A breakfast briefing on Italian Law and Tax proved to be an unusual yet popular way for many key industry players to kick off their week at this year’s Monaco Yacht Show.
PGI's ROUND TABLE MEETING - MONACO YACHT SHOW
Hosted by the Yachting Team at Puopolo Geffers Iacobelli & Partners and organised by SuperyachtEvents, the breakfast briefing was a unique occasion for operators in the specialised area of yachting tax to exchange experiences and network. The key topic of the meeting, held at the Hotel de Paris on Wednesday 22nd Sept, was “Superyachts: Italian Tax and Legal Issues. The lessons we have learnt and how to be safe in the future”. Attendees ranged from lawyers to insurance specialists, brokers, banks and other operators who were all interested in solving problems concerning the comprehension and application of the Italian yachting tax regulation in force.
PGI's ROUND TABLE MEETING - MYS 2010
There was a highly vivid debate among the attendees on the fiscal treatment reserved within the EU territory to companies that perform chartering activities by utilizing so-called “commercial yachts”. Particular attention was paid to violations of tax and customs laws, which have brought operators of the shipping industry to carefully reconsider the terms of application of certain laws that -especially in the EU are still uncertain and not fully harmonised, such as: shipyards allowing the assignment of contracts with main subcontractors or suppliers; equipment and other major items to be assembled on board to be registered and labelled in the name of the owners; shipyards may need to work on a more “open books” basis and allow more control of finance and expeditures by an owner’s team; shipyards may want to consider ” renting” out their facilities to owners rather than being the sole contractor; constant mediation procedure provided by the contract to solve problems as soon as they arise in order to avoid delays in payments and performance of contractual obligations; Italian law provides for a new voluntary mediation scheme that may be adopted in the case of yacht construction contracts; and finally, not to seek cheap prices as this has shown to be detrimental in the long run.
PGI Breakfast Briefing at the 2010 MYS - Image courtesy of PGI
One of the conclusions on Italian tax drawn from the breakfast was as far as Italy is concerned, it’s possible to minimize fiscal risks. There are no operational standards that can automatically apply to client’s specific needs or to the business scenarios in which they operate and therefore, it’s up to the professional consultant to create a business model tailored to meet the client’s specific needs. EU countries in general allow preventive ruling whereby tax payers can address the tax authorities in order to obtain the prior approval of the fiscal aspects related to a specific operational structure that they intend to implement. The system assures transparency and cooperation between the taxpayer and the tax authorities and is intended to prevent certain types of tax inspections from taking place.
