Our newsletters – Useful Updates on Tax and Legal Matters

Legislative Decree No. 148 of 7 August 2026 introduces numerous further corrections to the tax reform – from income from employment to business and financial income, from VAT to tax assessment and the two-year advance agreement.

The corrective decree of 7 August 2026 (Legislative Decree No. 148/2026) standardises the calculation of the benefit in kind for the mixed use of company cars with retroactive effect from 1 January 2026 and at the same time introduces two new surcharges on the benefit-in-kind value.

Until 30 September 2026 general partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies and partnerships limited by shares may once again allocate certain properties and movable assets recorded in public registers to their shareholders, or sell them to those shareholders, on preferential terms; alternatively, the company may be converted into a simple partnership.

By Art. 3 of the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers (DPCM) of 10 June 2026, in force since 26 June 2026, a new Ecobonus contribution was introduced for the purchase of new commercial vehicles of classes N1 and N2. A total of 180 million Euro is available for the measure until 31 March 2030, of which 40 million Euro for 2026; 40% of the annual funds is reserved for vehicles with purely electric or fuel cell propulsion. The subsidy is aimed specifically at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which transport goods on their own account or for third parties. The funds are drawn down by means of a booking procedure at the dealer and are subject to a quota: the booking platform was opened a few days ago, on 29 July 2026, at 12:00, but the 40 million Euro made available for 2026 was already exhausted after a few hours. For further projects the next opening of the platform must therefore be awaited; we recommend preparing upcoming vehicle investments now, so that a booking can be made immediately once the funds are replenished. The key points are summarised below.

In our Circular No. 26/2026 we informed you about the new hyper-depreciation allowance. On that occasion we also explained that, in order to claim the tax relief, three notifications have to be submitted via the GSE portal: an advance notification, a confirmation notification and a final notification. In Circular No. 27/2026 we subsequently informed you that the portal had been opened for the advance notifications.

We already informed you last year about the so-called Mini-IRES or “IRES premiale”. As is well known, the Budget Act for 2025 provides, for the 2025 tax year, for a reduced IRES rate of 20% instead of 24%, provided that the statutory requirements are met.

The press has reported extensively on it in recent weeks: all 116 South Tyrolean municipalities have been classified as mountain areas by the implementing decree of the Prime Minister (DPCM) of 18 February 2026. What has so far gone entirely unnoticed, however, is a relief introduced last September by Law 131/2025: it provides that young people are granted, for the purchase or the building renovation of their main residence in mountain areas, a tax credit for the interest on any mortgage loans during the first 5 years. Here are the key details:

Tax payments for ISA companies and those subject to flat-rate taxation: What’s changing regarding the 2026 deadlines.

Plan ahead, get off to a smooth start: keep an eye on liquidity and tax matters for 2026 now.

As already reported, the latest Budget Act (Art. 1, paras. 427-436 of Law 199/2025) reintroduced so-called hyper-depreciation in order to promote investment, whereby the basis of assessment for depreciation is notionally increased for tax purposes. Eligible are investments made between 1 January 2026 and 30 September 2028, namely:

Under the final version of the implementing regulation, cloud models and software obtained as a service (Software-as-a-Service) are not eligible. In principle, therefore, only capitalisable intangible assets remain eligible.

Originally, assets originating from outside the EU were excluded; this requirement has recently been deleted, but for months it prevented the publication of the necessary implementing provisions. A few days ago, on 4 May 2026 to be precise, the competent ministries finally signed the required decree, which we enclose with this newsletter even though it has not been published in the Official Gazette to date. Further operational specifications are also still awaited, in particular regarding the GSE platform and the notification forms. Companies should therefore document planned investments carefully and, before final implementation, have it verified whether all technical, time-related and formal requirements are met. The specialist press assumes that it will take until mid-June before the necessary notifications can actually be submitted.

The 2026 Budget Act once again introduced a write-off option (known as ‘Rottamazione-quinquies’) for tax collection notices.

If you wish to instruct our firm to prepare your tax return for the year 2025, we kindly ask you to send us the relevant documents by Friday, 22 May 2026.

Enclosed you will find a list of the documents required for this purpose (see Annexes A, B and C).

The IRPEF balancing payment for 2025, together with the first instalment of the IRPEF advance payment and of the regional IRPEF surtax for 2025, are due before the filing deadline of the tax return, namely by Tuesday, 30 June 2026, or with a 0.4% surcharge by 30 July 2026. Payment by instalments is possible (a maximum of 6 monthly instalments up to November 2026), the final instalment falling due on 30 November 2026, with interest of 4% per annum (equal to 0.33% per month). The first IMU instalment, by contrast, is already due by Tuesday, 16 June 2026.

In order to take part in public tenders it is, as is well known, a prerequisite that the economic operator has duly met its tax obligations. In particular, there must be no serious, definitively established breaches.

Under Art. 94(6) of Legislative Decree 36/2023, there must be no tax debts exceeding € 5,000 which have been definitively established (i.e. can no longer be contested) and have already been passed to the tax collection agency (“Agenzia delle Entrate-Riscossione”) for collection. In practice, questions frequently arise when checking one’s own position. Against this background it is to be welcomed that the anti-corruption authority (ANAC) recently published a guide for economic operators explaining the relevant control mechanisms in more detail. We enclose this guide, as it contains practical guidance on the decisive criteria.

You will already know the news from the daily press: by a decree of 10 April 2026 the provincial government has given concrete form, by means of precise criteria, to the professional qualification requirements for private accommodation providers that were already laid down by law. On the face of it the measure pursues the aim of promoting the quality, reliability and competitiveness of this sector. In reality, however, it is also about putting a stop to Airbnb and the like, which are making life increasingly difficult for South Tyrolean tourism businesses.

In this province, this form of tourist letting is being made increasingly unattractive by three hurdles: first, landlords may offer a maximum of five holiday apartments per municipality; second, above a certain size the activity has to be registered as a commercial business; and third, a professional qualification must now also be evidenced.

For agricultural businesses (sole traders, agricultural companies and cooperatives) a tax credit on fuel costs is provided for the month of March 2026. The relief covers expenditure on fuel (petrol and diesel) actually used for the agricultural activity, in particular for vehicles and machinery employed in agriculture. The tax credit amounts to 20% of the eligible expenditure (net of VAT) and requires the costs to be evidenced by proper invoices.

As things currently stand, the invoice date in March 2026 is decisive. The tax credit can be offset exclusively via form F24 and used until 31 December 2026.

Whether the relief will also be extended to April in view of the ongoing crisis is not known at present. Actual use still requires an implementing decree from the Ministry of Agriculture in agreement with the Ministry of Finance. In particular, the tax code (codice tributo) for offsetting in form F24 has yet to be determined.

Last Friday, 27 March 2026, the Council of Ministers adopted Emergency Decree no. 38 on various tax matters. It was published in the Official Gazette on the same day and entered into force on Saturday, 28 March 2026. In essence it consists of corrections to the Budget Law for 2026. The most important changes are set out below:

This reform had in fact dominated the entire debate on the Budget Law for 2026 last autumn, namely the restriction on the taxation of dividends and capital gains in holding companies. The changes, which then entered into force at the beginning of the year, have in the meantime already led to numerous corporate restructurings.

Now, after only 3 months, the government has come to the view that the reform would distort the capital market too severely and, by Art. 11 of the emergency decree referred to above, has withdrawn the entire package. In plain terms: the legal position as it stood until 31 December 2025 applies once again.

With this letter we would like to remind you once again that the final notification to the GSE must be submitted by Tuesday, 31 March 2026 for those Industry 4.0 investments which were completed by 31 December 2025. The deadline concerns in particular businesses which:

Exempt from the notification requirement are all those investments for which a binding order with a down payment of at least 20% of the purchase price was already placed in 2024 and which still fall under the old 2024 notification rules.

As a reminder: use of the tax credit presupposes the proper submission of the final notification and the subsequent transmission of the data to the tax authorities. Only after transmission by the Ministry to the tax authorities can the credit be offset (payment code 7077). A failure to notify, or late notification, may result in the tax credit being unusable, offsets being rejected and its use being considerably delayed.

For 2026 as well, the so-called “advertising bonus” may again be applied for in its original form, i.e. the relief is granted only on the additional expenditure compared with the previous year: accordingly, a bonus amounting to 75% of the increase in costs in 2026 compared with 2025 is to be granted. In view of the limited budget funds of EUR 30 million in total at national level, however, the actual credit will in the end probably again amount to only a fraction of this.

Eligible expenditure is expenditure on advertising in newspapers and magazines (daily newspapers and periodicals). These must be entered in the relevant register at court or in the register of communication and advertising operators (ROC) and must have a responsible editor. As in the previous year, advertising on radio and television is not supported.

We have already informed you: since 1 January 2026, the digital link between POS terminals and electronic cash registers has been mandatory. A physical connection – that is, cabling – between the POS device and the cash register is not required, nor is any modification of existing cash register systems. The link is established exclusively in digital form via the Revenue Agency's “Fatture e Corrispettivi” portal.

As early as 31 October 2025, the Revenue Agency published the necessary operational details in a regulation. The obligation was, however, only to take effect once the Agency also activated the necessary platform on its website. That is exactly what happened this week: on 5 March 2026 the Agency set up this web service, and the statutory obligation to link POS terminals with electronic cash registers pursuant to Art. 2(3) of Legislative Decree no. 127/2015 therefore now takes effect.

The annual book-stamping fee falls due once again by Monday, 16 March 2026 at the latest. By that deadline, corporations must pay the annual government concession fee for the stamping of the company books; the relevant provisions remain unchanged compared with the previous year. The fee therefore amounts to:

The relevant figure is the amount of capital as at 1 January 2026.

Payment is made using form F24 with payment code 7085, stating 2026 as the reference period.

Please note: consortia (unless they have the legal form of a corporation), cooperatives, partnerships and sole traders as well as non-commercial entities are not required to make any payment. In return, they must pay a fee of EUR 67.00 per 500 pages when each set of company books is set up.

Here is some good news: by Customs Agency Regulation no. 84415 of 3 February 2026, the obligation to submit Intra-2-bis returns for intra-Community acquisitions of goods (note: not services) is substantially reduced with effect from the returns to be submitted from 25 February 2026 onwards (i.e. in practice already for January 2026). With immediate effect, these returns need only be submitted where the threshold of EUR 2 million (a limit of EUR 350,000 previously applied) was exceeded in one of the 4 preceding quarters. The relief therefore already applies to the return for January 2026, the next return being due on 25 February 2026.

For the deadline of 25 February 2026, the relevant periods are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters of 2025. If the EUR 2 million limit for intra-Community acquisitions was not exceeded in any of those four quarters, there is no reporting obligation for the first quarter of 2026 (and hence at least for January) – even if an Intra-2-bis return was still submitted in the previous year (e.g. on 25 January 2026 for December 2025) because the earlier EUR 350,000 limit had been exceeded.

The strict Italian rules on input VAT deduction at year-end are well known, and we last recalled them in our Circular no. 46/2025:

An invoice dated 2025 which the supplier only transmits via the SDI portal in 2026, and which therefore only arrives in 2026, may only be recorded in the purchase invoice register in 2026, and the input VAT is only deductible in 2026. It is therefore not permissible, for an invoice issued on 27 December 2025 and transmitted on 2 January 2026, to deduct the input VAT in the December return, even where the supply or service was still made in December and even where the issuer must still pay this VAT with the December return on account of the invoice date.

Example 1: invoice date 31 December 2025 and receipt of the invoice on 31 December 2025: input VAT deduction in December 2025

Two pieces of good news at the end of the month:

Anyone working with the public administration will be familiar with this tiresome situation: sometimes only months after an invoice has been issued, the recipient points out that the unique project code (known as the “CUP”) should have been stated on the invoice for the supply or service, or that the code given contains an error and that the invoice unfortunately cannot be passed for payment as it stands. Since the electronic invoice could not be corrected, in such cases there was no alternative but to issue a credit note followed by re-issuing the invoice.

Largely unnoticed by the public, in December the Revenue Agency set up a new service by Regulation no. 563301/2025 which allows the CUP code to be corrected or added subsequently for invoices relating to transactions after 31 May 2023.

As is known, the split payment procedure was abolished with effect from 1 July 2025 for transactions with companies listed on the Milan stock exchange (FTSE MIB). For public bodies and the companies they control it remains in place – unless further extensions are granted in the coming months – for the time being until 30 June 2026. The relevant EU authorisation expires on that date.

By a decree of 20 October 2025, the Ministry of Finance published the list of companies and bodies to which the procedure continues to apply from 1 January 2026. The list was corrected once more on 7 January 2026. The list of affected companies can be consulted at the internet address below, and in case of doubt it is advisable to check whether your customer still appears on it, since applying the procedure means forgoing payment of the VAT:

Businesses and self-employed professionals who submitted the usual application for the 2025 advertising bonus in March 2025 must report the actual expenditure incurred in 2025 in the window from 9 January 2026 until 9 February 2026 at the latest. For 2025, a tax credit amounting to 75% of the increase in costs compared with 2024 is available for advertising expenditure in print media, including any online editions. To be entitled to the credit, expenditure must have increased by at least one percentage point.

In order to receive the tax credit, a substitute declaration of the expenditure actually incurred in 2025 must be submitted electronically using the relevant Revenue Agency form by 9 February 2026 at the latest. The form and instructions can be downloaded at the following address:

We would once again like to inform you of the tax dates for the current year 2026. The enclosed overviews contain the most important and most common deadlines under the provisions currently in force.

As usual, some dates may still be subject to change at short notice. We will inform you of any such changes in good time.

The enclosed overviews are structured as follows (the annexes are provided in German only):

Please note that we have primarily taken into account deadlines of a tax nature. Deadlines arising from social security legislation or other provisions are therefore – with a few exceptions – not listed.

We have already informed you in the past about RENTRI, the national electronic register for the traceability of waste. Below are the deadlines for initial registration once again, which depend on the size of the business:

In addition, from 13 February 2026 the waste identification form (FIR) must be produced in fully digital form. This means:

The obligation to use the digital FIR from 13.02.2026 concerns exclusively those parties required to keep the FIR and registered with RENTRI. The specific scope therefore depends on the role of the party concerned (producer, transporter, intermediary, plant operator).

The digital waste transport document (FIR) is updated by the operators involved in the transport via their own management software, to ensure that it is progressively completed and signed at the various stages of transport. The digital waste transport document must be signed digitally by the producer and the transporter before the transport begins, and by the recipient when the waste is taken over. It must also be signed digitally by all other parties involved in the transport (e.g. in the event of transhipment).

Important notifications in connection with the Industry 4.0 tax credit fall due by 31 January 2026. Some guidance follows:

As a reminder: as reported in our Circular no. 22 of 21 May 2025, three notifications have been required for Industry 4.0 investments since 1 January 2025. By regulation of 15 May 2025 the Revenue Agency published a dedicated form to be used for all three notifications. The three notification procedures are as follows:

1. Advance notification: before the investment begins, the planned investment and the corresponding amount must be notified. This notification establishes the ranking, i.e. the chronological order for the allocation of the limited funds available.

