The family enterprise: civil law and tax law issues

Abstract

In the Italian legal system a specific and particular discipline has been in force for a long time for family enterprises. From the point of view of civil law this institution (regulated by Art. 230-bis and 230-ter of the Civil Code) has as its primary aim to protect not so much the position of the entrepreneur, as that of the family members working in various capacities in the same enterprise, while from the point of view of tax law the aim is, on the one hand to regulate taxation according to the principle of transparency typical of income produced in associated form governed by Art. 5 of Presidential Decree no. 917 dated 22 December 1986, (Income Tax Law), but also and above all, avoid - with the attribution by law of 51 percent of the income to the entrepreneur – maneuvers to reduce the tax burden through forms of undue splitting among the family members. In particular, in order to be able to consider a family enterprise as also existing for tax purposes, tax legislation is more stringent as regards formal requirements.