The PIR: a Very Interesting Opportunity for Any Italian Saver
The Italian legislator (Italian financial law - Law n. 232 – 12/11/2016) has recently finally put in operation the PIR. This Plans, conceived and scheduled about two years ago, lingered in a sort of juridical “limbo” during the last 18 months due to the lack of an appropriate set of rules. Nowadays, this problem is definitely resolved.
By January 1st 2017, PIRs are a concrete investment option for all Italian money savers. As a matter of fact, PIRs offer them the chance to partially allocate their wealth (at max. Euro 30.000 per year – with an investment cap equal to Euro 150.000) adopting a convenient financial tool. At the same time they represent an innovative channel in order to raise financial funds in favor of the best Italian and European mid cap companies.
The list of benefits related to a PIR investment includes:
- Tax exemption for capital incomes achieved by means of PIR investment, such as: interests, dividends, interests, gains, etc.;
- “Death tax” exemption for any investment associated to a PIR.
A personal PIR must be built by a financial institution (banks, insurance companies or other financial institutions, wealth management companies and so on) according to the allocation rules provided by the law. Any investment linked with a PIR must be duly “qualified”, i.e. it must be compliant with the following allocation standards:
- At least 70% of each PIR capital must be invested in financial products such as: shares, bonds and other financial products issued by Italian and European companies. Further, at least 30% of the aforesaid 70% (i.e. 21% of the total amount) must be compulsorily invested in shares listed in the Italian regulated markets or other countries of the European Union. Investments in Real Estate companies are not - in any case - allowed at this scope;
- The last 30% of each PIR capital can be freely allocated by the investors regardless the mentioned 70% allocation rule (included RE investments) with just an exception: Investments related to all foreign companies established in “no cooperative” (black list) countries cannot – in any case – be positively admitted;
- Last, but not least, PIR investments key rule must be “diversification”, i.e. it is not possible to allocate more than 10% of any PIR available capital in financial products and/or bank accounts issued by companies belonging to the same company group.
Stated the mentioned standard limits referring to the “quality” of any PIR investment, we cannot neglect as the “quantitative” requirement, also known as “no concentration rule”, as the “temporal” requirement strictly connected with a binding “minimum time” of detention equal to five years.
Coming to an end on the mattered topic, we point you out that, by the end of last March, the main Italian financial institutions (such as banks, insurance companies, WM companies) have put on the market and started to promote their own PIR compliant financial tools. At present, the Italian financial market really offers a wide range of PIR options. In order to find the right personal PIR we suggest any investor to carefully ponder and evaluate: the amount of expected PIR costs (commissions, fees, expenses), the quality (rating, volatility, risks, past yields and so on) of investments submitted and the customization level of each financial tool.
Once you have pinpointed your right PIR product with your financial consultant, our firm, thanks to the experience accrued over last years on legal and fiscal question related to the mattered question, is at your complete disposal in order to assist you. So do not hesitate to contact us, we are ready to listen and ponder confidentially your case aimed to find jointly your own and familial best solution.
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Stefano Lecchi, is specialized in tax litigation, extraordinary taxation and to groups of Insurance; he is engaged as associate and team leader for more than ten years.