2. Confirmation notification: within 30 days of sending the advance notification, a further confirmation notification must be sent confirming that the down payment of at least 20% of the order value has also been made.

we would like to inform you of an organisational change which has been in effect since 1 January 2026:

For many years our engagements have been handled entirely autonomously by several teams. Nothing changes for you in this well-established arrangement: your existing team remains your point of contact. However, in order to reflect responsibilities and competences clearly in formal terms as well, from 1 January 2026 we are operating two legally independent entities as office partnerships under a common umbrella structure at the existing location, namely:

What does this mean for you in practice?

As a result of the restructuring, the team around Josef Vieider is permanently strengthened in the field of civil law by the expertise of lawyer Dr. Vanessa Gasteiger.

The ACI tables used in 2026 to calculate the per-kilometre running costs of cars and motorcycles were once again published in the Official Gazette of 23 December 2025. These tables are also decisive for determining the benefit in kind for vehicles made available to employees for mixed use (business and private).

The ACI rates applicable for the current year for each vehicle can be consulted at the following address: aci.gov.it/servizio/fringe-benefit/https://aci.gov.it/servizio/fringe-benefit/

In the absence of simplifications and clarifications from the tax authorities, the actual calculation remains complicated in 2026 as well. As already reported in our Circular no. 33/2025, depending on when the vehicle was acquired and when it was made available to the employee, six (!) categories must be distinguished for calculating the benefit in kind (see also Revenue Agency Circular no. 10 of 3 July 2025). Given the complexity of the rules, we set out the six cases again below:

Below is a brief overview of some further changes at the turn of the year 2026 which mainly affect private individuals and non-commercial entities and which derive from the Budget Law for 2026 (Law 199/2025). As reported, Legislative Decree no. 192/2025, containing numerous amendments, also entered into force on 20 December 2025.

Set out below are the most important changes in the field of VAT and excise duties at the turn of the year 2026, as contained in the Budget Law (Law 199/2025), all of which take effect on 1 January 2026:

Accordingly, the value of a service includes all expenditure borne by the recipient in order to obtain that service, including the cost of ancillary services such as shipping costs connected with the supply of the goods, which must therefore be included in the taxable base. This criterion applies both where the exchange is between goods and where it is between services, as well as where the exchange is between goods and a service or vice versa. Consequently, the taxable base of the two supplies, which remain separate and independent, is no longer the open market value of the goods supplied or the services rendered, but the costs borne by the supplier in carrying out the supply.

On 30 December 2025 Parliament once again approved the Budget Law for 2026 at the last minute (Law 199/2025); it was published in the Official Gazette the same day and entered into force on 1 January 2026. Because of the confidence vote, the substantive provisions are again crammed into a single article with 973 paragraphs, making the legislation effectively unreadable. The changes of significance for businesses and self-employed professionals are scattered throughout the article. At the same time, the New Year's Eve decree "Milleproroghe" (Decree-Law 200/2025) again granted a number of deadline extensions. In addition, Legislative Decree no. 192/2025 entered into force on 20 December 2025, containing numerous corrections to the tax reforms of recent years and applying essentially retroactively for 2025.

By Art. 1(22) of the Budget Law for 2026 (Law 199/2025), the various tax deductions for renovation works as they applied in 2025 have been extended largely unchanged for a further year. Only the special relief for the removal of architectural barriers has lapsed. The extension is intended to create at least temporary legal certainty. Commentators agree, however, that after all these years the current reliefs have been stretched too far and that a fresh start is needed.

The limits introduced last year for income above EUR 75,000 have a restrictive effect.

Below is an initial overview of the changes in the construction sector and in the taxation of real estate, which essentially take effect on 1 January 2026:

By decree of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of 10 December 2025 (published in the Official Gazette of 13 December 2025), the statutory rate of interest was reduced from 2.0% to 1.6% with effect from 1 January 2026. The change has direct effects on a number of civil, commercial and tax matters as well as on social security contributions. Examples include the calculation of interest for voluntary correction (ravvedimento operoso), interest on claims for damages and other disputes, and interest on the deposit provided by a tenant to the landlord.

Unless a different rate of interest is laid down by contract or by law, the statutory rate of 1.6% applies to obligations from 1 January 2026. This applies in particular to:

Caution: press reports and communications from industry associations in recent days might lead to the conclusion that the obligation to take out compulsory insurance against catastrophic events by 31 December 2025 has been extended generally to 31 March 2026 for small and micro enterprises. This is not the case!

The customary New Year's Eve emergency decree (Art. 16, Law Decree No. 200 of 31.12.2025 – the so-called „Decreto Milleproroghe“) does indeed provide for an extension to 31 March 2026, but only for micro and small enterprises operating in the following sectors:

As a reminder: small enterprises are those with fewer than 50 employees and annual turnover or a balance sheet total not exceeding 10 million Euro, and micro enterprises are those with fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or a balance sheet total not exceeding 2 million Euro.

As a reminder: last spring, with effect from 15 May 2025, the excise duty rate on mineral oils for conventional diesel was increased from the previous 617,40 Euro to 632,40 Euro per 1.000 litres (equivalent to approximately +1,5 cents/litre). For diesel with HVO characteristics (in detail: „Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil“, i.e. so-called „HVO diesel” or “paraffinic diesel fuel – HVO“), by contrast, the previous rate of 617,40 EUR per 1.000 litres has remained unchanged. At the same time, however, the refund amount for conventional diesel was increased in favour of transport operators from the former 214,18 Euro to 229,18 Euro per 1.000 litres. Transport operators holding a licence for the carriage of goods on behalf of third parties, but also those carrying out own-account transport, may, as is known, reclaim the excise duty on mineral oils for vehicles with a gross weight of 7,5 t or more and emission class 5, so that in theory no significant additional burden should have arisen for this economic sector.

By Monday, 29 December 2025, the annual advance payment of value added tax must once again be made. Compared with the previous year, there are no differences in the payment requirements. The most important points are set out below:

The changes planned for 2026 to the taxation of dividends and capital gains from small shareholdings have been the subject of heated discussion in recent weeks, also with regard to possible measures to be taken before the end of the year. The Budget Law was approved by the Senate yesterday and, since it is unlikely that further amendments will be made in the Chamber shortly before the end of the year, a reliable legal framework for 2026 can now be assumed.

The expected changes are as follows:

In future, the partial tax exemption of dividends (in principle 95% in the case of corporations and to a reduced extent in the case of partnerships) will no longer be applicable without restriction. The condition for applying the tax exemption is now that the shareholding from which the dividends derive either amounts to at least 5% of the capital of the distributing company or has a tax book value of at least 500.000 Euro. If neither of the two conditions is met, dividends will in principle be subject to full taxation from 2026 onwards.

Just before Christmas, some genuinely good news: with Circular No. 15/E of 22 December 2025, the Italian Revenue Agency published important clarifications on the tax treatment of reimbursements of travel expenses incurred on external assignments and on the documentation requirements and payment traceability for such expenses. The changes result in particular from the IRPEF/IRES reform (Law Decree No. 192/2024) and from the 2025 Budget Law. The interpretations, however, go far beyond this. Below we summarise the most important points for employers and employees.

A business trip is deemed to be exclusively a temporary relocation of the place of work with respect to the usual place of work. A permanent transfer does not constitute a business trip and is therefore subject to a different tax treatment.

Below you will find a number of notes for administration and accounting purposes at the year-end:

At the 2025 year-end as well, the existing provisions on electronic invoicing and on the input VAT deduction continue to apply. As in previous years, it must in particular be noted that the issue date of an electronic invoice is the date on which the invoice is transmitted to the SdI platform.

As regards the issue of invoices, there are in principle no special provisions at the year-end as compared with the rest of the year. The following principles continue to apply unchanged:

For supplies of goods documented by transport documents, a summary invoice („deferred invoice“) may be issued by the 15th of the following month. The VAT must in any event be accounted for in the period of the supply.

As is well known, various services and filings vis-à-vis the tax authorities may be delegated to third parties, in particular to tax advisors, labour law consultants or tax assistance centres. They may be instructed to access the tax mailbox (cassetto fiscale) in order to correct error notices, to download electronic invoices, to manage the advance tax agreement (concordato preventivo) and much more. Until now, various authorisation forms existed for such mandates, which as a rule had to be completed in paper form and submitted to the office. This now comes to an end.

As from 8 December 2025 there is a single authorisation form by means of which the various mandates can be granted digitally. Powers of attorney already granted remain in force until their natural expiry, but at the latest until 28 February 2027. However, caution is required: upon granting a new single power of attorney (delega unica), the previous powers of attorney for the online services of the respective authorised representative covered by the delega unica are entirely replaced; all desired services must therefore be expressly ticked in the new power of attorney.

Over the coming weeks, expenses for Christmas gifts and Christmas dinners will once again be incurred. Compared with previous years, the new payment requirements applicable since the beginning of the year must be observed with the utmost care. The ceilings applicable to employees have again been increased on an exceptional basis for 2025 as well.

By an emergency decree published last Friday (Art. 1, Law Decree No. 175 of 21 November 2025, in force since Saturday, 22 November), the government has quite unexpectedly ordered that the portal for booking investments in the Transition 5.0 area will be closed on 27 November 2025 at 6.00 p.m. Businesses therefore still have until Thursday to submit advance notifications for investments in this area, whereby incomplete notifications filed between 7 November 2025 and 27 November 2025 may still be corrected until 6 December 2025. Applications lacking the certification of energy savings cannot be corrected.

But that is not all: by way of a statutory interpretation, Art. 2 of Law Decree 175/2025 provides that a prohibition of cumulation between Industry 4.0 and Transition 5.0 applies already at the stage of the advance notifications. Until now, it was possible to register for both incentives and to decide on one funding track only at a later stage. That is now over, and anyone who has already registered the same investment project on both portals must likewise withdraw one application by Thursday, 27 November 2025 and opt for a single funding track. However, one safeguard remains in place for businesses: should the financial resources for funding investments in the Transition 5.0 area prove insufficient, businesses that now waive the 4.0 track may nevertheless still be considered under Industry 4.0.

And once again the PEC address of directors: we had just informed you by Circular No. 38 of 27 October 2025 about the latest developments regarding the „digital domicile“ of boards of directors, following the publication shortly beforehand of a joint statement by the Chambers of Commerce and the notaries, when the matter was fundamentally re-regulated by Art. 13 of Law Decree No. 159 of 31 October 2025. Evidently, the interpretation adopted by the Chambers of Commerce and the Chamber of Notaries was not at all in line with the government's intentions, and accordingly the new rule constitutes above all an affront to those institutions. The Chamber of Commerce of Bolzano reacted immediately to the reform and updated its relevant instructions on its homepage as early as 6 November 2025. The current legal position is therefore as follows:

Importers of iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers as well as electricity and hydrogen from outside the EU will be subject to special controls from 1 January 2026: in future they will not only have to report emissions, but also acquire CO2 certificates. The most recent amendments introduced by the CBAM Omnibus Regulation (EU 2023/956, as amended pursuant to the Official Gazette of 17 Oct. 2025) bring new thresholds, deadlines and simplifications – but still entail risks in the event of non-compliance. The new simplifications do, however, relieve an estimated 90% of businesses, while at the same time increasing the requirements for the remaining entities subject to CBAM.

The range of businesses ultimately affected is limited: from 1 January 2026 a new quantity threshold applies: anyone importing less than 50 tonnes of CBAM goods per year is exempt from the CBAM obligations. This so-called „de minimis“ rule replaces the previous value limit of 150 euro per consignment. The threshold does not apply to electricity and hydrogen, and it refers to the cumulative annual quantity per importer. A single instance of exceeding the threshold may trigger the obligation to be registered as an authorised CBAM declarant – including reporting obligations and the surrender of certificates.

The business model has become very widespread in the meantime: entrepreneurs hold the shareholding in their company through a limited liability company (GmbH), collect dividends from their business through that company and invest part of them in listed shares – entirely in line with the generally praised principle of risk diversification. Both dividends and capital gains, the latter provided that the 12-month holding period is complied with, are 95% exempt from tax at the level of the holding company and taxed only to the extent of 5% (tax burden of 1.2%), and only upon distribution of the dividends to the individual does the 26% withholding tax become applicable. If the shareholding is held in a partnership or in a sole proprietorship, it is currently exempt from income tax to the extent of 60%, 50.28% or 41.86%.

Please find below some brief information on various changes of recent weeks:

Optional extras on passenger cars and fringe benefits: the manifold problems in connection with the provision of vehicles for mixed use to employees remain unresolved. Instead, the Italian Revenue Agency has raised a new problem area in a ruling (No. 233 of 9 September 2025): the case concerns company vehicles where the employees themselves may request, at their own expense, particular optional extras in addition to the standard equipment. And this is expressly set out in the company car policy: the employee may choose any additional optional extras, which are, however, charged to him on a pro rata basis over the course of the use. The enquiring company therefore takes the view that this recharge reduces the flat-rate benefit in kind for the employee. The Italian Revenue Agency, by contrast, points out that the Automobile Club Aci bases the calculation of the flat-rate cost per kilometre on standard equipment and therefore does not take any optional extras into account. Accordingly, the Italian Revenue Agency does not share the applicant's interpretation and stresses that in this case, despite the optional extras being charged to the employee, the customary flat-rate value must be taken into account in full as a fringe benefit, without deducting the analytical recharges for the optional extras.

Set out below are a few notes on the publication obligations of companies vis-à-vis the Companies Register:

Around 2 years ago (original deadline 11 December 2023), corporations, legal persons governed by private law and trusts were required to report their beneficial owner to the Companies Register, on the grounds that this would help combat money laundering. Time and again businesses are required to disclose the relevant filings, for example in public tender procedures. In the Companies Register, however, only a note appears stating that inspection of the register has been suspended pursuant to an order of the Council of State of 17 May 2024.

In this regard, please note the following: the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is currently hearing two sets of proceedings brought by Italian trust companies (C-684/24 and C-685/24) concerning the compatibility of access to the transparency register with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. What is objected to in particular is the fact that a non-judicial administrative body such as the local Chamber of Commerce is given the power to decide, with the irreversible effect of disclosing the data, while the beneficial owner is granted the right to a judicial remedy only at a later stage. Conversely, the EU Commission recently issued a formal notice against Italy because Italy has not yet implemented free access to the transparency register. This should have been implemented by 10 July 2025.

In these days the Italian Revenue Agency is serving numerous taxpayers with notices listing overdue tax collection notices (cartelle) of recent years, calling on them to make payment immediately, failing which enforcement proceedings will follow. It should be noted at the outset that in many cases the failure to pay is also attributable to shortcomings in postal delivery. That, however, is not the subject of this circular.

In this connection, we would point out that in the draft Budget Law for 2026 the Government provides for a fifth edition of the scrapping (rottamazione) of tax collection notices (hence the telling designation „Rottamazione-quinquies“). In detail, and in line with similar provisions of recent years, it should be possible to settle on preferential terms collection notices handed over to the collection agent between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2023, in that as a rule only the taxes or contributions owed have to be paid in full, while penalties and interest, including any default interest, as well as the collection fees (the so-called „agio“, as a rule between 3% and 6% of the amount) are entirely waived. The remaining balance may then presumably be paid off either in 3 instalments in 2026 or, with interest, in up to 54 instalments over the next 10 years.

