The main disadvantages are linked to the partial deductibility of the interest expenses, to the amount of the deferred tax assets, to the regulation on credits as well as to the lack of implementation of the VAT Group.
The partial deductibility of interest expenses is an issue Italian banks have to deal with since it caused a cost of 1.2 billion only in 2010. 23 The percentage of in-deductibility of 4 per cent is indiscriminately applied to all of the interest expenses that a bank incurred, without considering the nature of the interests and, in particular, the propor- tion between interest expenses and interest gains. On the other hand, tax regulations in the main European countries (France, Germany, UK) have a different assumption since they are designed to charge the thin capitalization of companies. To this effect, they limit the deduction of interest expenses only whereas they exceed interest gains.24
With regard to net impairment losses on loans, they are fully recognized in all the main European countries (UK, Germany, France and Spain) even if with different methods. On the contrary, in Italy, as explained above, banks cannot fully deduct them in the year of accounting.
Law No. 147 of 27 December 2013 improved the regime, reducing the years of deduction from 18 to 5 years and extending the deduc- tion to IRAP.
The former regime obliged banks to make a huge early payment of taxes, causing the arising of deferred tax assets (so-called DTA).
The reduction of the years of deduction lightened the impact of the early payment, limited the arising of DTA and lowered the tax burden.
As a consequence, it attenuated the pro-cyclical effect of tax rule on net impairment losses on loans. 25
A further reduction of the DTA was granted with Law No. 147/2013, which extended the possibility to turn such assets in effective tax credit.
But this is still not sufficient to fully align the Italian tax regime to the ones of the other European countries, which need the fully recog- nition of the data in the balance sheet.
Other negative effect depend on “one shot” measures such as the increase of the advance income tax payment due for fiscal year 2013 and the introduction of the IRES surcharge of 8.5 per cent for banks which further increased the taxation far above the EU average. 26
The difference between the regulations is able to affect the profit- ability of banks in Italy. This is the reason why it is important to promote the same level playing field adopting the same tax regula- tion in all the European countries and removing tax barriers.
Notes
1 . Hearing of the Governor of Bank of Italy at the Chamber of Deputies on 17 March 2009; Intervention of the Governor of Bank of Italy at the Plenary of the Italian Banking Association of 15 July 2010.
2 . Patuelli: troppo fisco sulle banche in Il Sole 24 Ore del 19 giugno 2014.
3 . Ibid.
4 . According to Art. 2 of Law Decree No. 133 dated 30 November 2013 (converted into Law No. 5 of 29 January 2014), “Urgent provisions relating to the IMU, the alienation of public properties and the Bank of Italy”.
5 . E. Ruggiero and G. Melis, “Pluralità di sistemi contabili, diritto commer- ciale e diritto tributario: l’esperienza italiana” in Rassegna tributaria, no. 6, novembre–dicembre 2008, p. 1624.
6 . G. Zizzo, L’Ires e i principi contabili internazionali: dalla neutralità sostanziale alla neutralità procedurale in Rass. trib., no. 2, marzo–aprile 2008, p. 316; M.
Piazza, D .M. 1 aprile 2009, no. 48 – Determinazione del reddito d’impresa dei soggetti Ias in “il fisco” no. 21 del 25 maggio 2009, pp. 2–3467.
7 . M. Piazza and A. Scagliarini, Circolare Assonime no. 39 del 23 settembre 2008 – Regime dei riallineamenti delle impreserr Ias adopterrin “il fisco” no. 36 del 5 ottobre 2009, pp. 2–6023.
8 . E. Fusa, La valutazione dei crediti secondo i Principi contabili internazionali:
caratteristiche operative edd incertezze fiscali in “il fisco” no. 32, 1 settembre 2008, pp. 1–5774.
9 . R. Dolce and R. Parisotto, Manovra d’estate (D.L. 25 giugno 2008, no. 112, convertito): novità perr banche e assicurazioni in “il fisco” no. 33 dell’8 settembre 2008, pp. 1–5917; M. Piazza, Banche, fisco sopra al 40% – Penalizzate le compensazioni degli interessi passivi infragruppo – LA CONFERMA – Non devono essere neutralizzate le variazioni in diminuzione relative a svalutazioni crediti ante periodo d’imposta 2013 in Il Sole 24 Ore del 6 giugno 2014 10 . P. Pisoni, FPP . Bava and D. Busso, TFR e passaggio agli IAS/////IFRS L’Agenzia delle
Entrate dichiara l’irrilevanza fiscale in “il fisco” no. 2 del 15 gennaio 2007, pp. 1–171.
11. R. Parisotto, Con gli Ias si complica il calcolo perr trattamento di fine rapporto e costi in più esercizi – La quantificazione del Tfr segue criteri attuariali in Il Sole 24 Ore del 18 giugno 2007.
