Avoidance demerger profiles: a historical and prospective analysis

Demergers have always attracted close scrutiny from the Tax Authority. Its “physiological” use is aimed at achieving a more rational continuance of the business activity, while it can be used “pathologically” as a tool for the allocation or as an "indirect" circulation of assets.

This approach should be reinterpreted in light of the new concept of tax avoidance. Art. 10-bis of Italian Law dated 27 July 2000 no. 212 defined the concept of “avoidance” at the centre of any need for such an operation to be “unjustified.”  This makes it contrary to the spirit and purpose of the law. It declares that it is no longer sufficient to ascertain the absence of valid non-taxation reasons underlying the operation.

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