As a reminder: the Budget Law for 2024 (Law 213/2023) introduced an obligation for businesses to take out, by 31 December 2024, insurance covering land, buildings and tangible fixed assets against damage directly caused by natural disasters (such as floods, earthquakes and landslides). Failure to comply was to be penalised by administrative fines and the loss of subsidies. As the implementing provisions were never published, the deadline initially had to be extended to 31 March 2025. However, the implementing provisions were then published only on 27 February 2025, so that this deadline could not be met either. In the end, a staggered entry into force was provided for, depending on the size of the business:

By 30 September 2025, businesses and self-employed professionals may once again file applications for the refund of value added tax incurred in 2024 in other EU countries. The relevant provisions have not changed compared with previous years. Nevertheless, we provide a brief summary below, as this refund opportunity is frequently overlooked:

By 30 September 2025, businesses and self-employed professionals who are subject to the reliability indices (ISA) have the option of agreeing a so-called two-year advance tax arrangement (concordato preventivo biennale) with the tax authorities for the years 2025 and 2026. In doing so, they undertake to declare in both years a minimum profit determined by means of specific software; should the profit actually achieved be higher, the difference remains tax-free. Additional advantages apply with regard to compliance certifications and tax audits. By contrast, those who ultimately fail to reach the promised minimum income are penalised: as a rule, they must pay the taxes on the accepted minimum income. Compared with the previous year, when this taxation instrument was introduced for the first time on a trial basis for the years 2024/2025, a number of differences arise.

We have already informed you of this in our Circulars No. 1/2025 and 20/2025: for 2025 a new set of rules applies to the calculation of the benefit in kind in the case of mixed use of company vehicles. In the meantime, the Italian Revenue Agency has explained the new rules in Circular No. 10/E of 3 July 2025 and then in a binding ruling („interpello“ No. 192 of 22 July 2025), and in doing so has created a chaos that can really only be explained by an intention to push all businesses into buying electric vehicles immediately. Under these new interpretations of the Italian Revenue Agency, it will be necessary in many cases to determine the private use not on the basis of the ACI tables, but by reference to the normal value charged by car rental companies and the like. Vehicles assigned for mixed use as from 1 July 2025 will therefore – with the exception of hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles – consistently lead to a considerable additional burden in terms of payroll taxes and social security contributions. Here are the details:

By 30 September 2025, partnerships and corporations may once again assign, on privileged terms, real estate and vehicles not used for business purposes to their shareholders or transfer these to them by way of a purchase agreement, or, in certain circumstances, convert the company itself into a simple partnership (società semplice). The rules are set out in Art. 1, paras. 31-36 of the Budget Law for 2025 (Law 207/2024). No official guidelines have been issued to date; however, since this is essentially a re-issue of an identical relief measure from 2016, reference may also be made to the guidelines issued by the Italian Revenue Agency at that time (Circular No. 26/E of 1 June 2016 and Circular No. 37/E/2016). Given that no separate guidelines were issued on the occasion of the last re-issue of this measure in 2023 either, no official circular on the subject is to be expected this year either.

Law Decree No. 84 of 17 June 2025 has introduced a series of new provisions which take immediate legal effect. Of immediate relevance are certainly the changes concerning expense reimbursements. In particular, it is clarified that accommodation, meal and entertainment expenses, as well as expenses for public passenger transport incurred abroad, may continue to be paid in cash.

We already informed you of this in our Circular No. 50/2024 of 28 December 2024: Since 1 January 2025 (more precisely: from the tax period commencing after 31 December 2024), meal expenses, accommodation expenses and expenses for public passenger transport (with the exception of scheduled services; the provisions therefore mainly concern taxis and car hire operators with driver), as well as entertainment expenses, are only recognised for tax purposes if they have been settled by bank or postal transfer or by other traceable means of payment (e.g. credit card or debit card). Conversely: hotel and restaurant invoices or receipts for taxi rides paid in cash are no longer recognised for tax purposes. Under the Budget Law, the requirement to refrain from cash payments applies

The provision is contained in the reform law on IREF and IRES (Legislative Decree 192/2024, Art. 14), and we already gave you brief information about it at the turn of the year: an extraordinary release (affrancamento) is provided for reserves in suspension of tax existing as at 31 December 2023 (and still in place as at 31.12.2024). The substitute tax payable for this purpose amounts to 10% and may be paid in up to four annual instalments.

The measure is of interest above all for revaluation reserves that were created in earlier years against payment of a more or less substantial substitute tax. As a reminder: in the course of the Covid crisis, tangible fixed assets and equity investments could be revalued in the financial statements as at 31.12.2020 (and then also in 2021) against payment of a substitute tax of 3%. Against payment of a further substitute tax of 10%, the reserves thus created would also have been distributable; however, hardly anyone made use of this redemption at the time, because the distribution of the reserves was not the primary objective; the focus was on the possibility of revaluing fixed assets, depreciating them for tax purposes and also being able to dispose of them without a capital gain.

We last informed you about the changes to the tax credits in the area of Industry 4.0 in our Circular No. 22 of 21 May 2025, to which we expressly refer again here.

As already communicated, the Industry 4.0 investment incentives in 2025 are subject to a spending cap in the State budget of a paltry EUR 2.2 billion, unless a binding order together with a down payment of at least 20% was placed by the end of 2024. In order not to lose track of this expenditure, three notifications were introduced by the Decree of 15 May 2025: an advance notification, a confirmation notification and a final notification. It is hardly possible to have more bureaucracy than this!

And anyone who, as from 1 January 2025, has already submitted an initial advance notification using the notification form as established by the Italian Revenue Agency last year by the Decree of 24 April 2024 must now submit this advance notification again using a new notification form, as established on 15 May 2025, in order to secure their own ranking in the allocation of the scarce funds.

We have already informed you on several occasions about the obligations – or rather, the absence of obligations – in connection with the provisions of the 2025 Budget Law concerning the reporting of digital domiciles (PEC addresses) of company boards of directors to the Companies Register. We have also informed you that, pending clarifying provisions, it is possible where applicable to state „only“ the address of the company, that no administrative penalties are provided for and that, for the time being, no (!) due date applies either. Nevertheless, certain providers of such electronic addresses evidently still insist that a PEC address for directors should be opened by 30 June 2025.

Against this background, the following clarification by the Bolzano Chamber of Commerce, which has recently been available on the Chamber of Commerce’s website, is most welcome: there is no due date as at 30 June 2025 for registering PEC addresses, nor are any administrative penalties provided for.

The news certainly did not come as a surprise, but the timing did, because in recent years the extension of the deadline for tax payments has mostly come only at the very last moment, in many cases even only after the due date. And now for the good news:

At its meeting last Thursday, the Council of Ministers resolved to postpone all payments for income taxes, for IRAP, for value added tax and related levies which are owed as at 30 June 2025 by businesses and self-employed professionals subject to the reliability indices (keyword ISA) or to the flat-rate scheme, to Monday, 21 July 2025, without any surcharge being due in this respect. Although the decree has not been published in the Official Gazette as at today's date, the Council of Ministers already announced its adoption on 12 June by way of a press release following the meeting, so that one may safely rely on it. Accordingly, the legal position is as follows:

As previously announced, new ATECO codes for recording economic activities were introduced with effect from 1 January 2025, and the new codes have been legally effective since 1 April 2025. In principle, it was not necessary to actively file any notification of change, as the conversion was carried out ex officio. So much for the theory; in practice, unfortunately, matters are in many cases entirely different:

As early as March of this year, the Bolzano Chamber of Commerce informed all businesses of the planned automatic updates and, as announced, both the old code (ATECO 2007) and the new code (ATECO 2025) are currently shown in parallel on all Chamber of Commerce extracts. The automatic conversion is carried out on the basis of a transition table drawn up by ISTAT which, unfortunately, was in many cases not unambiguous. Accordingly, it may happen that an entirely different activity appears under the new code. Businesses therefore still have until 30 November 2025 to check the codes assigned to them and, where necessary, to correct them, should the automatic conversion fail to correctly reflect the activity actually carried out. A dedicated portal has also been set up for this purpose:

We have already informed you about this, and several associations and IT providers will have reminded you of it more or less insistently in recent weeks:

Under a new provision introduced by the latest Budget Law (Art. 1 para. 860 Law 207/2024), directors of partnerships and corporations have in principle been obliged since the beginning of 2025 to open their own certified e-mail address (PEC) and to file it with the Companies Register in connection with their office as board member. It should be recalled that the Budget Law provides neither a deadline nor any administrative penalties for failure to comply with this new obligation.

The general administrative practice, however, is that

It should be added, however, that by notice („nota“) No. 43836 of 12 March 2025 the Ministry for Made in Italy required all companies to notify a PEC address of their directors by 30 June 2025, threatening administrative penalties of between 103 and 1.032 euro in the event of non-compliance. It may nevertheless be doubted whether deadlines and penalties that are not provided for as such by law may be introduced by means of a press release. The confusion these days is correspondingly great.

We have already informed you about this: since 1 January 2025, recharges arising from the provision or secondment of employees fall within the scope of VAT and must accordingly be invoiced at the standard rate, currently 22%, irrespective of whether only the costs incurred are recharged or whether a mark-up is also charged. The Italian legislator has thereby complied with a ruling against Italy by the Court of Justice of the EU (C-94/19 of 2020) and has aligned national law with the EU provisions (see also our Circular No. 41/2024 on this subject). The change applies only to agreements newly concluded or renewed as from 1 January 2025, whereas secondments based on „old“ contracts may continue to be invoiced without VAT.

At last some good news for once: all tax payments that fell due last Friday, 16 May 2025, may be made up by 30 May 2025 without interest or penalties.

The reason is a breakdown of the Italian Revenue Agency's electronic services last Friday. The website had crashed, probably as a result of the overload following the activation of the simplified tax returns on Form 730 last Thursday, and was demonstrably inaccessible on 16 May 2025 between 10:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Among other things, this meant that taxpayers had no way of accessing their tax account and, where applicable, of checking their credits in order to be able to correctly make the tax payments due on that day.

Following vigorous protests from numerous associations, the Italian Revenue Agency has now taken account of this situation: by means of an order published yesterday, all deadlines falling on 16 May 2025 are extended to 30 May 2025. It follows that, in particular, the tax payments listed below may be made up by 30 May 2025 without interest or penalties:

By decree of 15 May 2025, the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy has finally published the forms together with the instructions for the tax credits in the Industry 4.0 area, taking into account the changes introduced since 2025; we enclose the form together with the instructions for ease of reference.

First of all, however, an overview of the current legal framework relating to this incentive is required. In the three-year period 2023 – 2025, the Industry 4.0 investment incentive is, as is known, granted as follows:

The above thresholds are not to be calculated for the three-year period as a whole, but separately for each year. However, for the year 2025 an expenditure ceiling of 2.200 million euro was introduced in the State budget for this incentive, and since these funds will certainly not be sufficient, entirely new conditions now apply:

Should you wish to instruct our firm to prepare your tax return for the year 2024, we kindly ask you to send us the relevant documents by Friday, 23 May 2025.

Enclosed you will find a list of the documents required for this purpose (see Annexes A, B and C).

The IRPEF balance payment for the year 2024, as well as the first instalment of the IRPEF advance payment and of the regional IRPEF surtax for the year 2025, fall due before the filing deadline of the tax return, namely by Monday, 30 June 2025, or with a 0,4% surcharge by 30 July 2025. Payment by instalments is possible (a maximum of 6 monthly instalments up to the month of November 2025), whereby the last instalment falls due on 01 December 2025 (30 November falls on a Sunday) and interest at a rate of 4% per annum (corresponding to 0,33% per month) must be charged. The first IMU instalment, by contrast, is already due by Monday, 16 June 2025.

We already informed you of this in our Circular No. 1/2025: for 2025 a new set of rules applies to the calculation of the benefit in kind in the case of mixed use of company vehicles. The calculation of the benefit in kind for the private use of cars for the current year 2025 thus becomes even more complicated. In the current year, 4 categories of vehicles must in principle be distinguished for the purposes of calculating the benefit in kind;

Here we shall address only the 4th case once again, since we have already informed you on several occasions about the „old“ rules: for vehicles registered after 1 January 2025 and assigned to employees for mixed use under contracts concluded after 1 January 2025, the following rules apply, always by reference to the 2025 ACI scale for 15.000 km/year:

The question arises again and again whenever invoices issued to customers become uncollectible as a result of insolvency or composition proceedings: from when and until when may a credit note still be issued, at least for the VAT that has not been collected?

The relevant provisions are found in Art. 26 of the VAT Act, specifically in paragraphs 2 and 3. Paragraph 2 provides in general terms that, in the case of adjustments due to nullity, annulment, revocation, termination and "similar cases", or due to contractually agreed discounts or rebates, the supplier or service provider may adjust the VAT. In practice, given the recording deadlines, this may be done up to the filing of the annual VAT return for the year in which the relevant circumstance occurred. Where the aforementioned circumstances arise from changes agreed between the parties, or from the correction of errors, the adjustment may only be made within one year of the supply being made.

We already informed you of the basic features of this relief in our Circular No. 5/2025: pursuant to Art. 1 paras. 436-444, Law 207/2024, reduced taxation of retained and invested profits is provided for, initially limited to the year 2025. Corporations (or, more broadly, taxpayers subject to IRES) which do not distribute their 2024 profits and reinvest them are taxed at a reduced rate, namely the IRES rate is reduced from 24% to 20%. In order to claim the relief, five restrictive requirements are laid down, all of which must be met simultaneously:

1. 80% of the profit for the 2024 financial year must be allocated to a dedicated reserve, and these profits may not be distributed at least until the end of 2026.

Although it is not yet official, it is virtually certain that the deadline for taking out an insurance policy against catastrophes will be extended, namely from 31 March 2025 presumably to the end of October.

By way of reminder: the Budget Law for 2024 (Law 213/2023) introduced an obligation for businesses to take out, by 31 December 2024, insurance covering land, buildings and tangible fixed assets against damage caused directly by natural catastrophes (such as floods, earthquakes, landslides). Failure to comply was to be penalised by administrative fines and the loss of subsidies.

However, the implementing provisions required for this purpose, in particular as regards the contents of such insurance policies, were slow in coming. Accordingly, an extension of the deadline to 31 March 2025 was already granted at the end of the year. On 27 February 2025 the implementing provisions were finally published, and insurance companies were granted a period of 30 days in which to adapt their policies to the new requirements. Taking the public holidays into account, the companies would therefore have to have the revised policies available next Monday, 31 March, and it is precisely on that day that millions of businesses throughout Italy would then have to conclude a new insurance contract. It is obvious that this is not feasible. In addition, there are considerable doubts as to the definition of the assets to be insured. Over recent weeks, the major business associations have therefore vehemently called for a postponement.

