Investor Visa Italy Investor Visa Italy / 3

INVESTOR VISA ITALY LEGAL ISSUES c) dependent adult children unable to work; d) dependent parents, under determinate conditions. In these cases the visa application must be accompanied by another authorization, previously issued in Italy by the Prefecture, the Authorization for family reunification. The visa will be issued quickly, no later than thirty days. What to do once arrived in Italy? After receiving the visa and even before leaving, the investor or patron can ask for an appointment via web at the Immigration Ofﬁce of the Police Headquarters, where he/she must go within eight working days of entering Italy, in order to apply for a residence permit. The Immigration Ofﬁce will issue a residence permit within a short time (no more than thirty days). The permit is valid for two years from the date of entering Italy and allows the investor or patron to circulate in the Schengen Area, carry out working activities and exercise any other civil law (registration to the national health service, access to universities, etc.). 4 After receiving the residence permit, the investor or patron will be able to make the investment or donation WITHIN 90 DAYS FROM HIS/HER ARRIVAL IN ITALY. These operations will be guaranteed by a notarial deed and the notary will issue a statement that the investor or patron will transmit to the Committee in order to demonstrate that they have made the investment or the donation. If the investment or donation is revoked before two years have passed, the residence permit will be withdrawn and the investor will have to leave Italy. The investor residence permit is valid for two years and may be renewed for further three-year periods. According to law, renewal of the residence permit is subject to preliminary approval by the Committee, which must check that the investment has effectively been maintained for its entire validity period. If he/she proves to have maintained the investment or the donation, the Police Headquarters will renew the residence permit for a three years period. After ﬁve years of regular residence in Italy, the investor may request the issue of EU residence permit, ie a permanent residence permit. Is there a service providing assistance to non- EU investors in Italy? Yes! Investor Visa Italy (www.investorvisa.it) is a JUSWEB service, located in the Province of Vi- terbo, created to help investors and patrons in se- lecting the best investment or donation opportunity and managing all the bureaucratic procedures for both visa and residence permit. # How to invest in an Italian corporation by Giulia Proietti, Civil Law Notary ccording to the recent innovation of Italian immigration law, one of the way to obtain an “investor visa” is to invest a sum of either 500,000 or 1,000,000 euro, respectively, in an Italian startup or in an ordinary corporation. There are two ways to realise this investment: either by subscribing a capital increase or by purchasing existing shares from shareholders for an equivalent value. Capital increases are decided by the share- holders’ meeting of the targeted corporation. In this instance, shareholders will have to approve also the decision to offer the increase to an external third party, renouncing to their right of ﬁrst refusal. The shareholders’ meeting must be put into writing by a notary, who records the decisions and also records the purchase of the new shares by the investor. The decision is immediately valid but its effects toward the public will be produced only after the deed is recorded in the Business Register. Transfer of shares or capital also usually takes place in front of a notary. Only for transfer of shares regarding limited liability corporations, the parties can choose to opt for an accountant to formalise the transfer. Even in this situation, the transfer is im- mediately between the parties but its effects on the public and the corporation will be produced only after the deed is recorded in the Business Register. The subscription of corporations’ capital must be paid immediately in full or at least for the 25% of the total sum if the payment is made in cash. In this instance, administrators of the corporation can ask the shareholder to pay the remaining sum at any A moment, otherwise, they could be excluded by the corporation or their participation reduced. Payments for sums exceeding 3,000.00 euro must be traceable and be made either by bank transfer or a guaranteed check. Shares of corporations are usually freely transferable but there are exceptions. In the joint stock company, that are not listed in the stock exchange, the transfer is usually made through a share endorsement and is noted on the certiﬁcate. For limited liability companies, instead, shares are sold through an ofﬁcial deed of sale. Statutes of limited liability companies can limit the transferability of shares, and limits contained therein are opposable to the buyers. However, statutes cannot exclude completely the transferabi- lity of shares, otherwise, the shareholder has a right to exit the company at any moment and to be reimbursed for their participation. Limited liability companies often provide for “pre-emption clauses”, or clauses that require the remaining shareholders to approve the sale in order to make it valid for the corporation. The clause responds to the will of shareholders to control the change of the company’s social structure, avoiding the entrance of third parties that are not wanted. Capital increases and transfers of shares also have convenient ﬁscal treatment. Differently from transfers of holdings, that are taxed in proportion to the value of the holding itself, capital increases and transfer of shares are subject to a fixed tax, regardless of their value. # Italian start-up companies: venture capital investments and tax facilitations by Luca Serpieri, Business Consultant n the Budget Law for 2019, paragraph 127, innovating the Consolidated Act on Financial Intermediation, the Italian Legislator has identiﬁed the so-called “Business Angels”, namely those who work for fostering all the stages of investment in the ﬁeld of innovation and making them more efﬁcient. Under the new regulatory provision, the Business Angel is any subject, even if not resident in Italy, who has invested in the ﬁeld of innovation, directly or indirectly, an amount equal to at least forty thousand euros in the last three years. They are informal investors of risk capital who are passionate about a start-up, ﬁnancing and supporting it not only by bringing capital, but also experience, knowledge, contacts, business opportu- nities. They are not exclusively driven by ﬁnancial motivations. The Business Angel is neither subject to authorization nor registrations and does not require special features. S/he invests her/his own money and therefore does not belong to the I category of subjects that carry out ﬁnancial activities. In the following paragraph 218, the Italian Legislator has integrated for 2019 the Legislative Decree n. 179 of 18 October 2012, increasing the tax incentives by 40%, namely for individuals and companies that invest venture capital in innovative start-ups. The tax incentives can be: - Tax deduction for natural persons equal to 19% of the capital invested in innovative start-ups; - 20% of capital invested by companies in innovative start-ups which reduces the taxable income. If the entire start-up share capital has been acquired and maintained for three years, tax incentives increase by 50%. Finally, for investment in socially-driven start-ups with a higher techno- logical value in the energy sector, the incentive, calculated on the amount invested: - Has increased by 25% for natural persons; - Has increased by 27% for companies.

Investor Visa Italy Investor Visa Italy / 3 | Page 6