Key Points
- The Treviso Tax Court (Corte di Giustizia Tributaria), in judgment no. 288 of 12 August 2025, recognises an individual trustee's entitlement to use the price-value method (art. 1, paragraph 497, legge n. 266/2005) for purchases of residential property intended for the trust fund.
- The contracting party is the individual trustee, not the trust: acting in the capacity of trustee does not change the identity of the party to the deed, nor does it make the trust a contracting party.
- The allocation of the property to the fund takes place at a later stage, distinct from the sale and purchase, and does not affect the classification of the purchase by reference to the purchaser's status.
- The trust has neither legal personality nor general status as a taxable person: it is a relationship, not an entity.
- The ruling is consistent with Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) no. 3073/2021 and Bologna Tax Court no. 75/2025, in direct contrast to administrative guidance (Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) circular no. 34/E of 20 October 2022).
- Attention must be paid to the requirement concerning the purchaser's status: if the office of trustee is held by a trust company or another legal person, access to the price-value method remains unavailable.
This is a recurring situation in family wealth planning: the trust holds cash and the trustee uses it to purchase residential property intended to become part of the fund – a home for the beneficiaries, a dwelling to generate rental income, or an asset completing the trust's endowment.
When the notarial deed is executed, a question arises whose financial significance is far from theoretical: is the registration tax base calculated on the agreed price or on the cadastral value? Given the often substantial gap between cadastral values and market values, the answer can be worth tens of thousands of euros.
How the price-value method works
The price-value method was introduced by art. 1, paragraph 497, of legge 23 December 2005, n. 266 (Finance Act 2006). For transfers of residential property and related appurtenances, the registration tax base may be determined by reference to the building's cadastral value – the revalued cadastral income multiplied by the statutory coefficients under art. 52, paragraphs 4 and 5, of d.P.R. n. 131/1986 (TUR) – irrespective of the agreed consideration, which the parties remain obliged to state in the deed.
The conditions
There are three conditions. The purchaser must be an individual who is not acting in the course of commercial, artistic or professional activities; the property must be for residential use; and the option must be expressly requested from the notary in the transfer deed.
Following the amendments introduced by the Finance Act 2007, the requirement concerning personal status applies only to the purchaser: the seller may be anyone, provided that the transfer is subject to proportional registration tax. The mechanism also applies where the transfer concerns a limited right in rem, such as bare ownership.
The rationale of the provision is twofold: to encourage disclosure of the actual consideration in property transactions – by separating the tax base from the price, the incentive to declare a price lower than the actual one is removed – and, at the same time, to reduce litigation with the Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) over valuation adjustments. In return for transparency on the price, the taxpayer obtains a predetermined tax base, protection against a valuation assessment and a 30% reduction in notarial fees.
The Agency's position: segregation closes the door
Under administrative guidance, however, the mechanism is unavailable where the purchaser is the trustee. The argument relies on the segregation effect: the property does not become part of the contracting party's personal assets, but of the trust's assets; the statutory requirement that the purchase be made by an individual would therefore not be met.
This is the approach that the tax office also bases on circular no. 34/E of 20 October 2022, and from which it derives its refusal to grant the trust either the reliefs available to individuals or the option to use the price-value method. The practical consequence is that proportional registration tax is charged on the price declared by the parties.
The case decided in Treviso
The case examined by the Treviso Tax Court (Corte di Giustizia Tributaria) of First Instance arose from a deed of sale and purchase dated 9 November 2023, under which an individual, acting as trustee of a family trust, purchased the bare ownership of a residential building intended to become part of the trust fund. In the notarial deed, the purchaser expressly requested the use of the price-value method, with the tax base determined by reference to the revalued cadastral income rather than the agreed consideration.
The Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) – Treviso Provincial Directorate rejected the option: attributing the purchase to the trust rather than to the individual who was party to the deed, it served a tax calculation notice recalculating proportional registration tax on the declared price. The trustee challenged the notice.
The decision: the trust is not a party to the contract
In judgment no. 288 of 12 August 2025, the Treviso judges allow the appeal and reject the tax authority's argument, starting with the legal classification of the deed of sale and purchase. The purchaser is an individual identified by name in the notarial deed, who accepted the appointment and directly assumed the legal effects of the contract. Acting in the capacity of trustee does not affect the identity of the party to the deed, nor does it make the trust a contracting party.
There are two further steps in the reasoning. First: the allocation of the property to the trust fund takes place at a later stage, distinct from the purchase deed, and therefore cannot affect the classification of the sale and purchase by reference to the purchaser's status. Second: the trust, as a separate pool of assets formally held in the trustee's name for a purpose and for the eventual distribution of those assets, has neither legal personality nor independent legal status – and, for that very reason, remains outside any contract. Only one circumstance is therefore relevant to the exercise of the option: that the purchaser is an individual, as the trustee is.
An established line of authority
The ruling directly contradicts administrative guidance, but it does not stand alone. First, it follows the approach established by the Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) in judgment no. 3073 of 9 February 2021, according to which the purchase of a property by a trustee is not an act of endowment of the trust, but an ordinary sale and purchase, legally independent of the subsequent allocation of the property; nor can any attribution of the purchase to the trust exclude the price-value method, because the trust does not acquire general status as a taxable person.
This conclusion is consistent with the now settled position of Supreme Court case law on the nature of the arrangement: a trust is not a new legal entity, but a set of relationships centred on the trustee, who alone has standing in substantive and procedural dealings with third parties. Lower-court case law is also moving in the same direction: a few months before the Treviso ruling, the Bologna Tax Court (Corte di Giustizia Tributaria) of First Instance, in judgment no. 75 of 3 February 2025, had recognised an individual trustee's entitlement to use the price-value method.
What changes for those planning through a trust
The emerging position merits the attention of settlors, trustees and professionals for at least three reasons.
The first is financial. For residential purchases made using cash held in the trust fund, opting for the price-value method can significantly reduce the registration tax burden, bringing it into line with that of any individual purchaser. Forgoing the benefit in advance for fear of the contrary administrative guidance has a cost that no longer appears justified.
The second is practical. The option must be expressly requested in the transfer deed: a request omitted from the notarial deed cannot be made later. Until the Agency brings its guidance into line with the case law, it is prudent to anticipate service of a tax calculation notice; however, the prospects of securing legal protection are solid, given the convergence between Supreme Court and lower-court case law.
The third concerns trust governance. The wording of the provision reserves the benefit to individuals who are not acting in the course of business, artistic or professional activities: where the office of trustee is held by a trust company or another legal person, access to the price-value method remains unavailable or, at the very least, highly doubtful. For trusts intended to operate in the residential property market, the choice of trustee – individual or professional – thus becomes a tax variable to be considered when the trust is established.
In the background remains the underlying legal principle clearly reaffirmed by the Treviso judgment: a trust is not an entity, but a relationship. Until administrative guidance acknowledges this, litigation will remain the route to enforcing entitlement to the price-value method – but with an increasingly consistent line of authority in the taxpayer's favour.
References: Treviso Tax Court (Corte di Giustizia Tributaria) of First Instance, judgment no. 288 of 12 August 2025; Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione), 9 February 2021, no. 3073; Bologna Tax Court of First Instance, judgment no. 75 of 3 February 2025; Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate), circular no. 34/E of 20 October 2022.