Taxpayers who last year, that is, in the period between 1 January and 31 December 2024, in respect of the various renovation works in construction

must notify the Italian Revenue Agency of this invoice discount or of these assignments to third parties, using the dedicated forms, by Monday, 17 March 2025 at the latest. The original due date, 16.03.25, is postponed by one day because of the public holiday. This is a deadline that cannot be remedied. In other words: if the notification is not filed, the invoice discount or the assignment cannot be recovered.

As is known, the options for the aforementioned invoice discount and for the assignment in respect of renovation works have been progressively restricted in recent years and in 2024 were possible only to a very limited extent. Where we have handled the assignments, the notifications have already been sent. For other cases, we ask you to check whether they have been sent. If necessary, we would of course be glad to assist you.

With effect from 1 April 2025, a number of changes to electronic invoices (version 1.9) will take legal effect, as adopted by a decree of the Italian Revenue Agency on 31 January 2025. In detail, they concern:

Most of the above changes concern rather marginal areas; nevertheless, we recommend that you update your software in good time so that you are able to meet the new requirements.

The first point, however, is important. As a reminder: the reform of the administrative penalties, which entered into force on 1 September 2024, also amended the obligations of the business customer receiving services and of the business recipient of goods in cases where the service provider or supplier issues no invoice or an incorrect one.

Below you will find a number of short items on developments of recent weeks, which we ask you to review, since in some cases decisions may have to be taken at very short notice.

As is known, the possibility for shareholders' meetings of corporations and cooperatives to be held in the form of audio or video conferences, irrespective of the relevant provisions of their respective articles of association, was introduced on a temporary basis as a special measure five years ago in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. In the course of the conversion of the „Milleproroghe“ decree (Law Decree 202/2024), this simplification has now been extended, for the time being, until 31 December 2025. Until then, therefore, the following applies:

For 2025 as well, the so-called „advertising bonus“ may once again be applied for in its original form, i.e. the benefit is granted only on the additional expenditure compared with the previous year: accordingly, a bonus amounting to 75% of the increase in costs in 2025 compared with 2024 is to be granted. In view of the limited budget funds, totalling 30 million euro at national level, the credit actually granted will in the end probably again amount to only a fraction of this.

Eligible expenses are those for advertising in newspapers and magazines (daily newspapers and periodicals). These must be entered in the relevant register at the court or in the Register of Communication and Advertising Operators (ROC) and must have a responsible editor-in-chief. As in the previous year, advertising on radio and television is not supported.

The annual book-stamping fee falls due once again by Monday, 17 March 2025 at the latest. Within this deadline, corporations must pay the annual government concession fee for the stamping of the corporate books; the relevant provisions have remained unchanged compared with the previous year. The fee therefore amounts to:

The decisive factor here is the amount of the capital as at 1 January 2025.

Payment is made using form F24 with payment code 7085, indicating 2025 as the reference period.

Please note: consortia (unless they have the legal form of a corporation), cooperatives, partnerships and sole proprietorships, as well as non-commercial entities, are not required to make any payment. In return, as is known, they must pay a fee of 67,00 Euro per 500 pages whenever an individual corporate book is set up.

By 13 February 2025, all "operators" in the field of waste management, as well as all producers of hazardous and non-hazardous waste with more than 50 employees, are required to register in the RENTRI register. Smaller businesses have somewhat more time, as set out below. However, all undertakings are already required, as of the aforementioned date, to use the new digitally validated waste transport forms and also the new registers. The Bolzano Chamber of Commerce has published extensive instructions on its website regarding the registration obligation, the new waste transport forms and also the new keeping of registers. Here is the link: www.camcom.bz.it/de/dienstleistungen/umweltschutz/rentri/eintragung-ins-rentrihttps://www.camcom.bz.it/de/dienstleistungen/umweltschutz/rentri/eintragung-ins-rentri

Businesses and self-employed professionals who submitted the advance booking for the 2024 advertising bonus in March 2024 must report the expenses actually incurred in 2024 by 10 February 2025. As is known, for the year 2024 a tax credit amounting to 75% of the increase in costs compared with the year 2023 is available for advertising expenditure in print media, including any online editions thereof. In order to be entitled to the credit, there must be an increase in expenditure of at least one percentage point.

In order to obtain the tax credit, a declaration in lieu of affidavit concerning the expenses actually borne in 2024 must be filed electronically, using the relevant form of the Italian Revenue Agency, by 10 February 2025 at the latest. The form can be downloaded at the following address:

Below, in key points, is an overview of some other changes at the turn of the year which concern private individuals and non-commercial entities in particular and which derive from the Budget Law for 2025.

In addition to the many changes already reported, 1 January 2025 also brought a reform of inheritance and gift tax as well as of registration tax. Although the new rules set out in Legislative Decree 139/2024 were published in the Official Gazette back on 2 October 2024, they only took legal effect on 1 January 2025, specifically for deeds executed and estates opened from that date onwards. As regards inheritance tax, particular attention must be paid to self-assessment; in the case of registration tax, the changes concerning preliminary purchase agreements and business transfers are relevant. The cornerstones of the reform are as follows:

Inheritance tax is now also subject to the obligation of self-assessment, as is the case for most other taxes and duties. Until now, within the framework of an estate, self-assessment was only provided for the settlement of mortgage and cadastral taxes (on the transfer of real property), whereas inheritance tax was determined by the tax office within 3 years of filing the return (assessment by the authorities). As in the past, the inheritance tax return must continue to be filed electronically within one year of the date of death (with the exception of non-resident heirs). Unlike in the past, however, since 1 January 2025 the inheritance tax due must be calculated independently and paid within 90 days of filing the return (or at least 20%, with the balance spread over eight or twelve instalments for amounts exceeding 20.000 Euro).

We would like once again to inform you of the tax dates for the current year 2025. The enclosed overviews contain the most important and most common deadlines under the provisions currently in force.

As usual, some dates may still be subject to changes at short notice. We will inform you of any such changes in good time.

The enclosed overviews are structured as follows:

Please note that we have primarily taken into account deadlines of a tax nature. Accordingly – with a few exceptions – deadlines arising from social security legislation or from other provisions are not listed.

Below are the most important changes in the area of value added tax and excise duties at the turn of the year 2025, as set out in the Budget Law (Law 207/2024), in the New Year’s Eve Decree (Law Decree 202/2024) and in the legislative decree implementing EU Directive 285/2020 (Legislative Decree 180/2024), all of which take legal effect on 1 January 2025:

In recent years, hardly ever have so many new developments in business taxation entered into force at the turn of the year as this year. At the end of 2024 not only was the Budget Law (Law No. 207/2024) for 2025 approved, but shortly before Christmas the implementing provisions for the reform of IRES and IRPEF (Legislative Decree No. 192/2024) were also enacted, and at the end of the year there was still the usual New Year's Eve decree „Milleproroghe“ (Law Decree No. 202/2024). At the same time it must be acknowledged that not only selective amendments have been made, but that overall a structured reform has been produced. This year, however, the Budget Law as such is once again barely readable because, as usual on account of the vote of confidence, all the essential provisions have been squeezed into a single article which, without any structure whatsoever, consists of 908 confusing paragraphs.

The Budget Law for 2025 (Law 207/2024) has severely restricted the various tax deductions for renovation works. In particular, for income exceeding 75.000 Euro the deductions for expenses incurred as from 1 January 2025 are reduced. Legislative Decree No. 192/2024, on the other hand, has enacted a far-reaching reform of the taxation of agricultural income, which partly moves away from the strict link to the agricultural area under cultivation.

Below is a first overview of the new developments in construction and in the taxation of real estate, which essentially take effect on 1 January 2025:

By decree of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of 10 December 2024 (published in the Official Gazette of 16 December 2024), the statutory interest rate was reduced with effect from 1 January 2025 from the previous 2,5% to 2%. The change has direct effects on a number of civil law, commercial law and tax law matters as well as on social security contributions. Examples that may be cited include the calculation of interest for the so-called voluntary correction, the accrual of interest on claims for damages and other disputes, and the interest payable by the landlord on the security deposit provided by the tenant.

Unless a different interest rate is stipulated by contract or by law, the statutory interest rate of 2% applies to debt obligations from 1 January 2025. This applies, for example, to the interest payable by the landlord on the security deposit lodged by the tenant.

This year we begin our communications on the changes taking effect at the turn of the year with self-employed professionals. Legislative Decree No. 192 of 13 December 2024 (published in the Official Gazette of 16 December 2024), in force since 31 December 2024, has in fact introduced far-reaching changes to income from self-employed professional activity as well as to the tax-neutral reorganisation or restructuring of professional partnerships and professional companies. Art. 5 of the decree has essentially rewritten Art. 54 of the Income Tax Code (TUIR). Most of the changes apply retroactively as from tax period 2024 and must therefore be taken into account immediately. In addition, the Budget Law for 2025 (Law 207/2025) also contains a number of specific changes for self-employed professionals. Here is a first overview:

The new per-kilometre costs under the ACI scale for 2025 were published in the Official Gazette of 30 December 2024. They serve, on the one hand, to determine benefits in kind for employees and, on the other, to determine the appropriate consideration for the private use of passenger cars by shareholders and by family members of companies and businesses. The per-kilometre costs for passenger cars with combustion engines have fallen by up to 2% compared with the previous year, as a result of the changes on the fuel market; conversely, those for electric motors have risen by between 0,2% and 2,4%, caused by the increase in the price of electricity.

At the same time, however, the 2025 Budget Law has sharply increased the coefficients for the private use of new company vehicles with combustion engines, and in many cases the management of the company fleet will have to be reconsidered.

The new rule is contained in Art. 1 para. 81 of the Budget Law for 2025, which was given final approval today, and will be published in the Official Gazette in the coming days. As it will have serious consequences for the structuring of expenses for accommodation, meals and travel costs as well as for entertainment expenses as from the beginning of the year, we provide the following advance information: as from 1 January 2025 (more precisely: as from the tax period beginning after 31 December 2024), meal costs, accommodation costs and transport costs (taxis as well as car-hire operators with driver) and entertainment expenses will be recognised for tax purposes only if they have been settled by bank or postal transfer or by other traceable means of payment (e.g. credit card or debit card). Conversely: hotel and restaurant bills paid in cash and receipts from passenger transport operators will no longer be recognised for tax purposes. Here are the details:

By Friday, 27 December 2024, the annual advance payment on value added tax must once again be made. Compared with the previous year, there are no differences in the payment rules. Below are the most important points:

At this time of year, any invoices for Christmas gifts and Christmas dinners have to be recorded once again. Below are the most important rules, which – apart from the ceilings applicable to employees – have not changed compared with the previous year:

We have already pointed this out to you several times in individual cases, but here once again as a reminder: tax credits which have been acquired by businesses in connection with renovation works through assignments of claims or also through the discount on outgoing invoices (so-called “sconto in fattura”) must be offset within the business in accordance with the same annual due dates as those on which they would have had to be deducted by the original beneficiary as tax deductions. It follows, for example, that in the case of an invoice discount in the year 2023 for renovation works which may be deducted over 10 years, the 1st tenth must be offset in 2024 by means of Form F24. If the offsetting is missed, the instalment is irretrievably lost.

The investment incentives in the field of Industry 4.0 have, despite their step-by-step reduction over the past years, always retained at least a hint of legal certainty: already with the Budget Law for 2023, the investment incentive for tangible fixed assets for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025 had been restricted as follows:

And here, first of all, a positive clarification: although the wording of the law is different, the Italian Revenue Agency clarified in Circular No. 14 of 17 May 2022 (which for a long time no one was willing to believe, but which is now generally accepted) that the above limits for tangible fixed assets may be calculated separately for each of the three years 2023. 2024 and 2025 and that this is not a single threshold for the three-year period, as the wording of the law actually suggests. For investments in “Industry 4.0” intangible assets, on the other hand, an incentive of most recently 15% was granted.

Below are some notes for administration and accounting at the year-end:

When issuing invoices, and in particular as regards the input VAT deduction on incoming invoices, a number of special features must once again be observed at the year-end. And contrary to all the reform promises of recent times, nothing has changed this year either, and it remains complicated.

The rules in force on electronic invoicing and on the input VAT deduction once again give rise to a number of special features at the year-end. In this respect the following principle must be observed in particular: the issue date of an electronic invoice is deemed to be the date on which the invoice is uploaded to the SdI platform. Special rules apply

With this circular we would like to draw your attention to a number of important changes of recent weeks:

Legislative Decree No. 125/2024 has established new thresholds for micro-entity financial statements, abridged annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements. In line with EU Directive 2023/2775/EU, it is assumed that the changes may be applied from financial year 2024 (more precisely: from the financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2024). The Directive requires the Member States to apply the new thresholds from 2024, while offering the Member States the option of retroactive application from 2023, which Italy has not taken up. It should be added that the various thresholds do not have to be adjusted on a pro rata temporis basis for the first financial year, irrespective of whether that year is longer or shorter than twelve months. Below are the new threshold values, which have been raised by around 25% compared with the past:

We last informed you of this in our Circular No. 36/2024 of 11 September 2024: the Budget Law for 2024 (Law 213/2023) had introduced an obligation for businesses to take out, by 31 December 2024, insurance covering land, buildings and tangible fixed assets against damage caused directly by natural catastrophes (such as floods, earthquakes, landslides). Failure to comply was to be sanctioned by administrative penalties and the loss of subsidies.

However, the implementing provisions required for this purpose, in particular as regards the content of such insurance policies, have not been issued to date. The text was indeed approved by the competent ministries in September, but publication in the Official Gazette is still outstanding.

The insight comes late. As is known, any option for the two-year advance tax arrangement for the years 2024 and 2025 had to be exercised by 31 October 2024 upon filing of the tax return. The necessary official instructions had in part been published only a few days before the deadline, and accordingly the Chamber of Auditors and Tax Advisors in particular pressed for an extension of the deadline for filing the tax returns in order to be able to ensure appropriate advice to taxpayers. Unfortunately in vain.

Now, however, the government is relenting after all: by Law Decree No. 167/2024 (published in the Official Gazette of 14 November 2024) the deadline for the arrangement is reopened. By 12 December 2024 a supplementary return may be filed for the 2023 tax return, in which the option for the two-year advance tax arrangement may, where applicable, be exercised belatedly. Conversely, revocation of an option already exercised is no longer possible. And the extension of the deadline is available only if the original tax return was filed on time by 31 October 2024. It is therefore a supplementary return which, moreover, may not report a lower income than that originally declared.

We have already informed you of this: by judgment No. C-94/19 of 11 March 2020, the European Court of Justice declared the Italian rule in Art. 8 of Law 67/1988, under which secondments of staff are not subject to value added tax in so far as only the costs incurred – i.e. without any margin – are recharged, to be contrary to EU law and called on Italy to amend its legislation accordingly. Last summer the Italian supreme court followed suit: by judgment No. 22700 of 12 August 2024, the Court of Cassation reached the same conclusion.

