Italian Supreme Court Holds Lack of Organizational Structure does Not, by Itself, Result in Lack of Beneficial Ownership for Treaty Benefits

A December 2016 decision of the Italian Supreme Court was recently published concerning the entitlement to treaty benefits of a sub-holding company for dividends received from Italy. The case involved a French company (FRCo) wholly owned by a U.S. company that acted as a sub-holding company for all European subsidiaries.

In 2002, an Italian company paid dividends to FRCo, for which FRCo claimed a partial dividend tax credit refund. FRCo would be entitled to such a refund under the 1989 Fran…