12 . G.Benzoni, R. Mottolese and D. Di Michele, Trattamento di fine rapporto, in F.Acerbis/A.Catona, La tassazione delle banche – Guida alla fiscalità diretta , Gruppo 24 Ore, 2011, p. 181.
13 . M. Orlandi, Legge di stabilità 2014: la deducibilità dei canoni di leasingg su beni mobili e immobili per le imprese in “il fisco” no. 5 del 3 febbraio 2014, p. 413.
14 . G. Gavelli, Iscrizione in bilancio delle partecipazioni societarie e regime Pex in
“ ilfisco ” no. 25 del 18 giugno 2012, pp. 1–3922.
15 . F. Marrone, Limitazione degli effetti distorsivi della tassazione perr trasparenza , in “ il fisco ” no. 46 del 16 dicembre 2013, pp. 1–7101.
16. R. Dolce, Partecipazioni acquisite perr il recupero di crediti bancari (art. 113 del Tuir) in “ il fisco ” no. 46 del 12 dicembre 2011, pp. 1–7446.
17 . F. Dezzani and L. Dezzani, Banca d’Italia: rivalutazione delle quote sociali detenute dai soci in “il fisco” no. 9 del 3 marzo 2014, p. 809.
18. A. Catona and A. Scagliarini, L’Irap nelle banche, in F. Acerbis and A.
Catona, La tassazione delle banche – Guida alla fiscalità diretta, Gruppo 24 Ore, 2011, p. 181; R. Lupi L’Irap tra giustificazioni costituzionali e prob- lemi applicativi in “ Rassegna tributaria” no. 6 novembre–dicembre 1997, p. 1407.
19. J. Davis, B. Smith, M. Wagner and R. O’Kelly, The impact of the eu-11 finan- cial transaction tax on end-users in http://www.google.it/url?url=http://www.
afme.eu//WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx per cent3Fid per cent3D9930&rct=j&// frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ei=10wkVImUPIbW7QbtqIHICQ&ved=0CBoQFjAB
&usg=AFQjCNGhXHjQFK83cNVnZetxkEpGQgCRRw
20 . R. Bocciarelli, Tobin tax, 400 milioni nel 2014 in Il Sole 24 Ore del 4 marzo 2014.
21 . Central depository referred to in Art. 80 of Legislative Decree 58/1998 (Monte Titoli SpA), the Italian Post Office Spa (only activity of Banco Posta), securities firms (SIMs), the asset management company (SGR), insurance companies that operate in the non-life undertakings for collec- tive investment of savings (mutual investment funds), trust companies,
pension institutions compulsory and supplementary pension institutions (Legislative Decree no. 252/2005), electronic money institutions and payment (Art. 114- bis and 114-sexies of the TUB), securitization vehicles, pursuant to Law No. 130/1999, the trust (where the trustee is a financial institution and at least one of the trust and the trustee is a resident in Italy), the Italian permanent establishment of foreign financial institu- tions and credit card issuers.
22. G. Ricotti, V. Pinelli, G. Santini, L. Santuz, E. Zangari and S. Zotteri, La pressione fiscale gravante sul sistema bancario: questioni metodologiche edd evidenze empiriche, in Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional papers), 80, 2010.
23. Ibid.
24. In Italy, thin capitalization is faced through an incentive to capitalize companies, the so-called Allowance for Corporate Equity (ACE), intro- duced by Legislative Decree 201/2011. Such incentive has the aim to reduce the difference in tax treatment between companies financed with debt (that usually can deduct financial expenses) and businesses financed with their own equity (that cannot deduct financial expenses) and to strengthen the capital structure of companies. It provides for the deduc- tion from total income of an amount equal to the notional return on the new capital. The deduction was increased by Law 147/2013, passing from the current 3 per cent to 4 per cent in 2014, 4.5 per cent in 2015 and 4.75 per cent in 2016.
25. A. De Vincenzo and G. Ricotti, L’utilizzo della fiscalità in chiave macropru- denziale: l’impatto di alcune recenti misure tributarie sulla prociclicità e sulla stabilità delle banche in Note di stabilità finanziaria e vigilanza, no. 1 April 2014.
26. A. Patuelli, Alle nostrerr banche più tasse che aiuti. Negli altri Paesi Ue, Germania inclusa, attenzioni statali più generose in Il Sole 24 Ore 26 April 2014.