The legislator has now taken account of these findings of the case-law, and it must be acknowledged favourably that an unambiguous date for the change has been enacted and that transitional rules have also been laid down. Here are the details:

The abolition or reduction of the tax reliefs for renovation in the construction sector granted in recent years – perhaps somewhat too generously – has been announced for a long time; if the drafts of the Budget Law for 2025 available so far are to be believed, they will nevertheless turn out to be more moderate than many had feared. From 1 January 2025, however, taxpayers with income of more than 75.000 euro are likely to have hardly any entitlement to further reliefs. Here is a first overview:

As is known, the Superbonus of 110% expired at the end of 2023; in certain cases, however, it may still be claimed in 2024 and 2025 at a reduced rate of initially 70% and then 65%. Here is an overview:

Entitled to the extended Superbonus are condominiums, natural persons who are owners or co-owners of residential buildings with 2 – 4 residential units, Onlus associations, voluntary associations and social associations. Owners of single-family houses are excluded in 2024 and 2025.

The Institute for Social Housing and housing cooperatives with undivided ownership are also still entitled to the extended Superbonus, provided that they hold apartments in condominiums.

The tax deduction amounts to 70% of the expenses incurred in the period between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 and to 65% of the expenses incurred in the period between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025.

We already informed you of this last year with our Circular No. 30/2023:

In joint stock companies as well as in limited liability companies, managing directors with delegated powers (so-called „amministratori delegati“), or delegated bodies (e.g. an executive committee within the board of directors), are in principle obliged, pursuant to Art. 2381 (joint stock companies) and Art. 2475 (limited liability companies) respectively, to report at least every 6 months to the board of directors and to the board of statutory auditors or the sole statutory auditor

In order to comply with this obligation, the simplest approach – although not strictly necessary – is to draw up minutes of the board of directors on the report, and to record in these minutes the reports of the managing director with delegated powers on the 3 points mentioned above (course of business, further development, most significant transactions).

From today, 1 October 2024, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) organised in the form of a corporation may apply for increased Sabatini funding if they at the same time also increase their equity capital by at least 30% of the planned investment.

The relevant instructions for the application are contained in Circular No. 1115 of 22 July 2024 of the Ministry for „Made in Italy“.

Eligible for funding are investments in new machinery and plant as well as in software and digital technology of between 20.000 Euro and 4.000.000 Euro which are financed by leasing or through a bank, whereby the term of the financing or of the leasing contract may not exceed 5 years.

For this particular Sabatini funding the interest subsidy amounts to

As a reminder: the Budget Law for 2024 (Law 213/2023, Art. 1 paras. 101 – 111) obliged all undertakings with their registered office or a permanent establishment in Italy to take out, by 31 December 2024 at the latest, insurance covering damage to land, buildings and tangible fixed assets caused directly by natural catastrophes (floods, earthquakes, landslides). The deductible (keyword „franchigis“) may not exceed a threshold of 15%. In principle, all undertakings are affected by the obligation, irrespective of their legal form, i.e. corporations, partnerships and also sole proprietorships. Agricultural undertakings, by contrast, are evidently excluded. According to recent press reports, exemptions are also to be provided for smaller undertakings, although the way in which these are to be defined is still open.

All accommodation businesses must register by 2 November 2024 on the website of the Ministry of Tourism and apply for the allocation of their own identification code, the so-called CIN („Codice Identificativo Nazionale“). The obligation goes back to the decree accompanying the Budget Law for 2024 (Law Decree No. 145/2023), by which the introduction of a uniform code was required, intended to standardise the local codes (CIR) already in use in several regions. On 3 September the corresponding obligation was published in the Official Gazette, and from that date accommodation businesses now have 60 days (in South Tyrol as well) in which to apply for the new identification code.

The intention is to provide a clear identification of accommodation businesses, and thus in particular also of short-term letters; the aim is in particular to subject the latter form of letting to closer control. Tax evasion is to be curbed and compliance with general rules is to be ensured.

By Monday, 30 September 2024, businesses and self-employed professionals may once again submit applications for the refund of the value added tax incurred in 2023 in other EU countries. The relevant provisions have not changed compared with previous years. Nevertheless, a brief summary is given here, because the refund is repeatedly forgotten:

In the past, the extension of the deadline for the revaluation of land and shareholdings took place only once a year; recently, however, a half-yearly extension appears to be becoming the rule.

As notified, the Budget Law for 2024 extended the tax exemption of the capital gains on shareholdings and land to the year 2024 as well. This concerned the assets held in private ownership (and not as business assets) on 1 January 2024. The substitute tax, calculated by reference to the sworn valuation, amounted, unchanged from the previous year, to 16%. The valuation and the payment of the substitute tax had to be made by 30 June 2024, with the usual payment in instalments subject to interest of 3% p.a.

On Friday, 16 August 2024, the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) published, by Circular Prot. No. 0025877, the promised guidance on the Transition 5.0 plan. We set out the principles of this new incentive, among other things, in our last Circular No. 30/2024, to which we also attached the GSE guide for the various notifications. To today's circular we now attach the Ministry's 192-page guidance, which addresses numerous details of the new incentive. And it must be said at the outset: in view of the complexity, each individual investment project will ultimately have to be examined separately.

The most important points discussed in the guidance are:

- determination of the required energy saving with reference to individual production processes and with reference to the entire establishment; here, in particular, instructions are given on how to delimit the production process and, further, the „process concerned“, whereby in the extreme case even a single machine may constitute a self-contained process if an autonomous input and output can be demonstrated. This part of the guidance must certainly be studied analytically for each individual case;

Good things take time. The support package for promoting the digitalisation and the energy saving of businesses, enacted at the beginning of March 2024 under the heading „Transizione 5.0“ by Law Decree No. 19/2024, is finally operational. It should be said at the outset: the initiative is absolutely commendable; the delayed implementation has, however, blocked the relevant investments for almost half a year! Yesterday, on 6 August 2024, the necessary implementing provisions were finally published in the Official Gazette, in the form in which we already sent them to you in draft a few weeks ago with Circular No. 26 and in which they have not undergone any recognisable further changes. And by an additional decree of yesterday it was ordered that, with effect from 7 August 2024, 12.00 noon, the portal at the GSE, through which all notifications for the subsidy must be made, be activated. Still outstanding is a long-announced circular on the practical implementation of the incentives.

As already communicated, Legislative Decree No. 87 of 14 June 2024 (published in the Official Gazette of 28 June 2024) has, in the course of the ongoing tax reform, also revised the provisions on administrative tax penalties and criminal tax offences. We have already informed you of the effects on input VAT deduction in the field of VAT. The above-mentioned legislative decree entered into force on 29 June 2024, but on the basis of a special rule in Art. 5 of the legislation the changes to the administrative penalties apply only to offences committed from 1 September 2024. It should be noted that the changes to the administrative penalties apply strictly to offences committed from that date, particularly since the usual “favor rei” rule (that is: where the new rules are more favourable, they also apply to the past) is expressly excluded. As regards criminal tax law, by contrast, the changes also apply retroactively. Of particular importance for day-to-day practice are the effects on voluntary corrections (ravvedimento operoso).

It would be hard to imagine a more complicated form of support: as is known, subsidies in the form of tax credits are available for so-called sports sponsorship in 2023, but only for expenditure in the 1st quarter (1 January 2023 to 31 March 2023) and in the 3rd quarter (expenditure in the months of July to September 2023). And only for the expenditure in the 1st quarter of 2023 can this tax credit be applied for by 10 August 2024, not yet for that in the 3rd quarter. Some notes on this:

First of all, as regards the allocation in time: for this allocation to the 1st quarter of 2023, the cash basis principle applies in principle. It follows that anyone who concluded a sponsorship contract in the first quarter of 2023 but only made the corresponding payment after 31 March 2023 cannot now apply. Conversely, anyone who had already previously concluded a multi-year contract (which may also extend beyond 31 March 2023) may apply for the credit in respect of the payments made in the period between 1 January 2023 and 31 March 2023, and this also applies where the payments made may relate in part to the year 2022 or 2024. Conversely, it is clarified by so-called FAQs that payments in the 1st quarter of 2023 relating to contracts that concern only the year 2022 are not eligible; the contracts must in fact (also) concern the year 2023. As regards payment, it is clarified that cash payments and also any set-offs (between liabilities and receivables) are strictly excluded.

We already informed you in June, with our Circular No. 24/2024, of the deadlines for the tax payments in connection with the tax return for 2023.

As is known, all taxpayers subject to the so-called reliability indices („ISA“) had been granted an extension of the deadline until 31 July 2024 on account of the possible advance tax arrangement. At that time it was still unclear whether these taxpayers would additionally be granted a further extension of 30 days against payment of a flat-rate surcharge of 0,4%.

In the meantime, at its meeting of 26 July 2024, the government has evidently clarified this and decided that all taxpayers who are subject to the said reliability indices and were therefore entitled to make the tax payment by 31 July 2024 may also meet their payment obligations up to Friday, 30 August 2024, but then against payment of a surcharge of 0,4%. Although the corresponding decree has not yet been published as at today’s date, the extension may be regarded as certain in view of a press release issued by the government itself and of numerous publications in the relevant specialist press.

Businesses and self-employed professionals who are subject to the so-called ISA reliability indices, that is, generally those with revenues of up to 5.164.569 euro, have the option, when filing their tax return by 31 October 2024, of submitting an application by which they essentially undertake to declare, for the years 2024 and 2025, a profit or surplus that is determined in advance on the basis of the aforementioned reliability indices. If the taxpayer then generates income in the two following years that exceeds this agreed benchmark income, the excess difference is tax-free. The other side of the coin: the taxes on the benchmark income must in principle also be paid where the actual income is far below it.

As a reminder: at the beginning of March, a comprehensive incentive package for a sustainable economy (catchword „Transition 5.0“) was published with Law Decree No. 19/2024. The emergency decree was converted by Law No. 56/2024, and the conversion law has been in force since 30 April 2024. Within 30 days of that conversion at the latest, the implementing provisions, without which the incentive package cannot be applied, should also have been issued. After numerous delays, they were most recently promised for the end of June. According to the latest news, publication is now envisaged before the August holidays, that is, for the middle of August.

The criticism of this delay voiced by numerous associations is more than justified, since investments have been blocked for months. For nobody wants to exclude themselves from the incentive through any mistakes of their own. At the same time, specialists are currently outdoing one another with webinars and presentations on the forthcoming incentives, only to have to admit in the end that, in the absence of the implementing provisions, binding statements are unfortunately not possible.

With Legislative Decree No. 87 of 14 June 2024 (published in the Official Gazette of 28 June 2024), the changes concerning administrative tax penalties and criminal tax offences have now also been revised in the course of the ongoing tax reform. Although the legislative decree entered into force immediately, on 29 June 2024, the amendments to the administrative penalties, by virtue of a special rule in Art. 5 of the legislation, apply only to offences committed from 1 September 2024. By then the reform will hopefully also have been commented on in the specialist press, so that we will hopefully be able to inform you in good time.

The reform also contains, however, a clarification regarding the input VAT deduction, and it is advisable to observe this clarification immediately, especially since the practice hitherto tolerated by the tax authorities (which was more favourable for the taxpayer) is fully supported neither by national nor by European case law.

Whereas in recent years the deadlines for tax payments have mostly been extended by a few weeks shortly before the due date at the end of June (or sometimes only after the event), this year we exceptionally have a clear statutory extension of the deadline already in advance, under Legislative Decree No. 13 of 12 February 2024; only, the specialist press has so far passed over it in silence. Be that as it may, under the said decree all payments of income taxes, IRAP, value added tax and related levies which are owed at 30 June 2024 (deferred to 1 July because that day falls on a Sunday) by businesses and self-employed professionals subject to the reliability indices or to the flat-rate scheme are deferred to 31 July 2024, without any surcharge whatsoever being owed for this.

Around a month ago we already informed you, with our Circular No. 20/2024, of the changes concerning the claiming of tax credits in the field of Industry 4.0 as well as research and development, as enacted by Law Decree No. 39/2024 (in force since 30 March 2024). In the meantime, further guidance has been published by way of a ruling of the Italian Revenue Agency of 15 May 2024 and a communication of the GSE of 16 May 2024. In essence, the following applies:

By a decree of 24 April 2024, the Ministry for „Made in Italy“ issued two dedicated notification forms, specifying that the submission of the notification is an absolute precondition for claiming the tax credits in form F24. The notifications could originally be downloaded from the GSE homepage and sent by PEC. In the above-mentioned Circular No. 20/2024 we also provided you with the necessary addresses.

With this circular we would like to inform you of the changes of recent weeks that do not directly concern business income, VAT or real estate and construction.

In order to counteract the enormous shortage of doctors in Italy, new tax incentives for the return or inbound relocation of doctors are to be provided for at the proposal of the Minister of Health. A discussion proposal submitted to the government points to the high level of emigration abroad (39.000 doctors in the last five years) and to the higher remuneration abroad (on average 60.000 euro per year, and up to 100.000 euro in Germany, Ireland and Denmark).

As a reminder: the Budget Law for 2023 (paras. 174 – 178 of Law 197/2022) introduced a rule under which tax returns up to and including the return for the tax period current at 31 December 2021 could be corrected on favourable terms by way of a special voluntary corrective filing (“ravvedimento operoso speciale”), namely by submitting a supplementary return and paying the taxes together with interest and penalties, with the administrative penalties due, however, reduced to 1/18 (one eighteenth) of the minimum penalty.

Please find below some notes on developments of recent weeks concerning real estate and the construction sector. Particular attention should be paid to the restrictions on claiming the various tax credits for renovation works.

On account of alleged abuses (how these are even possible in the face of the excessive control mechanisms remains a mystery to me!), the use of tax credits arising from renovation works is being further restricted: Law Decree No. 39 of 29 March 2024 (in force since 30 March 2024) introduced additional limitations on the assignment of tax credits to third parties and on the granting of discounts in outgoing invoices, precisely in respect of such credits, after the scope of application had already been massively reduced in the previous year. The restrictions therefore concern those cases for which loopholes were still left open in the previous year (Law Decree 11/2023 – see our relevant circulars), namely

Set out below in brief form is some information on relevant developments of recent weeks in the area of business income and income from self-employed professional activity:

We begin with some good news: at the end of April, Parliament gave final approval to Law Decree No. 19/2024, which introduced the tax reliefs for “Investments 5.0” (see our Circular No. 15/2024); the conversion law No. 56/2024 was published in the Official Gazette on 30 April 2024 and entered into force immediately. No substantial changes were made in the course of the conversion. It was, however, confirmed that, in order to obtain the relief, a notification on the situation as it stands before the start of the investment must be sent to the GSE body. And the implementing provisions required for this purpose are, to this day, still outstanding.

With this circular we would like to inform you of the relevant changes in the field of VAT in recent weeks:

By ruling of 2 May 2024, the Italian Revenue Agency confirmed that, since 7 February 2024, an agreement between Italy and the United Kingdom has been in force which allows the mutual refund of VAT. The agreement had become necessary following the country’s withdrawal from the EU, because the relevant refund procedures for the EU member states no longer apply to the United Kingdom.

