Italian Financial Transaction Tax (UPDATE)

Article 1, paragraphs 491 to 500, of Law n.228 of 24 December 2012 introduced a tax on financial transactions applying to the transfers of the ownership of shares and other participating financial instruments (paragraph 491), to transactions in derivative financial instruments and other transferable securities (paragraph 492) as well as to high-frequency trading as referred to in paragraph 495 of the above Law. A Decree of the Minister of the Economy and Finance of 21 February 2013 established the procedures for applying the tax.

The Legislative Decree n.69 of 21 June 2013 modified the starting date with respect to derivative financial instruments and other transferable securities and high-frequency trading on such instruments (from July 1st to September 1st), and the timing for tax payment.

The FTT applies:
- from March 1st, 2013, to transactions on shares, participating financial instruments and other securities, and to high-frequency trading on such instruments;
- from September 2nd, 2013, to transactions on derivative financial instruments and other transferable securities, and to high-frequency trading on derivatives.

Links to relevant informative documents are reported in the section "Useful links".