Italian deputy economics minister Vincenzo Visco has signed the enacting decree facilitating the creation of SIIQs, the Italian equivalent of real estate investment trusts. The Italian state council still has to take the final hurdle, Italian newspaper IlSole24Ore reported. It is expected that the SIIQ regime will become operational by the end of June, as initially planned in Italy's 2007 financial budget.
Italian deputy economics minister Vincenzo Visco has signed the enacting decree facilitating the creation of SIIQs, the Italian equivalent of real estate investment trusts. The Italian state council still has to take the final hurdle, Italian newspaper IlSole24Ore reported. It is expected that the SIIQ regime will become operational by the end of June, as initially planned in Italy's 2007 financial budget.
According to the draft law, to be eligible for SIIQ status and corporate and regional tax breaks companies will have to pay, over a five-year period, an entry tax of 20% on the capital gain on rented property held at the end of the last financial period in which the ordinary corporate fiscal regime applied. At least 80% of real estate assets have to be allocated for rent and rents have to comprise at least 80% of total revenues. Also, they must distribute at least 85% of profit in dividends.
Activities not linked to rents and aimed at development will be treated under and subject to the ordinary tax regime. Under the bill, the maximum held by a shareholder in a SIIQ is 51%, while at least 35% of the capital has to be owned by shareholders not owning more than 1% of voting rights.
