NFTs And Art: An Italian Perspective

Giulia Cipollini and Roberto Bonomi co-authored this article with Lorenzo Marantonio.

From an Italian legal and tax perspective, there are several issues that need to be addressed with NFTs. The main legal issues arising concern, among others, the financial regulation of trade, cross-border sales, traceability and privacy.

With regard to tax implications, it should be mentioned that, as of now, the Italian Tax Authorities have ruled on the direct and indirect tax treatment of fungible tokens, such as "utility tokens" (fungible tokens granting access to the use of products or services). However, no further clarification has been provided with regard to the peculiar case of NFTs incorporating artworks.