Under the agreement, the relevant application must be submitted within the usual deadlines and therefore by 30 September of the following year at the latest. The provision is moreover applicable retroactively as from 1 January 2021. It follows that: a refund of UK VAT for the year 2023 may in any case now be applied for, but the wording also permits the conclusion that – although the relevant deadlines expired long ago – an application may also still be submitted for the years 2021 and 2022.

Should you wish to instruct our firm to prepare your tax return for the year 2023, we kindly ask you to send us the relevant documents by Friday, 24 May 2024.

Enclosed you will find a list of the documents required for this purpose (see Annexes A, B and C).

The IRPEF balance payment for the year 2023, as well as the first instalment of the IRPEF advance payment and of the regional IRPEF surtax for the year 2024, are due before the filing deadline of the tax return, namely by Monday, 1 July 2024 (30 June falls on a Sunday) or, with a 0,4% surcharge, by 31 July 2024. It is possible to pay in instalments (a maximum of 6 monthly instalments up to the month of November 2024), whereby the last instalment is due on 02 December 2024 (30 November falls on a Saturday) and interest of 4% per annum (equal to 0,33% per month) must be calculated. The first IMU instalment, on the other hand, is already due by Monday, 17 June 2024 (16 June falls on a Sunday).

Set out below are some brief notes on developments of recent weeks, which we ask you to review, as decisions may in some cases have to be taken at very short notice.

As a reminder: the Budget Law for 2023 (paras. 174 – 178 of Law 197/2022) introduced a rule under which, last year, tax returns up to and including the return for the tax period current at 31 December 2021 could be corrected on favourable terms by way of a special voluntary corrective filing (“ravvedimento operoso speciale”), namely by submitting a supplementary return and paying the taxes together with interest and penalties, with the administrative penalties due, however, reduced to 1/18 (one eighteenth) of the minimum penalty. The amounts owed could be paid in a single payment or in 8 quarterly instalments, with interest of 2% p.a. accruing.

The annual book-stamping fee again falls due at the latest on Monday, 18 March 2024. By that deadline, corporations must pay the annual government concession fee for the stamping of the corporate books; the relevant provisions have remained unchanged compared with the previous year. The fee therefore amounts to:

In this respect, the amount of the capital as at 1 January 2024 is decisive.

Payment is made using form F24 with payment code 7085, indicating the year 2024 as the reference period.

Please note: no payment is required from consortia (unless they have the legal form of a corporation), cooperatives, partnerships and sole proprietorships, or from non-commercial entities. In return, as is known, they must pay a fee of 67,00 Euro per 500 pages whenever the individual corporate books are set up.

On 27 February 2024, the Council of Ministers approved a comprehensive incentive package for a sustainable economy (catchphrase “Transition 5.0”). Publication in the Official Gazette is still pending to date, and specific implementing provisions must also be issued for its actual implementation. Set out below is merely some brief preliminary information, above all with the recommendation that you may wish to put relevant investment projects on hold for the time being, since it appears that sworn surveys of the initial situation will in part have to be prepared, which is of course more difficult where investments are already under way. In total, around 6,3 billion euro is being made available for the years 2024 and 2025 in order, in the case of companies or permanent establishments resident in Italy, to

Over the coming months, the current PEC addresses are to become “European”. This means that in future it will be possible to send legally valid PEC messages throughout the entire European Union. In this connection, all current PEC addresses must be brought into line with the new European “Registered Electronic Mail (REM)” standard, which is evidently intended to ensure a higher level of security.

However: the implementing regulation required for this purpose has to date not been published in Italy, which, unlike other countries, has already had PEC addresses for around 20 years. Accordingly, it may also be doubted whether the migration date circulated in the specialist press in recent months, namely 30 April 2024, can still be met. The implementing regulation will have to set a deadline and, under the law as it currently stands, if the migration is not carried out, messages sent from the traditional PEC mailboxes after that deadline will no longer have the legal characteristics of a certified message.

We have already pointed out the statutory rules on several occasions: pursuant to Art. 2477 of the Italian Civil Code, a limited liability company is required to appoint a supervisory body in the following cases:

a) The company is required to prepare consolidated annual financial statements.

b) The company controls a company which is itself subject to a statutory audit.

c) In two consecutive financial years, the company exceeds at least one of the following thresholds in each of those years:

As is known, the thresholds under letter c) have been amended several times in recent years, and it has frequently been observed in the specialist press that the solution adopted probably overshoots the mark considerably, in particular with the requirement that a supervisory body must be appointed as soon as a single threshold is exceeded in two consecutive years. Then, however, came the coronavirus crisis, and the deadlines for the appointment were suspended until 2023. There were high hopes that the provisions would be relaxed in the meantime. To date, however, this has not been the case!

As a reminder: as a result of the pitfalls of the coronavirus pandemic, shareholders’ meetings were allowed to be held as audio or video conferences until 31 July 2023, even where this is not expressly provided for in the articles of association of the company concerned.

This deadline has now been extended once again in the course of the conversion into law of the “Milleproroghe” decree (Law Decree 215/2023), for the time being until 30 April 2024. Since only the date was amended in the legislation, in our view the previous provisions continue to apply for the rest. The following therefore applies until the end of April 2024:

Although not expressly mentioned, it may be regarded as certain, in line with the interpretation applied to date (see, to that effect, the interpretation of the Milan notaries, “massima” No. 200/2021), that until 30 April 2024 boards of directors and supervisory bodies may likewise hold their meetings in the form of video or audio conferences, irrespective of the relevant provisions in the articles of association.

As is known, the advertising bonus applies again this year in its original version, i.e. the benefit is granted only on the increase in expenditure compared with the previous year: accordingly, a bonus amounting to 75% of the cost increase is to be granted. In view of the limited budget resources, however, the tax credit actually granted will in the end probably once again amount to only a fraction of that.

Eligible expenses are those for advertising in newspapers and magazines (daily newspapers and periodicals). As in the previous year, however, advertising on radio and television is not supported.

The following rule applies to publications with online editions: if the publication is issued solely in digital form, the information published must, at least in part, be accessible only against payment in order for the tax credit to be available for the advertisements placed. If, on the other hand, the publication is issued both in digital form and in print, the information in the online edition may also be entirely free of charge.

You will certainly already have heard it from your software supplier: version 1.8 of the electronic invoice applies from 1 February 2024. The changes, however, concern only marginal areas:

- A further change concerns foreign undertakings without a permanent establishment but with direct registration or with a tax representative in Italy. As is known, they may not issue invoices with Italian value added tax for supplies of goods and services to Italian businesses (B2B); instead, the Italian customer must subject the foreign invoice to value added tax under the reverse charge procedure. If – as unfortunately often happens – the foreign undertaking nevertheless invoices B2B transactions with Italian value added tax as well, it is now possible to report this error by means of the transaction code TD28 (which was previously limited to transactions with San Marino) and to remedy it by paying an administrative penalty of 250 euro.

Businesses and self-employed professionals who submitted the advance application for the 2023 advertising bonus in March 2023 must report the expenses actually incurred in 2023 by 9 February 2024. As is known, for 2023 a tax credit amounting to 75% of the increase in costs compared with 2022 is available for advertising expenditure in print media, including any online editions. Radio and television advertising, by contrast, were excluded in 2023. In order to be entitled to the credit, expenditure must have increased by at least one percentage point.

In order to obtain the tax credit, a substitutive declaration on the expenses actually incurred in 2023 must be transmitted electronically by 9 February 2024 at the latest, using the relevant form of the Italian Revenue Agency. The form can be downloaded at the following address:

We would like to inform you once again about the tax dates for the current year 2024. The enclosed overviews contain the most important and most common deadlines under the provisions currently in force.

As usual, some dates may still be subject to changes at short notice. We will inform you of such changes in good time.

The enclosed overviews are structured as follows:

Please note that we have primarily taken into account deadlines of a tax nature. Accordingly – with a few exceptions – deadlines arising from social security legislation or from other provisions are not listed.

Shortly before the end of the year, Legislative Decree No. 209/2023 was also published in implementation of last year’s tax reform under Law 111/2023. It brings fundamental changes in international tax law which, as a rule, have been effective since the beginning of 2024. Here are the first details:

Below is a keyword overview of some other new developments at the turn of the year which mainly concern private individuals and non-commercial entities and result from the Budget Law for 2024 and the various reforms implemented at the turn of the year.

Set out below are the most important changes in the field of value added tax and of excise duties at the turn of the year 2024.

Below are the most important changes in the area of real estate and construction, as introduced by the Budget Law for 2024 and various other laws (see the introduction to Circular No. 3/2024), all of them in force from 1 January 2024.

Below is a brief overview of the tax deductions for various renovation works that can still be claimed in 2024, of course without any claim to completeness:

The Budget Law for 2024 was adopted by Law No. 213 of 30 December 2023 and published on the same day in Official Gazette No. 303. It has been in force since 1 January 2024. Unlike in previous years, the changes it contains can almost be counted on the fingers of one hand. This does not mean, however, that a vast number of changes did not nevertheless become legally effective at the end of the year, because at the same time the following are entering into force these days: the changes under the so-called accompanying decree (Law Decree 145/2023), the changes under the decree for the „rescue of the Superbonus“ (Law Decree 212/2023), the New Year’s Eve decree (the so-called „Milleproroghe“, Law Decree 215/2023) and a series of implementing decrees relating to last year’s tax reform, namely the internationalisation decree (Legislative Decree No. 209/2023), the first decree amending the income taxation of individuals (Legislative Decree No. 216/2023), the decree amending the Taxpayer’s Charter (Legislative Decree No. 219/2023), the decree amending tax jurisdiction (Legislative Decree No. 220/2023) and the decree on cooperation with the tax authorities (Legislative Decree No. 221/2023), and lastly the so-called simplification decree (Legislative Decree No. 1/2024) – and for the taxpayer it ultimately makes no difference where the new rules originate from.

The new kilometre costs under the ACI scale for the year 2024 were published in the Official Gazette of 22 December 2023. They serve both to determine the benefits in kind for employees and also to determine the appropriate consideration for the private use of cars by the shareholders and by the family members of companies and businesses.

The calculation of the benefits in kind for the private use of cars for the current year 2024 remains complicated, since a distinction must still be made between the following 3 cases:

Re 1) The benefit in kind for the private use of company vehicles which were made available to employees before 1 July 2020 is calculated using the specific ACI scale of the vehicle concerned for 15.000 km, namely for a (legally) presumed private use of 4.500 km per year (equal to 30% of 15.000 km), less any cost contribution by the employee.

By decree of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of 29 November 2023, published in the Official Gazette of 11 December 2023, the statutory interest rate was reduced from the previous 5% to 2,5% with effect from 1 January 2024. As in the previous year, when the rate had been raised from 1,25% to 5%, the extent of the change is surprising.

The change has an immediate impact on a number of matters under civil, commercial and tax law, as well as on social security contributions. Examples include the calculation of interest for the so-called voluntary correction, the interest on claims for damages and other disputes, and the interest payable by the landlord on the security deposit lodged by the tenant.

The Budget Law for 2024 has not yet entered into force, but it may be assumed that the version approved by the Senate shortly before Christmas will not undergo any further material changes. And one new measure (Art. 1, paragraphs 78 – 85) is likely to be of particular interest to all businesses which are carrying out the stocktaking of their closing inventories in these days. This is because, after almost 25 years, the possibility of a regularisation of the opening inventories in the warehouse is being allowed once again. In detail, a provision of Law 488/1999 is being re-enacted, and accordingly it may also be assumed that the administrative instructions issued at the time (Circular No. 1115/E/2000) will essentially apply.

By Wednesday, 27 December 2023, the annual advance payment on value added tax must once again be made. Compared with the previous year, there are no differences in the payment rules. Here are the most important points:

At year-end, a number of special features must once again be observed in invoicing and in particular in the deduction of input VAT on incoming invoices. And contrary to recent press reports, these have not yet changed this year; various simplifications are to be enacted only next year.

The rules in force on electronic invoicing and on the deduction of input VAT again entail a number of special features at year-end. In this respect the following principle must in particular be observed: the issue date of an electronic invoice is the date on which the invoice is uploaded to the SdI platform. Special rules apply, however,

at year-end – as in previous years – with regard to the deduction of input VAT on incoming invoices. Below is an overview:

With the 2024 financial year, the new accounting standard OIC 34, which is intended to govern the recognition of revenue in the accounts, enters into force. The new standard was definitively approved by the OIC in April 2023 and becomes binding for the first time for the 2024 financial year. It is essential that „separate performance obligations“ arising from contracts with customers (e.g. supply of a device with a future maintenance obligation) be identified separately, recognised in income and allocated to the correct accounting periods. The corresponding rules were previously scattered across OIC 15 and OIC 23. The accounting standard OIC 34 applies to all revenue from the sale of goods and services, irrespective of how it is presented in the profit and loss account (item A1 – revenue from sales and services, and A5 – other operating income).

They have been on everyone’s lips since spring 2022, and time and again press reports about energy communities that had already been established in our province came as a surprise. The question was a legitimate one: how could such communities be established when the necessary statutory implementing provisions were completely lacking?

At least this shortcoming should now have been remedied, because the government sent the implementing provisions in question to Brussels for approval by the EU Commission, where, after lengthy negotiations, they obtained the necessary consent on 22 November 2023. And last week, on 6 December 2023, the competent Minister for the Environment, F. Pichetto, signed the decree and forwarded it to the Court of Auditors for final review. Changes are hardly to be expected any more, since the legislation had already been the subject of examinations by the EU Commission. Accordingly, the decree should be officially published and enter into force in the coming weeks.

You have probably already been informed in detail about this matter by your labour consultant; to be on the safe side, here is some further information from our side:

With Legislative Decree No. 24/2023, Italy too has transposed the EU’s so-called Whistleblower Directive into Italian law. The purpose of the law is to ensure that employees who pass on anonymous reports of breaches of the law within the company do not face any disadvantages. By way of explanation: where employees become aware of legal infringements in the course of their professional activity, they not infrequently find themselves in an (internal) conflict: may or must the infringement be reported, or do the duties of loyalty as an employee take precedence? For fear of negative repercussions, possible legal infringements are then not brought to light. This „whistleblower protection law“ is intended to counteract this: anyone who reports infringements should not have to fear professional consequences, such as exclusion from a promotion or even dismissal.

The provisions in the field of income taxes and value added tax concerning Christmas gifts have not changed fundamentally compared with previous years, with one exception, however: the exemption threshold for gratuitous benefits granted to employees and to persons treated as such was raised on a one-off basis in the previous year from 258,23 Euro to 3.000 Euro; by Law Decree No. 48/2023 this relief was extended last May to the year 2023 as well, but limited to employees who have dependent children. Accordingly, a laborious differentiation between employees will have to be made here. Law Decree No. 5/2023 also extended the possibility of granting employees fuel vouchers up to an amount of 200,00 Euro, whereby the two reliefs are not mutually exclusive. Here is an overview:

The statutory rules are well known: pursuant to Art. 2477 of the Italian Civil Code, a limited liability company is obliged to appoint a supervisory body in the following cases:

a) The company is required to draw up consolidated financial statements.

b) The company controls a company which is itself subject to statutory audit.

c) The company exceeds, in two consecutive financial years, at least one of the following thresholds in each of those years:

As is known, the thresholds under letter c) have been amended several times in recent years, and it has frequently been observed in the specialist press that the rules now in force have clearly overshot the mark, in particular with the requirement that a supervisory body must be appointed as soon as a single threshold is exceeded in two consecutive years. Then, however, came the coronavirus crisis, and the deadlines for the appointment were suspended until 2023. There were high hopes that the provisions would be relaxed in the meantime. To date, however, this has not happened, and consequently it will be necessary in many cases to designate a supervisory body. For limited liability companies which exceeded at least one threshold in the years 2021 and 2022 there are now 3 options:

Please find below, by way of a brief reminder, some notes on the tax credits for investments and in particular on the forthcoming deadline of 30 November 2023.

As is known, the tax credit of 6% (or in some cases also 10%) granted in recent years for investments in tangible fixed assets with a depreciation rate of more than 6,5% has expired as from 1 January 2023. There is, however, a transitional provision: where binding orders were placed and down payments of at least 20% were made by 31 December 2022, the 6% bonus for investments up to a ceiling of 2 million Euro may still be claimed for assets delivered by 30 November 2023. Please note: the Finance Act for 2023 originally provided for 30 June 2023 as the final date, and the deadline was subsequently extended to 30 November 2023. In order still to benefit from the relief in 2023, it is therefore necessary to be able to document the delivery of the fixed asset by 30 November; the asset does not necessarily have to be brought into operation for the tax credit to apply.

The major tax reform announced by the Meloni government is slowly taking shape. We will inform you by separate circulars as soon as the fog has lifted somewhat. In this connection, the draft of the forthcoming reforms in international tax law has become known in recent days. Among other things, the connecting factors for residence are to be amended, with the emphasis in future being placed on the centre of vital interests with reference to family ties.

In this context, however, the news that the reliefs currently available for so-called inbound taxation are also to be cut back has caused considerable disquiet. At least according to the information available, the reliefs for taxpayers who have already benefited from them are to remain untouched in future as well. Below are the expected changes:

As already advised, the Budget Law for 2023 has once again opened the window for revaluing land and shareholdings which are not held by enterprises, against payment of a substitute tax. The substitute tax, however, no longer amounts to 14% as in the previous year, but now to 16% of the market value. Anyone wishing to make use of this option must have a sworn valuation available by 15 November 2023 and must pay at least the first instalment of the substitute tax.

As in the past, natural persons, simple partnerships, associations of professionals and non-commercial entities are entitled to the revaluation, always provided that the shareholdings or the land are not held through an enterprise.

The substitute tax itself amounts to 16% (sixteen per cent) of the market value, and this applies both to land and to shareholdings, and irrespective of whether the shareholdings are qualified or non-qualified.

By Monday, 11 December 2023, corporations and legal persons governed by private law as well as so-called trusts must report their respective beneficial owner to the Companies Register for entry in the so-called register of beneficial owners. The obligation results from the implementation of the 4th and 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives (EU Directives No. 2015/849 and No. 843/2018). The register is intended to facilitate the due diligence obligations of banks, insurance companies, notaries and other professionals, who are required under the aforementioned anti-money laundering provisions to verify the legitimacy of their customers and clients. The Ministerial Decree establishing that the register is also operational in Italy was published in the Official Gazette of 9 October 2023. From 10 October 2023, the legal entities subject to the obligation now have 60 days to report the data to the Companies Register, and the final deadline falls – on account of the public holidays – as mentioned on 11 December 2023. Below is an overview of the forthcoming obligation:

By way of reminder: the Budget Law for 2023 once again provided for a so-called amnesty for formal irregularities. The corresponding payment should originally have been made by 31 March 2023, but Law Decree No. 34/2023 then granted an extension of the deadline to 31 October 2023. We have already informed you in principle about the amnesty in our Circular No. 19/2023. In view of the forthcoming due dates, please find below some further guidance:

For formal irregularities committed up to 31 October 2022, an amnesty is granted against payment, namely upon payment of a flat-rate settlement fee of 200 euro per year, payable either in a single instalment by 31 October 2023 or in two equal instalments by 31 October 2023 and by 31 March 2024. In order to increase the incentive for this amnesty somewhat, the deadline for the service of the corresponding notices by the tax authorities was at the same time extended by 2 years for irregularities committed up to 31 October 2022 and recorded in a report.

Law Decree No. 132 of 29 September 2023 introduced several shifts of deadlines. Below is an overview:

As announced in our Circular No. 37/2023, the deadline for the assignment to shareholders of assets not used for business purposes by companies, or for their possible conversion into a simple partnership, has been extended to 30 November 2023; no new guidance has been published to date.

The decree also brings forward the deadline within which the tax credits for electricity and gas granted for the first two quarters of 2023 must be set off. As is well known, the original decrees provided 31 December 2023 as the final date for the set-off of these credits in form F24; if no set-off is made by then, the credits are irretrievably lost. This deadline is now brought forward to 16 November 2023. It follows that: anyone who has not yet set off such credits must do so no later than the aforementioned cut-off date in order to avoid the loss of the relief. Should any withholding taxes, payroll taxes and social security contributions payable on the remaining due dates of 16 October and 16 November not be sufficient, in extreme cases the advance payments for IRPEF/IRES and IRAP may also be brought forward to 16 November 2023, whereby care must, however, be taken to ensure that no credit arises as a result of an excessive advance payment.

The deadline for the assignment of real estate and of assets recorded in public registers to shareholders by partnerships and corporations is being extended, namely to 30 November 2023. This was publicly announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister Maurizio Leo at a conference of auditors and tax advisers in Olbia and may therefore be regarded as reliable. To this end, a dedicated emergency decree is to be issued tomorrow, on 27 September 2023. Anyone claiming the extension of the deadline must pay the substitute taxes due in a single instalment by 30 November 2023. At present, as is well known, payment in two instalments is provided for: 60% by 30 September and 40% by 30 November.

The above extension of the deadline had been vehemently demanded in recent weeks by various professional associations, especially since to date no official guidance whatsoever has been issued on the forthcoming assignment of assets to shareholders and since the legal framework has changed materially in a number of respects since 2016, when a similar measure was last in force.

It is indeed not easy to keep track here: the tax credit for sponsorship services in the field of sport introduced years ago is repeatedly extended on a sporadic basis. At present, businesses, self-employed professionals and non-commercial entities are granted tax credits of theoretically 50% of the expenditure on sports sponsorship in the following periods:

For the expenditure in the 1st quarter of 2022, the tax credit may be applied for by 29 September 2023; for the relief in 2023, however, the form and the deadline for an application are still open.

Set out below, therefore, are for the time being the most important items of information on the credit for 2022, which may be applied for in the coming weeks:

We hereby remind you that tax credits granted to energy-intensive and gas-intensive undertakings as well as to non-energy-intensive and non-gas-intensive undertakings for the purchase of electricity and gas in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2022 must be offset by 30 September 2023 at the latest; otherwise they will be irrevocably lost! As a rule, the offsetting against taxes and duties in form F24 will already be necessary by 16 September 2023, particularly since no general due dates fall in the second half of the month. Alternatively, these credits may still be assigned to third parties, as a rule to banks and insurance companies, by 20 September 2023. Any such assignment must, however, be notified to the tax authorities by 20 September 2023 at the latest. For the purposes of calculating the credits and of the payment codes to be used for the offsetting in form F24, we refer you to our earlier circulars on this subject.

By 30 September 2023, businesses and self-employed professionals may file applications for the refund of value added tax incurred in 2022 in other EU countries. The relevant provisions have not changed compared with previous years. Nevertheless, we set out a brief summary below, since the refund is repeatedly overlooked:

As a reminder: in September 2022, hauliers carrying goods on behalf of third parties and – following a subsequent clarification – also passenger transport undertakings entered in the REN register were able to apply for a tax credit of 28% for the purchase of diesel fuel in the 1st quarter of 2022. The applications had to be submitted under the so-called „click-day“ procedure and led to a breakdown of the Ministry's IT system. At that time, undertakings holding a licence for transport on own account were excluded following a subsequent clarification.

By Art. 34 of Law Decree 48/2023, this benefit was extended in May of this year, namely

It should be noted that, according to the wording of the law, transport undertakings operating on own account continue to be disadvantaged; for the 2nd quarter of 2022 they are not entitled to any support.

By 30 September 2023, partnerships and corporations may assign real property and vehicles not used for business purposes to their shareholders on favourable terms, transfer such assets to them by way of a contract of sale, or, in certain circumstances, convert the company itself into a simple partnership (società semplice). The rules are contained in Art. 1, para. 101, of the Budget Law for 2023 (Law 197/2022). No official guidelines have been issued to date; since, however, this is essentially a re-enactment of an identical relief measure dating from 2016, reference may also be made to the guidelines issued at that time by the Italian Revenue Agency (Circular No. 26/E of 1 June 2016 and Circular No. 37/E/2016). In recent days, calls for the deadline to be extended to 30 November 2023 have been made in particular by the national chamber of auditors and tax advisors. To date, however, no official statements on this point are available. We therefore set out below the legal position as it stands today:

In our Circular No. 29/2023 we informed you that the grounds for exclusion from the taxation of excess profits had to be reported to the GSE within the following deadlines: a first notification concerning the exemption for the period February 2022 to December 2022, to be submitted by 28 July 2023, and a second notification concerning the exemption for the period January 2023 to June 2023, to be submitted by 31 August 2023. By way of a press release dated 20 July 2023, the GSE has extended the aforementioned deadlines as follows:

By the so-called “Business Crisis Code” (Art. 377 of Legislative Decree 14/2019), the obligation under Art. 2381 of the Italian Civil Code regarding periodic reporting by managing directors with delegated powers, which previously applied only to joint-stock companies, has been extended also to limited liability companies, namely by a corresponding amendment of Art. 2475 paragraph 6 of the Italian Civil Code. The innovation has so far scarcely been discussed in the specialist press, probably also because the aforementioned body of legislation was initially suspended as a result of the coronavirus crisis and only truly entered into force on 15 July 2022, there being doubts as to whether the suspension actually affected the reporting obligation at issue at all. The umbrella association of joint-stock companies, “Assonime”, provided initial guidance on the innovation in its Circular No. 19/2019. Since then, however, things have gone quiet around the obligation. Here, nevertheless, are a few notes:

As a reminder: by Art. 15-bis of Law Decree No. 4/2022 (ratified by Conversion Law No. 25/2022) a set of rules was introduced last year which was highly controversial from the outset, under which, in the case of installations for the production of renewable energy (above all photovoltaic installations, wind power and hydroelectric power) with a capacity of more than 20 KW, the excess profits in the period between 1 February 2022 and 31 December 2022 may be skimmed off by the GSE, namely to the extent that a fixed reference price (in South Tyrol 58 Euro per MWh) has been exceeded. In this connection we also refer to our Circular No. 30/2022, in which we sought to explain the legal position at that time. By the Budget Law for 2023 this skimming-off of profits was extended until 30 June 2023, whereby, for the purpose of calculating the excess profit, reference is made with effect from 1 December 2022 to the upper limit of 180 Euro/MWh set by the EU. The GSE was entrusted with laying down the necessary implementing provisions. On 23 June 2023 the GSE has now issued these long overdue implementing provisions. In them, reference is once again made to the relevant exemptions and to the fact that the levy is to be paid on the basis of actual production.

We are pleased to inform you first of all that, in the course of the conversion of Law Decree No. 51/2023 into law (Law No. 87/2023, published in the Official Gazette of 5 July 2023), the extension of the deadline for tax payments to 20 July 2023 for businesses and self-employed professionals subject to the so-called reliability indices has been confirmed. As is known, the extension had been ordered only by way of a press release. In the meantime, therefore, this extension has also acquired the force of law, entirely as communicated in our Circular No. 27/2023.

The next point is more interesting: in our Circular No. 26/2023 we informed you about the solidarity levy payable by energy companies, which fell due on 30 June 2023. By several orders of 4 July 2023 the Council of State has now retroactively ordered the suspension of this due date, pending a final decision by the Administrative Court as to whether the levy is lawful at all or not. Should you have paid the levy on time in accordance with the legal position in force, please contact us immediately. We enclose the rulings with this circular.

The substance of the news is to be welcomed; the form is – as in the past – to be firmly rejected, because it runs counter to every requirement of legal certainty: by Press Release No. 98 of 14 June 2023 the Ministry of Finance announced that, by means of a dedicated emergency decree, it will in the next few days extend the due date for tax payments for all businesses and self-employed professionals subject to the so-called reliability indices (“ISA”), namely until 20 July 2023. Payments will then still be possible up to 31 July 2023, during that period (21.07.-31.07.2023), however, subject to a surcharge of 0,4%. Trusting that this decree will indeed be issued, the legal position is as follows:

We already informed you briefly at the beginning of the year: Art. 1 paragraphs 115-121 of Law 197/2022 introduced a set of rules under which, in 2023, in principle all those corporations and commercial entities which in 2022 generated at least 75% of their sales revenues from the production of, or trade in, energy must pay a solidarity levy on the previous year’s excess profit by 30 June 2023.

The Italian Revenue Agency already published the necessary instructions by Circular No. 4/E of 23 February 2023, and the payment codes were established by an Order of 14 March 2023. Since then, however, things have gone quiet around the levy, almost as though it were to be passed over in silence. Conversely, no requests for a deferral or an amendment have been made to date. Unless, therefore, a miracle occurs at the very last moment, the tax will in all likelihood have to be paid by the end of the month. Here are the details:

Below we would like to inform you briefly of a number of important developments of recent weeks:

As already notified, the tax credits for electricity and gas have been extended, albeit at a reduced level, to the 2nd quarter of 2023 as well. By an order dated 10 May 2023, the Italian Revenue Agency has now also published the payment codes for offsetting the credits in form F24:

Under the law as it currently stands, the offsetting must take place by 31 December 2023 at the latest, failing which the credit lapses.

In this connection, it should also be pointed out that requests may still be submitted to gas and electricity suppliers up to 30 May 2023 for the necessary calculations for the 1st quarter of 2023; where the request is submitted within that deadline, the suppliers are required to reply within 60 days of the end of the quarter.

Should you wish to instruct our firm to prepare the tax return for the year 2022, we kindly ask you to send us the relevant documents by Friday, 9 June 2023.

Enclosed you will find a list of the documents required for this purpose (see Annexes A, B and C).

Payments

The IRPEF balance payment for the year 2022, as well as the first instalment of the IRPEF advance payment and of the regional IRPEF surtax for the year 2023, are due before the filing deadline of the tax return, namely by Friday, 30 June 2023, or with a 0,4% surcharge by 31 July 2023. Payment by instalments is possible (a maximum of 6 monthly instalments up to the month of November 2023), whereby the last instalment falls due on 30 November 2023 and interest of 4% per annum (equal to 0,33% per month) must be calculated. The first IMU instalment, on the other hand, is already due by Friday, 16 June 2023.

