We deliberately operate on the web to enable us to be flexible about the fees we charge and keep those fees to the minimum. We do not employ IT, HR, PR, or marketing staff, subcontracting these services as and when they are required.
We will always discuss with you the basis on which we will charge and you are not bound to pay us any money until you accept in writing the terms of an engagement. We charge our time at hourly rates or a daily consultancy rate. We can also work on a monthly/annual retainer if that works best for you. We are happy to quote a fixed fee for specific work, once we have scoped it out.
We do generally make a charge for the time involved in examining your position and advising on it from the outset. We are not able to provide any kind of legal or tax advice ahead of an engagement and of fulfillment, via our client onboarding procedures, of our obligations to carry out an identity check pursuant to Know-Your-Client/Anti-Money Laundering regulations under EU, Italian and our Bar Association regulations and under Data Protection laws.
We have set fees for an initial advice session and will be happy to provide a fee estimate in advance of any work.
Unless we have quoted a fixed fee our standard hourly rates are subject to a number of additional charges as follows:
- a 15% standard expense charge applied to the total charge for hours spent.
- 4% by way of a statutory social security/welfare contribution
- 22% VAT where applicable (see below)
A fixed fee quote will include these charges in the total amount we quote.
Where any matter involves or is likely to involve significant expenses of disbursements to a third party (e.g. for translations or searches) which exceed or are likely to exceed the 15% rate, we would generally request refund of any expenses incurred on your behalf, and not charge the general 15% amount.
We will wherever possible, and certainly upon request let you see a table summarising the fees and charges in the following format, confirming the total due by you and the VAT treatment.
Where we bill an Italian business client, the client is generally under obligation to withhold income tax at source on account of our income tax liability on the fees. We generally show the withholding tax on the fact of our invoice, but it is the responsibility of the client ultimately to determine if they are under an obligation to withhold tax on payment or not.
| Service | Net Fee | Expenses | Fee + Expenses | CFP (Statutory Welfare) | VAT/IVA | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B=Ax15% | C=A+B | D=Cx4% | E=D+E x VAT Rate | F=C+D+E | |
| Consulting Services | €1,000.00 | €150.00 | €1,150.00 | €46.00 | €0.00 | €1,196.00 |
| Real Estate Related Services | €1,000.00 | €150.00 | €1,150.00 | €46.00 | €263.12 | €1,459.12 |
VAT (Value Added Tax, IVA)
We are require by law to add VAT, generally at the rate of 22% onto any invoice for all services rendered to
- Italian tax residents
- EU residents – private (non business clients)
That means no VAT is due on invoices to
- non EU residents (outside Italy);
- EU clients that are registered for VAT in their own country and who are registered with the EU VAT information service (VIES)
except for any services related to specific real estate situated in Italy where we must apply VAT in all cases regardless of residence of the client.
In some limited circumstances where we are billing private (non business) clients outside the EU we may be required to apply VAT based on VAT rules (or equivalent tax) in their country of residence.
The analysis of whether VAT is due must be done based on circumstances applicable at the time of payment, and not initial engagement, and not the date of issue of our fee note.
We will be happy to advise on the specific VAT treatment in your case.
In general we issue a fee note (not a tax invoice) advising you of the amount to pay, when payment is due.
When you make payment we will then issue an electronic tax invoice acknowledging receipt of payment. If you do not receive a tax invoice and acknowledgment of receipt of payment within four working days after payment, please let us know so that we can correct what is almost certainly an error on our part.
The 4% statutory welfare contribution and the VAT we collect from you is handed over to the relevant authorities.
All services are provided pursuant to our:
