Italy: Withholding tax on dividends paid to U.S. collective investment funds breaches EU law (court decision)
Already established by the Italian Supreme Court
U.S. collective investment funds breaches EU law (court decision)
The first-level tax court of Pescara on 17 April 2023 issued a series of decisions confirming that the Italian tax treatment of dividends paid to investors in the United States was discriminatory and in breach of EU law, as already established by the Italian Supreme Court in a series of decisions issued in July 2022. Read TaxNewsFlash
KPMG observation
These are the first decisions issued by a first-level tax court in Italy in favor of non-EU entities and are consistent with previous decisions issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
Foreign entities need to file withholding tax claims in Italy and initiate court proceedings to obtain a refund.
The statutory time limit to initiate court proceedings is 10 years plus 90 days from the filing date of the claim. If a claim is successful, interest will be added to the refunded amount.
Read an April 2023 report [PDF 262 KB] prepared by the KPMG member firm in Italy
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