Things are never as bad as they first seem. In this sense, Law Decree No. 11 of 16 February 2023, which was converted into law by Parliament in recent days, has also undergone numerous amendments, and the original restrictions on the assignment of tax credits and on the granting of discounts on the invoice for various recovery works have been appreciably relaxed. Here is the new legal position following the conversion of Law Decree No. 11/2023:

As a reminder: pursuant to Law Decree No. 11/2023, since 17 February 2023 it has no longer been possible, in respect of the construction measures listed below, to assign the tax credits available to third parties (irrespective of whether these are banks or businesses) or to obtain a corresponding discount on the invoice from the construction firms:

In view of the recent easing on the energy market, this relief actually comes as something of a surprise: by Law Decree No. 34/2023, in force since 31 March 2023, the government has extended the existing tax credits for electricity and gas to the 2nd quarter of 2023 as well, albeit with considerable reductions. Here are the details:

For electricity-intensive businesses, a tax credit of 20% on the energy component of electricity costs is provided for the second calendar quarter of 2023 as well. The condition is that energy costs in the first quarter of 2023 rose by more than 30% compared with the same period of 2019.

These businesses are likewise granted a tax credit amounting to 20% of gas costs for the 2nd quarter of 2023. The condition is that the gas price in the first quarter of 2023 rose by more than 30% compared with the same period of 2019, whereby in the case of gas it is not the individual price increase that has to be examined but – as in the past – that of the MI-GAS index as published by the GME.

The emergency decree extending the aid for electricity and gas (the so-called „decreto bollette“; Law Decree No. 34/2023), on which we will inform you by way of a separate circular, has extended a number of deadlines in connection with the so-called tax settlement (pace fiscale). The decree enters into force today. Below is an overview of the extensions of the deadlines, whereby in practice there is a considerable risk that, in the general confusion, extensions will also be assumed where they have not been granted, at least as at today’s date.

The deadline for the so-called remission for formal errors, under which 200 euro per year must be paid for each tax period in order to settle formal errors, is extended from 31 March 2023 to 31 October 2023. The scope of application in time remains unchanged, and the due date of the 2nd instalment, should one opt for payment by instalments, likewise remains unchanged at 31 March 2024. Any errors must, moreover, still be rectified by 31 March 2024. For details we refer you to our circulars on the subject.

As announced in our Circular No. 5/2023, tax returns up to and including that for the tax period current as at 31 December 2021 may be corrected on preferential terms by way of a special voluntary correction (“ravvedimento operoso speciale”), by filing a subsequent return and paying the taxes together with interest and penalties by 31 March 2023; the administrative penalties are exceptionally reduced to 1/18 (one eighteenth) of the minimum penalty. The amounts due may be paid by way of a single payment or in 8 quarterly instalments, whereby interest of 2% p.a. accrues on such payment by instalments. It is necessary that a valid tax return has been filed for the tax periods to be remedied; otherwise the conditions for a subsequent filing are not met.

We already briefly informed you of this in our Circular No. 1/2023: the Budget Law for 2023 has once again introduced a so-called amnesty for formal irregularities. Specifically, an amnesty subject to payment is granted for formal irregularities committed up to 31 October 2022, namely against payment of a flat-rate settlement fee of 200 Euro per year, payable in 2 instalments, one by 31 March 2023 and a second by 31 March 2024. A single payment by 31 March 2023 is, however, also possible. In order to increase the incentive to make use of this amnesty somewhat, the deadline for the service of the relevant assessment notices by the tax authorities was at the same time extended by 2 years in respect of irregularities committed up to 31 October 2022 and recorded in an official report.

The annual book-stamping fee falls due once again by 16 March 2023 at the latest. Within this deadline, corporations must pay the annual government concession fee for the stamping of the company books; the relevant provisions have remained unchanged compared with the previous year. The fee therefore amounts to:

The amount of capital as at 1 January 2023 is decisive in this respect.

Payment is made using form F24 with payment code 7085, and the year 2023 must be indicated as the reference period.

Please note: consortia (unless they have the legal form of a corporation), cooperatives, partnerships and sole proprietorships as well as non-commercial entities are not required to make any payment. In return, as is well known, they must pay a fee of 67.00 Euro per 500 pages when each company book is set up.

As already communicated, the advertising bonus applies this year once again in its original form, i.e. the relief is granted only on the additional expenditure compared with the previous year: accordingly, a bonus amounting to 75% of the increase in costs is to be granted. In view of the limited funds available in the budget, the credit actually granted will in the end probably again amount to only a fraction of this. There must be an increase of at least 1% compared with the previous year, and if there was no advertising expenditure at all in the previous year, this constitutes a ground for exclusion. In order to benefit from the relief, a preliminary application stating the estimated costs for the current year must again be submitted first, and the final statement must then be sent in at the beginning of next year.

The deadline for either printing out or digitally archiving the accounting records for the year 2021 expires on 28 February 2023; in the case of digital archiving, not only must the digital time stamp be applied by that date, but the digital signature must also be affixed, which is intended to rule out any subsequent alteration of the stored data. In the light of the recent easing measures, however, the question arises whether such digital archiving still makes sense under the strict rules in force. But caution: electronic invoices must in any case be kept digitally; this task may, however, be entrusted to the Italian Revenue Agency free of charge.

As we have already informed you, the so-called Simplification Decree of last August (Law Decree 73/2022) provided that all accounting records kept by electronic means are in any event deemed to be properly kept and preserved, even without being printed out on paper, provided that they are up to date on the IT system at the time of an audit or of the auditors' access and that they can be printed out immediately at the auditors' request and in their presence. This expressly applies even where the records are kept only in digital form but the relevant rules on digital preservation are not complied with, i.e. where no person responsible for digital archiving has been appointed, the relevant preservation manual has not been drawn up, or the time stamp and digital signature are missing. The Italian Revenue Agency itself has not yet commented on the changes outlined above; the wording of the aforementioned Simplification Decree is, however, relatively clear, so that there is hardly any scope for a subsequent restrictive interpretation by the tax authorities.

Even though the worst pitfalls of the coronavirus pandemic have meanwhile been overcome, shareholders' meetings may nevertheless still be held as audio or video conferences until 31 July 2023, even if this is not expressly provided for in the articles of association of the company concerned. In the course of the conversion of the latest year-end decree (Law Decree No. 198/2022) it was in fact ordered that the relevant Covid provisions be extended until 31 July 2023. Until that date, therefore, the following applies:

Although not expressly mentioned, it may, in line with the interpretation adopted to date, be regarded as certain that until 31 July 2023 boards of directors and supervisory boards may also hold their meetings in the form of video or audio conferences, irrespective of the relevant rules in the articles of association.

By Order No. 44905 of 16 February 2023 the Italian Revenue Agency published a dedicated reporting form by means of which tax credits granted to businesses for gas, electricity and agricultural fuel for the year 2022, which are not offset in form F24 by 16 March 2023, must be specifically reported to the Italian Revenue Agency. Failure to submit this report results in the loss of the credits not offset.

Almost at the same time, by an Order of 14 February 2023, the Agency has finally also published the payment codes for the offsetting of the tax credits for electricity, gas and fuel for the year 2023. Here are the details:

We have already informed you in detail in the past, by way of various circulars, about the deadlines for offsetting the tax credits for electricity, gas and fuel relating to the year 2022. As communicated, these credits from the previous year must be specifically reported to the Italian Revenue Agency in so far as they are not offset by means of form F24 or assigned to third parties by 16 March 2023 at the latest. The credits concerned are the following:

First of all, the all-clear must be given: contrary to numerous press reports today, neither the Superbonus, the earthquake bonus, the disability bonus, the Ecobonus nor the general renovation bonus are being abolished or amended. At least according to the emergency decree available, all these instruments remain in place unchanged as regards their amount and the conditions of access. What is, however, no longer possible for new construction projects is the assignment of the tax credit to third parties or the invoice discount granted by the construction company. This follows from Law Decree No. 11 of 16 February 2023, which entered into force today. Here are the details:

As from 17 February 2023 it is no longer possible, in respect of the construction measures listed below, to assign the tax credits available to third parties (irrespective of whether these are banks or businesses) or to obtain a corresponding discount on the invoice from the construction firms:

With reference to outstanding tax collection notices (cartelle), two measures are provided for in the latest Budget Law (Law No. 197/2022):

1. First of all, Art. 1, paragraphs 231-251) contains a provision under which collection orders handed over to the collection agent between 1 January 2000 and 30 June 2022 may be settled on preferential terms, in that the taxes and contributions owed are paid in full, while penalties and interest, including any default interest, as well as the collection fees (the so-called “aggio”, as a rule between 3% and 6% of the amount) are entirely waived. The settlement is thus considerably more favourable than earlier measures of this kind, under which interest and collection fees were not waived.

The so-called fourth aid package relating to the war in Ukraine (the “aiuti-quater” package – Law Decree No. 176/2022) of last November (see our Circular No. 49/2022) was recently converted into law (Law No. 6/2023). In the course of the conversion a number of noteworthy changes were introduced, which have been in force since 18 January 2023:

The assignment of the various tax credits in the construction sector (arising from ordinary renovation works, from energy-efficiency refurbishments, from the so-called Superbonus of 110%, from the earthquake bonus and others) has recently come to a virtual standstill, particularly with the banks. The intention is now to remedy this situation by making the onward sale easier. As a result of the changes, the following assignments are now possible:

We have informed you about the so-called advertising bonus in several circulars. As is known, a booking application for the planned advertising expenses of 2022 had to be filed by 8 April 2022. The eligibility requirements for the subsidy in 2022 were essentially identical to those of the previous year, since for the years 2021 and 2022 the original requirement that only the increase in advertising expenses is subsidised was temporarily abolished. On the basis of the applications filed by 8 April last year, the Department for Information and Publishing already published on 4 May 2022 a 684-page list of the admitted undertakings, also indicating the tax credit theoretically due which, in view of the limited funds available, does not amount to the promised 50% this year either, but ranges between 5,8% and 9,5% of the expenses declared. At the following internet address you can check whether your own undertaking has been admitted to the subsidy and which amount has been granted:

We would like to inform you once again about the tax dates for the current year 2023. The enclosed overviews contain the most important and most common deadlines under the provisions currently in force.

As usual, some dates may still be subject to changes at short notice. We will inform you of such changes in good time.

The enclosed overviews are structured as follows:

We already recommend that you note the deadlines which concern you accordingly in your calendar.

Please note that we have primarily taken into account deadlines of a tax nature. Accordingly – with few exceptions – deadlines arising from social security legislation or from other provisions are not listed.

We have kept you regularly informed about the calculation and the offsetting of the tax credits on the purchase of gas and electricity in the past financial year. As is known, the credits for the first two quarters had to be offset by 31 December 2022. The credits accrued as from 1 July 2022, on the other hand, may be offset by 30 June 2023. In this connection it should be noted in particular that in the 4th quarter one payment code is to be used for the months of October and November, whereas separate payment codes have been established for the month of December 2022. Below once again all payment codes for offsetting the various credits from the 2nd half of 2022 in form F24:

Finally, the offsetting of the tax credits on fuel for agricultural undertakings from last year.

By decree of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of 13 December 2022, the statutory interest rate was raised, with effect from 1 January 2023, from the previous 1,25% to 5%. This is probably the largest change of recent years. By decree of 20 December 2022, published in Official Gazette No. 304 of 30 December 2022, the coefficients for recalculating usufruct and bare ownership were subsequently also redetermined in line with the increased interest rate. The change has direct effects on a number of civil-law, commercial-law and tax-law matters as well as on social security contributions. Examples that may be mentioned are the calculation of interest for the so-called voluntary correction, the accrual of interest on receivables arising from damages and other disputes, as well as the accrual of interest on the security deposit paid by the tenant to the landlord.

The kilometre costs under the ACI scale for 2023 were published in the Official Gazette of 28 December 2022. They serve, on the one hand, to determine the benefit in kind for employees and, on the other, to determine the appropriate consideration for the private use of passenger cars by shareholders and by family members of companies and businesses. Whereas in the previous year the ceiling for tax-free benefits in kind was exceptionally raised to 3.000 euro and thus in many cases also covered the private use of company cars, in 2023 the ceiling of 258,23 euro must again be observed under the law as it currently stands.

The calculation of the benefits in kind for the private use of passenger cars for the current year 2023 remains complicated, since a distinction must still be made between the following 3 cases:

A large part of this year’s Finance Act (Law 197/2022) deals with changes relating to tax litigation and tax audits. Contrary to the announcements made during the election campaign last summer, no tax amnesty (keyword “condono”) is granted. It must be acknowledged, however, that a coordinated set of rules makes it possible to file voluntary supplementary returns, to settle payment notices and assessment notices and, finally, to settle proceedings already pending, whereby above all the otherwise horrendous administrative penalties are reduced to a marginal amount. This gives taxpayers who, on account of unclear provisions or also for lack of financial means, were unable properly to meet their obligations in recent years the opportunity to put matters right with the tax authorities, in part also with the grant of generous instalment arrangements. All the provisions are contained in Art. 1 of the Budget Law, which is why only the paragraphs are cited in the legal references.

Below is a brief overview of a number of other changes coming into force at the turn of the year, which mainly concern private individuals and non-commercial entities and derive from the Budget Law for 2023. The legal references therefore relate in each case to the paragraphs of Art. 1 1 of Law No. 197/2022.

Set out below are the main changes in the field of value added tax and of excise duties contained in the Budget Law for 2023. As in the previous circulars, the legal references relate to the paragraphs of Art. 1 of Law No. 197/2022.

Set out below are the main changes in the field of real estate and construction, as enacted by the Budget Law for 2023 (Law 197/2022), which as a rule are in force from 1 January 2023. Since the Budget Law essentially consists of a single article, the legal references relate to the respective paragraph of Art. 1 of the Law.

Below is a brief overview of the tax deductions for various renovation works which may still be claimed in 2023, of course without any claim to completeness:

The Budget Law for 2023 was adopted by Law No. 197 of 29 December 2022 and published on the same day in Official Gazette No. 303. It has been in force since 1 January 2023. The new government, too, had to resort to a vote of confidence, which is why most of the provisions, as in previous years, are crammed into a single article which consists of 903 paragraphs, is completely unstructured and is barely readable. On the same day, the usual deferral decree (the so-called “decreto mille proroghe”) was also published in the Official Gazette as Law Decree 198/2022, and that decree already corrects or supplements a number of provisions of the aforementioned Budget Law. The legislative texts do not contain any fundamental reforms, but rather corrections to the existing support measures; nevertheless, the changes are not without effects on day-to-day business. Below is a first overview of the changes for businesses and self-employed professionals, as always without any claim to completeness. In separate circulars we will discuss the changes concerning real estate and construction, the changes in the area of value added tax and other amendments. This year’s finance law has also introduced a complex set of rules allowing past errors to be corrected with marginal penalty surcharges; we will inform you about this measure in a separate circular. The many changes in labour law are expressly not dealt with, as you will certainly be informed about these by your labour consultant. As legal references to the Budget Law, only the paragraphs of Art. 1 are cited.