Investor Visa Italy Investor Visa Italy / 1

INVESTOR VISA ITALY LEGAL ISSUES Requirements for documents from abroad and for use abroad The regulation of donations in Italy by Giulia Proietti, Civil Law Notary Source: The National Council of Notaries n general, for documents originating in a fo- reign country to be valid in Italy it is neces- sary, as in most legal systems, that they undergo a process of recognition and validation by the Italian diplomatic and consular authorities abroad: this is called “legalisation”, whereby those authorities certify that the document in que- stion was lawfully produced in its State of origin and its content is therefore reliable. I 18 Given that legalisation is a procedure that in- volves an expenditure of time and resources that is hardly compatible with the requirements of mo- dern commerce, most countries in the world - in- cluding Italy - have signed the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 regarding the abolition of lega- lisation of foreign public documents. This Conven- tion means signatory nations have allowed legalisation to be replaced, as regards documents from another signatory nation, by the appending of an Apostille, rendering the document valid in the foreign country. The Apostille is an attestation, prepared in ac- cordance with a standard required by the Hague Convention, as to the legal qualiﬁcation of the pu- blic ofﬁcial (or functioary) who has signed the do- cument and the authenticity of his or her seal or stamp. This method means that a foreign national in possession of a document requiring validity in Italy can go to the authorities of the State in which it was issued - and a list of the appropriate authori- ties for each country is contained in the act of ac- cession to the Convention itself - to have the apostille appended, thus making the document le- gally enforceable in Italy. With the exception of those documents sub- mitted on multilingual forms pursuant to interna- tional conventions, such documents must also be translated into Italian. The national authority designated by Italy for issuing apostilles for Italian documents to be used abroad is the public prosecutor’s ofﬁce for notarial deeds, for court documents and for those regar- ding civil status, while for administrative acts the competent ofﬁce is the Prefecture (Territorial Go- vernment ofﬁce) of the place where the document was issued. ccording to Italian law, donations are con- tracts through which a party, the donor, dispose of a right or assume an obligation in favor of another party, the donee, with the so called animus donandi, or the intent to impoverish themselves gratuitously for the beneﬁt of the other party. Accordingly, donations are characterized by the lack of any consideration and by the sponta- neity and freedom of the donor’s action. In order to guarantee the presence of both characteristics, the Italian legislator provides certain formalities for the validity of the act 1 . First, as contracts, the law requires that both parties, donor and donee, participate and agree to the terms of the transaction.Then, the contract must be made in the form of a public act, stipula- ted in front of two witnesses and a notary. In Italy a notary is an impartial public ofﬁcial who ensures the legality of the contract, the respect of each party’s will and keeps copy of the act. If one party does not speak Italian and the notary does not know that party’s language, an interpreter must assist the stipulation and at least one of the wit- nesses must be able to understand the foreign language. The notary will then read the act to the party in front of the witnesses and make sure it respects their will before it is signed. If these formalities are not respected, the do- nation is void and cannot produce any effect, nor be remedied a posteriori. Donations are also considered “personal acts”, meaning that only those who are capable and free to dispose of their own property can be donors. The object of a donation can be real estate, personal property, cash, securities, as well as an obligation to give something in the future. According to anti-money laundering regula- tions, donations of sums exceeding 2,999 euro must be made through traceable instruments, such as bank transfers and not transferable checks. If personal properties are donated, each item and its value must be described in the public act or in a separate attachment signed by all par- ties, the witnesses and the notary. This require- ment guarantees that the object of the donation is A precisely identiﬁed and that the donor is aware of their disposition of property. Donors can also impose certain burdens on the donee, like the obligation to use the assets do- nated for a particular purpose, without triggering the gratuitousness of the act. If the donee does not act accordingly and disrespect such obliga- tions, the donation can be terminated either by the donor or their heirs, but only if the public act expressly provides so. The expenses connected with donations con- sist of taxes and notary’s fees. The ﬁscal treat- ment of donations varies based on the relationship between the donor and the donee, ranging from 2% to 8% of the donation’s value 2 . If the object of the donation is real estate, further taxes are appli- cable (speciﬁcally the Mortgage Registration Fee of 2%, and the Land Register fee of 1% of the do- nation’s value). However, donations are tax-free if they are made in favor of the Italian State or in favor of legally recognized foundations, associa- tions or charities 3 carrying out speciﬁc public pur- poses (social assistance, scientiﬁc research, education or other public ﬁnalities) 4 . Taxes are to be paid at the time of the stipu- lation to the notary, who is responsible for their li- quidation, together with notaries’ fees, which vary based on the complexity and on the value of the transaction. The notary is usually chosen by the donor, who is also the party paying for the relevant expenses. —— Notes 1) With the exception of donations of moderate value or donations made to future spouses. 2) Exemptions apply if the donation does not exceed certain values (for example, one million euro between spouses). 3) Speciﬁcally, charities having the legal qualiﬁcation of “ONLUS”. 4) In case this exemption applies and the object of the donation is real estate, Mortgage Registration Fees and Land Register fee are 200,00 euro each.

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