227 abuse of name, 121
Acting Commissioner, 69, 80 ad acta commissioner, 169 administrative fines, 110 administrative judge, 117, 129 administrative sanctions, 1, 2, 104,
106, 109–119, 120–127, 130 adversarial process, 108 afflictive character, 106 amount of the fine, 116
appeal, 104, 129, 136, 143, 144, 146, 147
Art. 41 of the Italian Constitution, 32, 90
Art. 47 of the Italian Constitution, 5, 32, 79, 159, 174
Association of Italian Bankers (ABI), 136, 1223
bad bank, 25, 26, 35 bail-in, 24–26, 42, 48, 51–53 bank-centred approach, 73 bankers’ compensation, 156 Banking Union, 27, 28, 32, 55, 56 Basel III, 46, 119
best practice, 149, 170 board loyalty, 2, 155, 158 bridge bank, 25, 42 casse rurali e artigiane, 84 Chief Risk Officer, 170
Civil Code, 16, 17, 36, 43, 66, 98, 113, 127, 161, 167, 168, 177, 178, 200, 201, 214
class action, 131, 152 closed bank resolution, 24 Code of Administrative Process
(CAP), 117
commissioners, 7–13, 18–19, 35, 37, 38, 43, 44, 85
concordato di liquidazione, 16 confidi, 72, 82
conflicts of interest, 2, 155, 158, 160, 167, 168, 171, 188–191, 194 Constitutional Court, 117, 118,
127–129, 149, 153
Consumer Credit Directive, 71 contentious nature, 107 corporate governance, 2, 105,
155–158, 163, 164, 169–183, 187 Corporate Income Tax (IRES), 195 Court of Appeal, 15, 118, 129 criminal prosecution, 109 criminal sanction, 109, 114 de Larosière Jacques, 123, 156 de-juridicalization, 62 depositor confidence, 85 depositor protection, 86, 90, 96 deterrence, 109, 110
Directors and Officers (D&O) Insurance, 169
early intervention, 19, 22, 23, 32, 48, 50, 56, 62, 63, 67, 69
effectiveness, 2, 5, 27, 31, 103, 106, 107, 133, 135, 144, 157, 170, 176, 186, 191, 192
Electronic Money Directive, 71 emergency payout, 95
enforcement, 2, 9, 14, 31, 37, 40, 106, 107, 115, 122, 124, 180, 197 European Banking Authority (EBA),
22, 34, 48, 95, 121, 156, 171, 172 European Central Bank (ECB), 27,
28, 30, 33, 46, 47, 55, 57, 58, 60, 104, 129, 130
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), 108, 124, 128 external separation, 15
financial conglomerates, 68, 83 financial markets watchdogs, 106,
122
Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), 3, 211
Fondo centrale di garanzia, 84 Fondo di garanzia dei depositanti del
credito cooperativo, 84 Fondo interbancario di tutela dei
depositi (FITD), 84
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA), 220
governance arrangements, 156, 157 group insolvency, 18
home country control, 20, 31, 45, 64 illegal behaviours, 103
impartiality, 108, 128, 135, 139, 143, 168, 190
in bonis, 25, 87, 91
independence requirements, 2, 130, 155, 159, 160, 162, 178
independent authority, 103–105, 139 insolvency risks, 88, 90
insurance companies, 4, 61, 67, 69–74, 78, 79, 97, 196, 205, 222, 224
internal separation, 16 intervention plan, 70
judicial review, 3, 59, 155, 168, 180 jurisdiction, 29, 38, 45, 47, 104, 105,
116–118, 120, 129, 138, 140, 144, 145, 149, 159, 196, 202
jurisprudence, 108, 118 lawmakers, 103, 107, 121, 130 legal cumulability, 113 Liikanen Erkki, 157, 173 mandatory consortium, 1 market abuse, 114
mediation, 26, 27, 135, 137140, 142–144, 152, 153, 159 minimum harmonization, 22, 93
moral hazard, 33, 35, 46–48, 52, 74, 89, 111, 141, 185
moral suasion, 108, 148 mutual banks, 1
mutual recognition, 21, 31, 32, 67 national resolution authorities, 26,
27, 28, 54, 58, 59 negligent behavior, 113 obstruction of the supervisory
function, 113, 114
offence, 40, 104, 107, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 116, 127
offensiveness, 122 open bank resolution, 24 opposition to the fines, 106 out-of-court, 104, 133–138, 144, 146 par condicio creditorum, 14
pari passu principle, 14 partial withdrawal, 70, 80
Payment Services Directive, 71, 135 payout, 55, 85, 86, 89–93, 95, 97, 98 personal liability, 8, 126
pre-crisis intervention, 10 pre-crisis stage, 90
preventive supervisory approach, 5, 19
principle of favor libertatis, 113 principle of favor rei, 112, 121 private justice, 132
proportional approach, 20 prudential regulation, 45, 50, 109 public bank, 25
public officials, 8, 13 reciprocal loans, 95 recovery plan, 22, 49, 87 Regional Business Tax (IRAP), 206 Regional Federation, 87
regulatory arbitrage, 189
Regulatory Technical Standards, 22 reimbursement, 1, 74, 86, 91, 94, 98 related parties, 3, 155, 165–169, 179 reorganization measures, 69 restoration plan, 68, 80