection, and intergenerational transfer of business and financial assets.
  • Establishment of Family Trust Funds: A Family Trust fund (‘fondo patrimoniale’) is a legal instrument designed to protect family assets by allocating specific assets (real estate, securities or other assets) to meet the needs of the family. We assist clients at every stage of the process—from assessing the advisability and convenience compared to other asset protection instruments, to drafting the articles of incorporation, and managing the related publicity and tax requirements. We rigorously analyze creditor enforceability limits together with estate planning implications, ensuring that this mechanism effectively fulfills the objectives of protecting the family unit.
  • Establishment of Foundations and Family Foundations: We assist clients in the creation and governance of family foundations and other foundations as long-term vehicles for the unified management of wealth, maintaining control over assets, and achieving shared philanthropic or value-driven goals across generations. We handle the drafting of articles of association and incorporation deeds, define governance structures, select the most appropriate legal form and manage official recognition procedures—seamlessly aligning legal and tax aspects to maximize benefits and guarantee full regulatory compliance.

Taxation and Compliance

The taxation team consists of highly experienced professionals who are specialists in tax consulting for personal wealth, family-owned businesses, and nonprofit entities.

We deal with:

  • Preparation of Annual Tax Returns and local taxes: Timely analysis of a client’s assets and income situation to ensure full compliance with current regulations and minimize the tax burden.
  • Assistance with Inheritance Matters for Tax and Civil Law Compliance: Managing declaration requirements, settling inheritance and gift taxes, and providing guidance in notary procedures and asset transfer formalities.
  • Cross-border Wealth Tax Planning: Analysis of the tax implications arising from holding assets abroad, tax residency across multiple jurisdictions and international client mobility, complete with optimal structuring proposals.

Synergies between Wealth Management and International Mobility

  • Domestic and International Real Estate Wealth Management: Legal and tax advice throughout the phases of acquisition, holding, optimization, and disposal of real estate assets, including due diligence, transaction structuring and ongoing compliance management.
  • Inbound and Outbound Relocation Assistance: Comprehensive legal, tax and operational support for clients wishing to relocate their residency to or from Italy, with analysis of applicable special tax regimes (e.g., the Italian flat tax for new residents, or ‘non-dom’ status in other countries) and full management of all related compliance requirements.
  • Private Client Contracting Services: We provide assistance in drafting, reviewing and negotiating all types of contracts relevant to a private client’s financial, asset, and personal spheres. Among others, our services include prenuptial agreements and marital property arrangements, loan-for-use contracts, conditional donations, agreements between co-heirs, family shareholder agreements, and fiduciary mandate contracts. Each document is custom-built to protect the client’s interests, prevent future disputes and ensure perfect alignment with the overall wealth and succession planning strategy.
  • Real Estate Investments and Divestments: We provide integrated legal and tax assistance throughout all the phases of a real estate transaction—from identifying the most efficient vehicle for the purchase or sale, to conducting legal and tax due diligence, through to negotiating and drafting preliminary and final agreements. We evaluate the tax implications of each transaction—including registration, mortgage and land registry taxes, as well as any capital gains tax—and propose optimal structuring solutions, including the use of corporate or fiduciary vehicles, for both domestic and international real estate assets.

Collaboration with other Andersen specialist teams

Our goal is always to ensure the best possible result for our clients, according to their needs. Therefore, in delivering our services, the professionals on our team can —with the client’s approval— effectively work with other Andersen teams, such as: