Beneficiario di royalty, holding company e previsioni antiabuso nella Conv. Italia-Svizzera

With such decision the tax Court of Milan has pronounced itself, among other things, in favour of the inapplicability of the reduced_to_5% withholding tax, provided for by article 12, para. 2, of the Italy-Switzerland income tax Treaty (1976) and subject to the condition that the recipient is the benficial owner of the royalties. The Court held that the Swiss resident company, to which the Italian subsidiary paid royalties on a licensing agreement basis, was a mere conduit, as it received the royalties and flowed them (90 per cent) to the Swiss parent company that qualified for the holding companies tax regime and was therefore subject to tax on capital, and not on income, at cantonal and municipal level