Special economic zones and new frontiers of international taxation: the Italian case

The evolution of the international and EU framework regarding measures to combat the erosion of tax bases and the aggressive tax planning practices of multinational groups has been promptly implemented by the Italian legislator by the Enabling Act for the Reform of the Taxation System and by the related implementing legislative decrees. This regulatory system must be coordinated, in particular, with the provisions contained in the Enabling Act relating to the possibility of reducing the IRES rate in the event of “virtuous” behavior by companies and entities regarding investments, hiring workers or participation of employees in profits of the company and with the rules through which delegation is given to the Government for the review and rationalization of tax incentives for companies, as well as with the mechanisms for determining and using them, and for the simplification of the system of “rebalancing” tax reliefs granted to companies that invest in SEZs. In the paper presented, while waiting for governments to acquire greater awareness of the ways in which international fiscal rules can influence their “efforts” in promoting employment and/or investments and in reducing territorial imbalances, I will try to carry out a first approximate evaluation of the possible impact of the OECD soft law on the regulation of the benefits provided in Italy for companies investing in the territory of the Single SEZ and to verify its compatibility with the legislation implementing the tax reform in the field of international taxation.