MANAGEMENT AND STATUTORY AUDIT OF AN ITALIAN COMPANY. In Italy, companies are managed either by a Board of Directors (consiglio di amministrazione) or by a sole director (amministratore unico). The Board of Directors or the sole director can delegate certain management powers to non-directors to facilitate the day-to-day management of the company. This document discusses [..Read more..]

Acquisitions and joint ventures. Italian Decree Law No 58/98 and the regulations made under this law provide, amongst other things, the legal framework for public offers for the acquisition of shares, whether these are listed on the stock exchange or not. This document discusses matters relating to acquisitions of company shares in Italy, covering: public [..Read more..]

Publicly available information on Italian companies Registrar of Companies The ‘Registro delle Imprese’ (Register of Enterprises) was formally established in 1996, by Presidential Decree No 581/1995. All Spas, Sapas and Srls must be registered with it and must file a wide variety of documentation and information with the Register of Enterprises. The filing is required [..Read more..]

Hiring framework The Employer Q. Is it mandatory for an employer establish a relevant body and register at public bodies before hiring employees? A. Yes, it is. Q. Who wants to hire employees in Italy must establish a relevant body (legal entity, like an «S.r.l.» or, at least, a branch; a rep-office is not enough). [..Read more..]

Read our guide on doing business in Lombardy

Read our Guide on National and Regional Incentives for Companies and Individuals in Italy.

Italy has recently taken important new steps to position itself as a welcoming home for foreign investments. Compared to the past, it is becoming increasingly attractive to open companies in Italy for non-EU and EU residents, also from a tax point of view. Please find below general information on some of the main tax incentives. [..Read more..]

Guide on the Regulatory Framework of Alternative Investment Funds in Italy What legislation governs the establishment and operation of Alternative Investment Funds? Italian AIF’s are regulated mainly by: Legislative Decree of 24 February 1998, No. 58 on Consolidated Law on Finance (Testo Unico della Finanza, TUF); Bank of Italy Regulation of 19 January 2015, on [..Read more..]

Avv. Francesco Dagnino (Partner LEXIA Avvocati – www.lexia.it) Blockchain technology (or distributed ledger technology) could assume great significance for financial markets, understood in the broad sense. Among the many economic transactions that can be done through blockchain technology, the so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) are spreading. ICOs represent a digital form of raising financial resources [..Read more..]

The share capital represents the value of the funds and the assets (the “contributions”) conferred by the shareholders, as risk capital, at the time of the incorporation of a limited liability company. It is, usually, divided into equal shares that are allocated to the shareholders in proportion to the amount of capital subscribed and paid. [..Read more..]

Branch or Subsidiary? Main differences To carry out its business in Italy, a foreign company may choose between a branch or a subsidiary (i.e. an Italian limited liability company entirely owned by the foreign company). So, what is the difference between the two? A branch is not a separate legal entity; it is an Italian [..Read more..]

Under Italian law, a company can carry out any kind of commercial activity; however, the company must indicate the specific activities it is going to carry out. Indeed, among the requirements of the incorporation deed of a limited liability company, the absence of which makes the deed void, one of the most important is the [..Read more..]

Liquidation and Insolvency of an Italian company. Liquidation and bankruptcy procedures are respectively governed by the Civil Code and by the Royal Decree No 267 of 1942 (the ‘Bankruptcy Act’).It has to be noted that the Legislative Decree No 14/2019 providing for the new Code of corporate crisis and insolvency, will definitively enter into force on August [..Read more..]