• AGENCY IN ITALY AND ENASARCO

    INSTRUCTIONS FOR FOREIGN COMPANIES
    Registration and Payments by Foreign Firms

    Registration

    Foreign companies having no office or employees in Italy must register their agents and commercial representatives with the Enasarco Foundation and undertake to adhere to the rules contained in the Regulation of Institutional Activities decided upon by the Board of Directors on 30/12/2003, as subsequently amended, and sign a declaration in Italian to this effect.

    Based on the Enasarco regulations in force since 1 January 2004, agents whose work is carried out exclusively abroad NO LONGER need to be registered.

    The signature on the declaration must be authenticated by the relevant foreign Authority or by an Italian consular representative in the country where the firm has its registered office.
    Payment of contributions must be made beginning on the date the declaration is signed; contributions for previous years cannot be handled by this procedure.

    Forms:

    The declaration must be accompanied by the following forms:
    Declaration

    Form 611/2003
    for agents operating independently

    Form 611bis/2003
    for agents operating as companies (SRL/SPA)

    Form 611ter/2003
    for agents operating as partnerships (SNC/SAS)


    Due dates for social security contributions and method of payment

    Due dates are as follows:

    Applicable Period Due date for payment
    1st quarter (1 January – 31 March) 20 May
    2nd quarter (1 April – 30 June) 20 August
    3rd quarter (1 July – 30 September) 20 November
    4th quarter (1 October – 31 December) 20 February of following year

    The payment of contributions must be made only by the declaring company, by bank transfer to current account no. 2050 in the name of Fondazione Enasarco at Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, Enasarco Agency – Via A. Usodimare, 29 - 00154 Rome (ABI 1005 – CAB 03395 – SWIFT: BNLIITRR - IBAN: IT91W0100503395000000002050). Transfers are to be made only in Euros.
    The declaring company, at the time of the payment, must also send to Fondazione Enasarco – Area Istituzionale – Servizio Contribuzioni a copy of the transfer including its own identifying data (company name, Enasarco registration no.), the applicable period and an indication of the relevant fund, as well as the detailed deposit slip with the names of the agents and their corresponding amounts.
    Notice

    The Enasarco Foundation also manages a Retirement Bonus Fund (F.i.r.r.) on behalf of agents and commercial representatives, based on agreements stipulated with those Labour Unions which are signatories to the Collective Economic Accords. Should the declaring foreign company intend setting aside these sums with this Foundation, the payment, which is entirely at the company’s expense, must be made in the same way as for the social security contribution, by 31 March of the year following the applicable year.
    Contribution Amounts

    Social Security Fund
    The social security contribution, amounting to 6.75 percent to be paid by the company and 6.75 percent to be paid by the agent, is calculated on the total of the amounts owing to an agent for any reason relating to this relationship, even if the sums have not yet been paid, up to the maximum limit of Euro 26,603.00 per annum where the agent works for only one company and Euro 15,202.00 per annum per company in other cases.
    The contribution for 2005 may not in any case be less than Euro 759.00 per year for each company in the first case and Euro 381.00 per year per company in the second case.
    For minimum contributions, unlike the maximum, it is possible to pay quarterly, according to the following basic principles:
    a) productivity: the minimum contribution is due only if the agency agreement has produced commissions during the year, even if these were minimal. In that case (and that means that in at least one quarter commissions were payable), the minimum quarterly quotas are payable also for the quarters which were unproductive.
    b) instalments: where an agency relationship begins or ends during the course of the year, the minimum amount is split into quarterly instalments and is paid for all quarters of the year in question in which the agency relationship existed, so long as at least one of them produced commissions, according to the principle of productivity. So the minimum contribution is not payable if the relationship has been unproductive throughout the year.

    Assistance Fund
    For agents who work as a share-capital company (S.p.A.) or limited liability company (S.r.l.), instead of the contribution to the social security fund, a contribution is payable, entirely by the declaring company, to the assistance fund, calculated on all the amounts owing under the agency or commercial representation agreement, with no minimum or maximum limits, determined as follows:

    ANNUAL COMMISSIONS CONTRIBUTION
    Up to Euro 13,000,000.00 2%
    From Euro 13,000,000.01 to Euro 20,000,000.00 1%
    From Euro 20,000,000.01 to Euro 26,000,000.00 0.5%
    Over Euro 26,000,000.01 0.1%

    The payment terms are the same as for the social security fund.

    Retirement Bonus Fund
    The percentage rates and brackets for calculating the F.I.R.R. are as follows:

    Agents and Representatives
    Working for a Single Company Agents and Representatives
    Working for a Several Companies
    4% on commissions up to 12.400,00 Euros per annum; 4% on commissions up to 6.200,00 Euros per annum;
    2% on the portion of commissions between 12,400.01 Euros and 18,600.00 Euros per annum; 2% on the portion of commissions between 6,200.01 Euros and 9,300.00 Euros per annum;
    1% on the portion of commissions over 18,600.01 Euros per annum 1% on the portion of commissions over 9,300.01 Euros per annum