Italy

Sheltons Italy

We are a very focused business advisory firm – working exclusively with internationally operating clients.

Our primary focus is on foreign companies doing business with Italy, from exporting or selling on-line in Italy to setting up a permanent establishment in Italy, through a subsidiary or even by employing just one person in Italy.

These scenarios involve an array of administrative, tax, legal and accounting challenges that most professional advisers are unable to deal with holistically.

To efficiently respond to our clients’ needs we offer a comprehensive range of services.

Our Italian office assists in all the areas falling within the international expertise and competences typically found across all Sheltons offices such as international tax consulting, basic bookkeeping, setting up entities and assisting expats in relocating to Italy.

We also assist our clients by connecting them with a network of independent professionals providing various services which are required to be performed by external third-party professionals in Italy, including legal, accounting and employment related services which, in line with Italian laws and regulations, can only be performed by Italian licensed professionals,

Sheltons offices in Italy operate as a non-organised professional firm, as per Law no. 4 of 14 January 2013, published on GU Serie General n.22 of 26-01-2013.

Our team comprises of a mix of highly qualified Italian and foreign professionals with different skills and backgrounds.

The fact that our Italian office works is English reflects our focus on international companies with interests in Italy.

Between us we speak several other languages including French, Danish, Polish, Spanish and Arabic.

Entity set-up and management

Our extensive international experience built up across our offices means we are often quite familiar with the shareholders’ jurisdictions and the shareholding entity – whether it be a US LLC, a German GmbH, an Indian Pvt Ltd, a Brazilian Limitada, a UK LLP, a Dutch closed CV, etc.

Before setting up any entity in Italy, we can advise our clients on the selection of the right legal form as well as on the relevant business and tax implications of each choice.
Aside from the entity incorporation, we can also assist our clients with all necessary (business) registrations as well as to deal with a variety of legal, labour, administrative, banking, and operative issues.

 

Company secretarial

Although a company secretary is not an office which is known in Italy, we can arrange for the performance of company secretarial related activities in Italy ensuring good governance and compliance with Italian relevant laws and regulations.

Our services will typically include: attending to all shareholder and directors meeting, preparing all ordinary resolutions, updating of registers such as the shareholder and director registers and filing all required forms and documents with the Italian company registries and authorities, also in coordination with a notary when required by the law. Documentation submitted with any authority in Italy will need to be prepared in Italian language. We are often able to provide unofficial translations of any official forms or able to obtain official translations of English language documents accordingly.

Bookkeeping and related services

Providing the full range of bookkeeping services to foreign-based businesses is our daily bread and butter worldwide.

Certain accounting services, particularly those restricted to Italian professional firms are provided by an external network of Italian independent professionals with whom we collaborate. In such cases we ensure a seamless development of the services delivered with minimal impact on our clients.

Please note that we are operating in Italy as a non-organised professional firm, as per Law no. 4 of 14 January 2013, published on GU Serie Generale n.22 of 26-01-2013.

Our language skills, knowledge of international accounting software, and familiarity with relevant accounting necessities in many head office countries, matched by the acknowledgement of the peculiarity of Italian accounting and related areas, equips us extremely well in serving our clients.

Our teamwork, systems and procedures ensure that each matter we handle on behalf of our clients is not dependent on the availability of a single person.

We also work in a way that enables us to easily avail of the resources in any of the other Sheltons Group offices, should the need arise.

Bookkeeping

In cooperation with external professional firms, we prepare accounts from source documents, or based on preliminary work from the client, taking Italian rules and the foreign client’s wishes into account.

We use a variety of accounting software packages.

We also prepare special-purpose accounts (such as pro forma accounts) and consolidated accounts.

We have a wealth of experience in preparing and report group reporting packages for the purpose of group consolidation.

Our services include reviewing client-prepared accounts and supporting the client’s internal accounting team as appropriate.

We have experts in IFRS and have good knowledge of the GAAP throughout several countries.

Audit assistance

An important role is to liaise with the Italian auditors of the client’s Italian company.
We have clear systems for preparing material to facilitate efficient audits in Italy.

We can often satisfy all questions from the auditors in advance, or at least significantly reduce the time and demands on the client.

We very regularly liaise with the auditors of other parts of the group.

As a completely independent firm, we are not a member of any accounting network, resulting in a comfortable relationship with the auditors of the non-Italian parts of the group who will usually be in such a network.

VAT services

See also under VAT advice.
We assist with all aspects of VAT compliance, from registration to setting up routines with the clients to ensure comfortable meeting of filing deadlines and the preparation and filing of VAT returns.

Salary administration

Many of our client cases involve employers based in other countries, directly or indirectly employing staff in Italy.

Apart from assisting employers and employees on the Italian and international tax aspects of the employment (see under tax services), we also help clients needing efficient payroll administration services by connecting with a network of trusted external independent qualified professionals.

Payroll administration services for foreign businesses, or Italian units thereof, often involve extensive interaction with the foreign part of the group.

We pride ourselves in our ability to understand both the needs of the foreign part of the group and the local units and in our flexibility in providing the services.

Our broad range of services, perfomed also in cooperation with local independent labour law specialists and Italian qualified “consultenti del lavoro” when necessary, typically includes matters such as:

  • employer registration
  • drafting and review of employment contracts
  • visa assistance
  • generation of payslips
  • assistance with payment (net salaries, tax, etc.)
  • annual administration (reports to the tax authorities, the employer, and the employees)
  • Etc.

Apart from providing advice on employer obligations, we also provide comprehensive tax advice and expat relocation services.

Please note that we are operating in Italy as a non-organised professional firm, as per Law no. 4 of 14 January 2013, published on GU Serie Generale n.22 of 26-01-2013.

Local tax advice and compliance

We can advise our clients on the relevant aspects of complex and ever-changing Italian tax and compliance issues also thanks to the collaboration with external Italian independent specialists especially on those areas and for those activities which require necessarily the legal opinion of an Italian law firm or specialised Italian lawyer.

As tax is one of our main areas of specialisation, we regularly run training and educational activities: see also SITTI and international tax advice.

Please note that we are operating in Italy as a non-organised professional firm, as per Law no. 4 of 14 January 2013, published on GU Serie Generale n.22 of 26-01-2013.

 

Relocation of expats

As a consequence of our efforts to serve our international clients in all their local needs we focus our support and advise also on a broad range of relocation services for their employees.

Many of our staff, including our senior team members are either expats themselves or have been living outside of Italy for many years.

The services we deliver, directly or through our local labour law specialists and Italian qualified “consultenti del lavoro” when necessary, include assistance in each of the following areas:

  • Accommodation search
  • Bank account opening
  • Connecting utilities
  • Culture familiarisation
  • Importing a (used) car
  • Pets relocation services
  • Insurance matters
  • Language courses
  • Moving-out services
  • Obtaining a driver’s licence
  • Other registrations
  • Preparing a move-in report
  • Public transport
  • Removals – transport
  • Schools
  • Subscriptions (telephone, internet, TV, etc)
  • Tax registration
  • Visas and residence permits

Please note that we are operating in Italy as a non-organised professional firm, as per Law no. 4 of 14 January 2013, published on GU Serie Generale n.22 of 26-01-2013.

 

International tax services

To learn about our International Tax Services please click here