Income taxes

Income tax (€509 million) decreased by €181 million, or 26.2%, compared with the previous year. This decrease, despite the increase in pre-tax profit, is mainly due to: (i) the effects (€120 million) of adjusting deferred taxes after the application of the additional corporation tax known as the Robin Hood Tax was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in its Ruling 10/2015 of 9 February 2015. Pursuant to said ruling, the tax, which was levied on the Snam Group’s natural gas transportation and distribution activities, was unconstitutional with effect from the day after the ruling was published in the Italian Official Gazette, i.e. 12 February 2015. Even though the unconstitutionality of the tax took effect in 2015, Snam recognised the effects of adjusting deferred taxes in its financial statements at 31 December 2014 by amending the additional corporation tax components of the provisions; (ii) the decrease in current taxes (+€62 million) owing to the reduction, effective from 2014, in the additional corporation tax rate from 10.5% to 6.5%. The tax rate was 29.8% (42.9% in 2013). The change was due mainly to the aforementioned effects related to the Robin Hood Tax⁴⁹. The adjusted tax rate, which includes the additional corporation tax at 6.5% and excludes the effects of adjusting deferred taxes (€120 million), was 36.85% (42.80% in 2013).